Reality Tours and Travel Staff....Meet Steph

One week back Steph, the new CEO of Reality Tours and Travel arrived in Mumbai to start her work. She will explain on our blog what she did before, what she did in her first week and how excited she is for the future to come:

"Hi, my name is Stephanie and I started as the new CEO for Reality Tours and Travel last Monday. Originally, I am from Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA but before moving to Mumbai, I was living in London where I earned my MA in International Tourism Development and Management and then worked for the small-group adventure travel company, G Adventures. I’ve also lived in New York, Amsterdam, and Shanghai. However, I have always wanted to live in India so I couldn’t be more excited to be here!

Mumbai and working for Reality Tours and Travel has been amazing so far. This week I went on the Dharavi Short Tour, the Bicycle Tour, and the Village Tour. All the tours have been so fascinating. The tour guides especially have really impressed me. They add such character to the tours and it has been great to meet them. 

It is really incredible to see what goes on in Dharavi and also the fantastic programs the tours support through Reality Gives. This week I've also watched some of the girls from the football program perform a play at the BMW Guggenheim Lab and at the TEDx Masala event and they were incredible and the piece was very powerful. The bicycle tour was also a really unique way to get to see Mumbai and I loved watching the city wake up.

I have really enjoyed meeting everyone this week and feel extremely lucky to work for such a cool company that is able to give back so much to the community. I can’t wait to help Reality Tours and Travel continue to grow and develop and am really excited for the future!"

Reality Gives Ambassadors...How a smartphone case can help children in Dharavi

By beginning of this week we have introduced you to our Reality Gives Ambassadors from the Rickshaw Race Team 2013. Today we want to tell you the story of our new Ambassador who came up with such a great idea worth reading about.

Christiana left her career behind in Chicago to travel the world in 2012. In India, she had a near death experience from a severe viral infection in her stomach and was carried to the hospital where she was treated for days. When she collapsed and regained consciousness, she couldn’t be more grateful of the medication and vaccinations.

However, outside of the hospital was still lines of people waiting to be treated and she started thinking of those without money for medical treatment or vaccinations in need. At the end of her 1 month stay in India, she came across Reality Gives, where she was exposed to some of the living conditions of the people, and especially small children. That memory resonated with her.

Instead of making an one time donation, she believed in creating a system and this was an opportunity. During the next travel destination, in South Korea, she entered a startup competition and met her current co-founder, DH. He, as a passionate entrepreneur and engineer also believed in well-designed products, and good deeds. With some passion and skills in design, engineering, and social innovation, they decided to start an online business together.

Since July 2012, they officially decided the business model to be a smartphone case shop with a focus on good design & social enterprise. They designed the products, brand and set up the business as well as the non-profit model. Summer from Reality Gives helped made this happen as we were on several calls discussing the needs of the community and potential projects. In lieu of the idea of "protection and design," they explored what types of protective item we can provide particularly for children.

As a result they established an official partnership with Reality Gives and FMCH-India to donate typhoid & de-worming vaccinations to children under the age of 6 in Dharavi Slum as part of our 'Nutrition only Initiative'. With every case the customer purchases on the website one child gets one shot. 

The website launch will happen by end of January. Stay tuned, we will definitely share the great project with you on Facebook. 

Reality Gives Ambassadors...The Rickshaw Run Team

The golden and silver Rickshaws of the "Where the tuk is the party" Team

Now it's almost one year ago when we started our Reality Gives Ambassador program and it's fantastic for us to see how great the response is. This week we will feature two great stories about International supporters who fundraise for our projects - either in a very professional or totally crazy way!

Yesterday we hosted the Rickshaw Run Team "Where the tuk is the party". Carla, Willemijn, Joost, Carolien, Suzanne, Frank, all from the Netherlands are currently on a big challenge: They want to travel from Jaisalmer to Kochin in two Rickshaws in two weeks. All by themselves as they have set the route and no one follows them to help if the vehicle breaks down. Even they say it's kind of crazy but "you see India from a totally different perspective when you ride a Rickshaw. You feel, see and smell the country more intensive and we get to know so many nice hospitable people."  

Frank had a lot of fun playing with the girls.

Jost looked at the photo album of the shelter.

All 70 teams who participate in the race have to contribute 1000 Euro towards charitable causes. 50% will go towards drinking water projects in India and the other half to partner projects of Reality Gives. Team member Frank got to know  the Reality Group when he came to Mumbai for work two years back. He was impressed by the tour and the work we are doing. So he proposed to his team to fundraise for our projects. To get the amount together some of them even painted rooms and did other house work for friends and family members. 

The team explains their adventure.

