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April 2009 FIST OF RICE

FIST OF
RICE
An Idea called Fist of Rice Did you know?
At this very moment, when you are reading this you are probably saying to yourself: “Now, what is Hunger remains the No.1
this? Funny saying FIST OF RICE! What in the world is that?” cause of death in the world.
Aids, Cancer etc. follow .
FIST OF RICE is a non profit organisation with the mission to eradicate hunger from the Indian 1/3rd of the world’s hungry
society. Now, you must be thinking: “Well, there you go! Another NGO out to save the world! How live in India.
many of this kind have we not seen? Besides, is hunger even a problem in India? Maybe in the un-
der developed third world nations but not India!” Over 2,500,000 Indians die
of hunger every year.
You simply couldn‟t have been farther from the truth. Yes, FIST OF RICE is a NGO. But, more
than that it is an idea! An idea, so simple that each one of us can be a part of it yet so grand, it can 30% of newborn are of low
change the life of 200 million in India who go to bed hungry every night! Did you know that every birth weight, 56% of mar-
year 7 million kids in India do not reach even their 8th birthday just because they did not get enough ried women are anaemic
food to eat? The facts in the right column may surprise you, but they are true. and 79% of children age 6-
35 months are anaemic.
THIS HAS TO CHANGE!
Inside this issue:
“So, what is the big idea? And in what way can I help?” you may ask. Again, we say it is in the
name itself and is based on the simple principle of community sharing. If each one of you on two In My Opinion 2
days of every month gets a fist of rice on your school‟s or organization‟s “Rice for life” day, you - Tejendra Lawande
would have done your part in making our society a better and happier place. These grains are then
mobilised by our volunteers to the needy old age and child homes across Goa. A simple sharing of FOR Schools 3
whatever we the lucky ones have with the not-so-lucky of the community will go a long way in
changing our world.
An Experience worth it 3
“How can a fist of rice change the world?”

A regular Indian family of four consumes 200 Kgs of rice in a year. A person on an average needs ‘WOW’lunteer for FOR 4
50 Kgs of rice a year. A fist of rice weighs 35gms. Put the same numbers in number of fists of rice a
person consumes in a day. It works out to 2 fists of rice a day.So, the little fists of rice each one of
you gives every month feeds a person for one day. Simple isn‟t it?
All facts and figures have been com-
Highlights of our work in Goa in the past month include (Figures are collections in kgs): piled from bhook.com which has been
derived based on:
1. Kiran Niketan, Birla 44.15
UN World Health Organization:
2. MES Higher Secondary School, Zuarinagar 92.85 Global Database on Child Growth
3. MES College of Arts and Commerce, Zuarinagar 191.00 and Malnutrition, 2006
4. Government High School, Mangoor Hill 50.00 UN Food and Agriculture Organi-
zation: SOFI 2006 Report
5. Navy Children School, Chicalim 215.00
National Commission for Enter-
6. Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Vasco-da-gama 279.00 prises in the Unorganized Sector
7. Kendriya Vidyalaya No.2, Vasco-da-gama 127.00 (India)
Total: 999kg National Family Health Survey
2005 – 06 (NFHS-3) (India)
The collected grains were distributed to three institutions UN World Food Programme
Our Home - Bogmalo Centre for Environment and Food
Love India Charitable Trust, Sancoale Security (India)
Boys Orphanage, Agassaim
Page 2 FIST OF RICE

In My Opinion
“I have experienced
Rtn. Tejendra Lawande ,President, Rotary Club of Vasco-da-Gama.
that even sharing just
a small morsel of food
The situation of under nourishment and malnutrition is so grim in a promising and developing coun-
with the distressed
and unfortunate can try like India that it is worth stopping for while to ponder whether the development and strides that
give the satisfaction we are making are really the goal of our existence. With so much distress around us, we should be
which possession of thinking whether monetary gains is all that is to life.
best of luxuries cannot
give.” I have experienced that even sharing just a small morsel of food with the distressed and unfortunate
can give the satisfaction which possession of best of luxuries cannot give. Rotary Clubs around the
-Rtn. Tejendra La-
wande globe today are fighting the war on hunger especially when it concerns children of the world. Rotary
strives in its pursuit with the basic philosophy that health and hunger take the precedence over other
sufferings.

