On Board with the Dreams Infinite Foundation - Empowering Women through Education, one Scholar at a Time!

Hello everyone...today my blog post is very different...its neither parenting oriented, nor is it a book review or a recipe...its rather about women empowerment and about my very recent association with a wonderful organisation called the Dreams Infinite Foundation. Read on....

A couple of weeks back, I was approached by the founder of a volunteer-run, non profit organisation called Dreams Infinite Foundation to provide content for their website and blog. The lady very graciously wrote in her mail that due to the organisation's structure and size, they could not compensate me monetarily but it would be personally satisfying as it was for a very good cause. 

Intrigued and still a bit sceptical I visited their website and Facebook page and read about the organisation's ethos, its mission, its team and its efforts. I found out that in their own small but spirited way the Dreams Infinite Foundation was paving the way for Women Empowerment in the small towns and villages of India. I learnt also of their flagship initiative to sponsor the vocational training for girls' through scholarships. These were girls who were meritorious, hardworking, ambitious and deserving but were unable to obtain higher education and employment as they belonged to marginalised, low-income families.

The Dreams Infinite Foundation has partnered with Medskills, Edubridge  to provide life skill and vocational training that can help them become independent, self-reliant and enter the job market in the health care and the retail and BPO sectors. The biggest achievement of the Foundation has been to partner with the District Institute of Education and Training in India (DIET) where the girls can obtain Teachers' Training under the D.Ed 2 year program) and can become teachers in local government schools on completion of the course. The first 10 sponsored girls are already pursuing their training and are on their way to becoming self-reliant teachers. The Foundation is now aiming to garner support and sponsorship for 50 more scholars in October.

Of course, there are many, many such organisations in India and elsewhere that are trying to do their own bit and sometimes it can be a confusing world....a world you can choose to ignore or mistrust. But something...maybe the sincerity of their cause, the dedication of the team, the transparency with which they matched donors and scholars made an instant connect with me and I called Karuna (Karuna Malhotra, the Founder-Chairperson of Dreams Infinite Foundation) to tell her  I was on board...that I would love to write for them and their cause.

Karuna in turn invited me to meet her for a cup of 'chai' (tea). We met the following week but  with the afternoon sun blazing over our heads, we decided to skip the chai and settle for refreshing nariyal paani (cocunut water) instead. The more I spoke with her, the more I learned about the Foundation- their goals, their field work and their self-less, tire-less work towards the achievement of their goals. 

I found myself asking questions- "Why only these girls, why not others?", "Why vocational training, why not basic education?" Karuna patiently explained everything to me and I realised that only ambitious plans are not enough - practical feasibility of a project in a country like India is very important for its success and vocational training for deserving girls may be the best way forward. 

I found myself giving ideas on how to market, how to conceptualize and strategize, how to make the scholar stories more appealing. Soon we were drawing out the future plan of action for the Diwali campaign and I am happy to say that I am now officially on board this very very noble mission! The Dreams Infinite Foundation has very kindly invited me to be a part of their Executive Team (https://dreamsinfinite.org/about-us/team/) and I am indeed honoured !

If you wish to  learn more about the organisation, its founders, its partners', its ethos and its mission please visit their website @  or connect with them on their FB page.

The Dreams Infinite Foundation is looking for volunteers in Singapore and India who can help them grow and work progressively towards the achievement of their goals. If you are interested, do drop a mail at info@dreamsinfinite.org . If you wish to make a donation to sponsor a girl's vocational training, please visit the link @ https://dreamsinfinite.org/donate/ .

The illustrations are the creations of Shilpi Pratap, the very talented Founder-Trustee of the Foundation