kanthari newsletter 4 – 2022

“The book is called Opportunity, and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
– Edith Lovejoy Pierce, poet –

“Spread the spice!” is the name of an annual exhibition that marks the end of a six-week intense social entrepreneurship course, which is part of the kanthari program. The Course is called BASCH (business and social change) and it is based on our philosophy that businesses should be a contributor to a more equal and more environmentally friendly tomorrow.

Dear friends and supporters of kanthari,
with this fourth newsletter, we want to wish you inspiration for the coming year, and we hope that this news can help you with creating new solutions for old and new problems.
Let’s start with the exhibition that we mentioned right at the beginning: At this event, 16 participants and five kanthari alumni exhibited their business ideas, services, and products, such as games, essential oils, delicious food products, and one of the highlights, pasta made from cassava.

Joshua from Cameroon, a 2019 kanthari, found a new way to address the shortage of wheat supply caused by the war in Ukraine. He uses dried Cassava to make Bread cookies and noodles. We became his guinea pigs trying the products and have to say that they were delicious.

Vanna, a blind Cambodian, who will introduce STEM education to blind children in his home country, gave a glimpse of how to make STEM fun by offering blind and blindfolded children a little journey through a laboratory of a detective. Through experiments, in the area of science, technology, engineering, and math they had to detect the alleged culprit.

And Deepu, a wheelchair user created an obstacle course for “walkers”. They were placed into a wheelchair and had to perform simple daily tasks, yet most miserably failed. This not alone caused a lot of laughter, but more importantly, it made the walker feel what it means to be disabled.

kanthari talks

From November onwards we prepare our participants for the start of their social ventures. Besides setting up an organization, we also focus on the construction of buildings in a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly way, fundraising, and, especially communication and public speech.

The highlight was the kanthari TALKS event. These are a bit like TED talks, but with a few significant differences. The participants not only share a problem, their personal life story as well as a solution, but they also stand their ground during a 10-minute Q&A session with a panel that consists of experts, international journalists, and kanthari Alumni. These Q&As are especially important for listeners to judge whether a kanthari participant is intrinsically motivated and whether they master subject matter expertise. In the course, we train them with so-called hot seats, in which week by week, some catalysts and participants ask critical questions about specific topics. It is for sure not their favorite training element, but in the end, all agreed that the struggle was worth it. You can watch their speeches via www.kantharitalks.org

A roar of excitement went through the hall when Nancy Mbaura’s ended her speech with an unexpected pointe. Nancy is a passionate woman from Norton, Zimbabwe, who from early childhood, fought for her right to education. Later she transformed a beer hall into a school that now accommodates almost 2000 children. The school had an unusual financial model, income generated from a driving school that teaches single women truck driving. From Nancy, we learned what is key for all of our futures: how to turn limited resources into high value.

Especially the many youths that listened online were inspired by Gauthams speech: He spoke about the rather dire situation of youth in Kasaragod, a district that is prone to frequent communal conflicts and illegal activities such as drug peddling and smuggling. Having grown up without proper parenting, in a defective education system, and with no job prospects, the vulnerable youth of Kasaragod are easily attracted to polarizing religious and political ideologies. This not only negatively impacts their own, but also the life of people around them, and destroys the harmony in society. Gautham is part of Kasaragod’s young community. And he too experienced the rather contagious communal depression. With his organization “fireflies”, he wants to shift the reputation of his hometown by creating hubs of creation, encouragement, and future perspectives.

Certification

This year’s certification was special. We had two chief guests who shared words of wisdom and encouragement. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, as he met with an accident a few days earlier that hindered him from travelling to Trivandrum, joined us on an online call. In his address, he spoke about each and every participant of the 13th generation, their goals, and how important their contribution to change would be. The second speaker was Shanker Ramakrishnan, a known Kerala filmmaker/actor who, after seeing a glimpse of the life stories of this year’s participants, stated that every one of their personal histories would be worth a film script.

kanthari Award

At the same event, we offered the annual kanthari lifetime achievement award to Sangeeta JK, the founder of Kiran village. Kiran village is a home for children and adults with and without physical disabilities, based in Varanasi. Sangeeta was born in Switzerland but has been in India for more than 50 years in which she has positively affected the lives of thousands of disabled and marginalized people. During her first stay in Varanasi, she observed the difficulties of children with leprosy and/or polio going up and down the many stares in the streets and paths in the holy city. That gave her the idea to create a place in which everything is accessible, and no one should feel disabled.

 kantharis around the world

Fair Shea – Ghana – Frank Ekow Arkorful – 2021 graduate – www.fairshea.org 
150 women are trained to harvest higher-quality shea nuts. Make shea butter that is used in various cosmetic products. This gives the women activity and a source of income during the dry season. For the women to sell their products at fair prices, they join the Fair Shea Cooperative. After the training, the women could quadruple their income.

Khoj – The Great Indian Treasure Hunt (GITH) – Abhilash John – 2021 graduate – www.khojindia.in
The GITH is a 3-month program for Indian youth to learn, unlearn and relearn more about themselves and their interests, break out of the cage of expectations and overcome their fears. They learn how to live sustainably, work and contribute to social change, and teamwork. They also work 5,000 hours as a volunteer in different social organizations in south India.

Orange Butterflies – Nepal – Geeta Dangol – 2021 graduate – www.orange-butterflies.org
Geeta offers Skill Training for single or widowed women from low-income families. The women learn to produce, market, and sell products from environmentally friendly materials. Additionally, 500 women received financial literacy training

Dear Friends and supporters,
All participants have now returned home or to the locations where they want to impact change.
We wish all of them and of course also you, all the best for the coming new year.
We also wish to thank you for the great support you have given and the interest you have always shown in the kanthari program and in the lives and actions of so many change-makers.
With the very best wishes to you and your families,
the entire kanthari team, sabriye and paul

Your donation makes it possible for people who are positioned at the margins of society to participate in the kanthari training course.
Here, they learn everything they need to start a project themselves in their home country to bring about the urgently needed change in their community.
Therefore, your contribution has (had) an exponential effect over many years and reaches countless people in need around the globe. 
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION: Contribute here – THANK YOU for your ongoing help!
www.facebook.com/kantharis   –   www.kanthari.org

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