I was personally amazed to learn that such a young band of good souls could come with such a noble
The People behind and unique concept, that is the „Fist Of Rice‟. It took me a while to digest albeit with gratitude that
FOR such young individuals, and that too students, are sensitive to the needs of the unfortunate and it was
solace to me to realize that Indians are still and will be firmly connected to our culture and values.
We are a group of
young engineers, doc- Elders always say that there is no better pious activity than offering food to the needy.
tors and professionals
who wish to create My humble submission to you all at „Fist Of Rice‟ will be to please nurture and let flourish this act of
real-lasting value to giving and make this organization of yours a role model for our future generations. Organisations like
solve the growing Rotary will always be at your side encouraging and supporting you all to fulfill your purpose of life.
problems of hunger Our club secretary Rtn. Santosh Lotlikar shared with me his views that he was touched by the sensi-
and food shortage.
tivity that your members showed for the needy. I pray that „Fist Of Rice‟ will grow manifolds for the
The Goa Chapter is
sake of the millions of hungry souls.
run by student volun-
teers from BITS Pilani
– Goa Campus, Zuari-
nagar. Software engi-
neers and IT profes-
sionals in Chennai What is FOR’s long term vision?
handle and coordinate
the various manage- At FOR, we envision an India without chronic hunger. We aim to create a system which
ment and back end effectively utilizes food resources in the country. We foresee that by creating a culture of
tasks of Fist Of Rice. sharing in the society and motivating the youth to work for the welfare of the nation, the
FOR expands its reach Indian hunger crisis can be easily overcome.
in the northwestern
regions of India by What is FOR-Goa Chapter’s immediate goal?
launching another
chapter in Pilani, Ra- FOR Goa Chapter was started in September 2008. Currently we have 9 donor schools and
jasthan through stu- colleges and 3 recipient organisations. The team has mobilized 999kg of rice since its in-
dent volunteers in ception. Our immediate goal is to build a network of 50 schools, 20 colleges and 10 re-
BITS Pilani—Pilani cipient organisations by August 2009.
Campus
Page 3 FIST OF RICE

School of Rice— How we can help ourselves


Why? How? When?

During our initial survey in We have a simple operating Lets talk now! Please contact
Goan orphanages and old age strategy. us on +919823715372 or
homes, we found that a major- 1. Plan the collection during a +919881884234 or email us at
ity of charitable institutions meeting with the institution hello@fistofrice.org. A volun-
are finding it difficult to make head. teer from Fist Of Rice will get
ends meet. It came out that in touch with you regarding
most of them rely on small 2.Organise the collection the possible ways of contribu-
circles of generous donors to ( arranging and transporting tion. Our next collection
contribute in difficult times. the containers to and fro) drives are in August and Oc-
The survey strengthened our 3. Hand over the collected tober 2009. Lets join hands
belief that the situation could grains to the recipient organi- and change Goa!
improve quite easily and sus- zation.
tainably if the idea of school Our volunteers take care of
and college students in Goa the entire process. All we ask
contributing a "fist of rice is your consent to bring smiles By Rasagy Sharma
grains" was put into action. to more faces.

An Exper ience wor th the exper ience


As this is the first edition of the newsletter, it would be appropriate to begin with how
“ There are lots of
the first school that we approached helped us kick start our venture. Incidentally, it wasn’t one
but, two at a time that started off the FOR campaign. The MES College of Arts and Commerce and destitute and poor people
the MES Higher Secondary School, Zuraingar. whom FOR has helped me
to feed. Our institution
We started off with discussions with the Principal of MES College, Mr. Hajirnis about
FOR and its objectives. He welcomed the idea with open arms and directed us to the NSS faculty requires Rs. 18000/- every
coordinator of the college, Mr. Satyavan Naik. It was an immense stroke of luck on our part that month for rice. FOR
we approached the right people and the right institution on our first day out. Had it not been for helped us and I am very
their initial support and encouragement, FOR wouldn't have scaled the heights that it has. Mr
Satyavan also had encouraging words for us and wanted the college to be a part of the campaign grateful”
immediately. But, he had some obvious reservations about the program. Our discussions in-
cluded questions like "How do we arrange collection containers?", "What mode of transport of Dr Carla Souza
rice grains should we use?", "What do we do about the different varieties of rice that the students Founder
would bring?", "Should it be compulsory for all students?" etc. We assured him that the arrange- Our Home, Bogmalo
ment of containers and transport would be solely our responsibility; and that the orphanages are
happy to receive rice grains, even though they are mixed to some extent (keeping in mind that
majority of the rice grains from a locality belong to same variety).
QUICK FOR FACTS
Finally it was decided that the collection would be a part of the NSS Day Celebrations of
MES College. We volunteered to go to each class on the previous day of the collection and speak >>Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Vasco
to the students about Fist Of Rice. So, 24th September 2008 arrived in all its glory! We had al- -da-gama (279.00 kgs) has been
ready delivered the rice containers to the college. By our calculations, we had estimated that we the single largest donor as of now.
would get around 50kg of rice. We were thinking that if we receive around 75kg that will be a Navy Children’s School Vasco
great collection. Mr. Satyavan had told us he would take care of the storage of the collected comes second with 215 kgs on a
grains and that we could transport it in the evening. We called him in the afternoon to check how single day.
the collection was going.

Now, this is something we never expected. He burst out with the news that all the containers are
>>The first FOR collection was on
full. They had to use 5 extra containers from the college to store the grains. Oh! That was really 11-Sep-08
great news to us. Containers overflowing - we never expected that even in our wildest dreams.
The recipient organization - "Our Home", Bogmalo - headed by Dr. Carla Souza was ready to come >>Currently, FOR directly pro-
immediately to receive the grains. The grains were handed over to them. Guess the quantity?? A vides for the daily food require-
whooping 141kg - almost twice our expectation. So...end of story. That was the first collection. . ments of more than 100 people in
FOR is growing stronger and stronger by day. Let's make it happen - Lets KILL hunger! Goa.
FIST OF RICE
‘WOW’ lunteer Think You can be One?

Check Your FOR IQ!


To achieve the immediate goal and Prove your mettle by becoming a FOR
other short term goals, FOR requires a College Ambassador. We expect ambassa-
strong volunteer base. Volunteers are the dors to publicize FOR and organize grain
lifeline of Fist Of Rice. They are the „power
collections at their college.
of the community‟ expressing caring and
sharing through the work they do.
What do you get?
We are looking for volunteers for a To be a valuable part of the growing
variety of tasks ranging from design work to FOR community will be an enriching ex-
organizing grain collections. If you would perience for you. You can learn the nuts and
like to volunteer please contact us at bolts of project management and marketing.
Email :hello@fistofrice.org You will also get certificates and goodies
Mobile: +919823715372 like personalized Tshirts, accessories etc.

FOR Campus Ambassador


“Progress is impossible with- “The smallest act of kind-
If you are an enthusi- ness is worth more than
out change, and those who
astic college student the grandest intention”
cannot change their minds
cannot change anything” who wants to start Fist
Of Rice operations in
-George Bernard Shaw your college, this is -Oscar Wilde
your chance.
Across

2. One of the 3 basic re-


Special volunteers Spread the word quirements to live.

Our special volunteers constitute The Simplest and yet the most important thing 4. You can use it it to box
the group of people who pitch in their you could do to help make the world a better your enemy or save the
talents and skills to help FOR grow in the place to live in is by spreading the word about world,the choice is yours!
right direction. Artists, designers, writers, us. You could join our blog and express your
singers, managers, entrepreneurs, social- views at http://blog.fistofrice.org/ or everytime Down
ites…just about anyone who has the de- you come across a group of people who you
sire to contribute meaningfully constitute think could help us, you can show them this 1. Committed to a cause for
this group. If you are talented in any field newsletter or just get us in touch with them. the joy of it
and would like to be part of FOR, this is Lastly but not the least you could make us a 3. Khrarif, rabi and India's
your chance! part of your friend list on popular social net- staple diet refers to...
working sites and see the world transformed!

Project volunteers

Our immediate goal is to build a strong network of schools, colleges, old age homes and orphanages. We would like
to complete the project by August 2009. To complete the project we need around 65 volunteers and Rs. 10000 in funds. We
are looking for volunteers who can engage themselves in part-time work. A typical volunteer‟s work will be centered
around contacting various organisations (donors and recipients); talking to them about FOR; meeting them; and spreading
awareness. You will be required to spend 2-3 hours(on a average) every week for this work. Positively contributing to the
community around you can be one of the joyful experiences. If you would like to join hands with us on this project, please
contact us at hello@fistofrice.org. (Don‟t forget to mention that you are a project volunteer!)

Contact Us: Please contact us on +919823715372 or +919881884234 or email us at hello@fistofrice.org

© Fist of Rice

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