Yesterday when the team finally reached Mumbai they first went on a Dharavi Tour. Afterwards they visited the Barefoot Acupuncture clinic where they donated medical equipement which is needed for a special treatment. Afterwards three of them went for shopping: new cameras for the art program, medical and nutritious supplies for the Sharanam Girls shelter and books for the boys shelter of CORP (Community Outreach Program). The other three team members went to the Basketball training of the girls from Sharanam to get to know them and play with them. 

Afterwards they all met again at the shelter to have dinner with the girls - a much appreciated non-veg meal which they don't get so often and which was also sponsored by the team. But the girls were to busy playing and dancing with the team so they even forgot the food. At the end they also visited the art program and the drama class in our Community centre. 

The rest of the raised money will go towards the program for disabled children and barefoot. We are very grateful for their huge contribution and the fun we had with them during their visit. We wish them also very good luck and fun for the rest of their journey. If you would like to read more about their adventure follow them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rickshawrun2013?fref=ts

Reality Gives Events....Teach India YEP Graduation!

On Sunday our Youth Empowerment Program students gathered at the National Centre for Performing Arts to celebrate their graduation from the Teach India English program. The English component of our Youth Empowerment Program has always been a huge focus and draw for the program, however this batch we made a significant change to the curriculum and elected to become part of the Teach India program. This is a Times of India initiative which uses a curriculum designed by the British Council and taught by volunteers from around Mumbai.

"There were two main reasons we decided to adopt the Teach India program. First, it focuses on conversation and speaking skills, which our students have always struggled with. Some students come to the YEP with pretty good written skills, but lack the confidence to speak and are looking to improve this in particular. Second, there is a job opportunity component in particular for individuals who wish to work in the retail sector. We have always hoped that the YEP could be a stepping stone to employment or other education or training programs and this is a first step towards developing this sort of career ladder." said Summer Starr, Executive Director, Reality Gives.

Teach India focuses on the speaking ability of students with the goal of making them more employable. They then offer students the opportunity to meet employers and apply for positions at their career fairs.

Sunday's event included performances from about 15 schools across Mumbai who also participated in the program and a high tea. Performances included english musical and dance performances as well as skits. Supporting the environment and the benefits of speaking English were big themes for the skits this year. The Reality Gives YEP students did not perform this time, but we look forward to participating in the future.

Teach India Volunteers teach for 2 hours a day, 3 alternate days a week for 100 days. They commit to 8.5 days of compulsory training under the British Council. The next batch of trainees will start March/April 2013.

If you would like to volunteer to teach English through the Teach India program, see their website for more information: http://www.itimes.com/public_teach-india.php

Reality Tours and Travel News...The Blind Walk!

On Saturday, Reality Tours in collaboration with BMW Guggenheim (http://www.bmwguggenheimlab.org)- an urban think tank currently in Mumbai to explore how urban environments can be made more responsive to people’s needs- did a tour of a very different nature! The 26 participants, from Mumbai and abroad, were blindfolded for the full 90 minutes of a custom made tour, which started from the serene park setting of Horniman circle and ended in the equally serene setting of Byculla museum. 

The “bit inbetween” was anything but, as the participants were bombarded with different smells such as the chickoos, tea, garlic and meat in Crawford Market, or the freshly made pau bhaji, or dosas in one of the “Khao Gallis” visited- ie street food where they also sampled some of the local delicacies. They also experienced many of the different sounds that one can’t avoid in Mumbai- honking of vehicles, a mosque’s call to prayer, and of course the sound of people, including some telling them to get out of the way! 

Each participant had a guide designated to them, and this role was performed admirably by Dharavi’s youngsters, some of whom are or have been part of Reality Gives’ programs. These young men expertly helped their guests on and off buses and trains and pointed off where there were dips in the road or obstacles to avoid. 

After the tour, the lab facilitated a feedback session where the participants shared their experiences and they were shown video footage of where they had been; a number of different emotions were expressed but the consensus was that it had been a fascinating experience and that they had felt very safe. Well done to the guys from Dharavi- you did us proud! 

Reality Gives Connection Projects...Masoom Resource Centre

One of the first connection projects of Reality Gives was Masoom, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to establish quality education in night-schools in Mumbai. Last Saturday they opened a new Resources Centre which was supported by Reality Gives.  Chris and Summer visited the opening to inaugurate the centre and to discuss future plans.

Please read below Masoom's perspective on the new centre and our partnership:

Given the inadequacies in the Night School infrastructure, there are several children in the Night School who are not able to fulfil their aspirations to move up in life. They have the desire to pick up and strengthen their skill sets, but the Night Schools are not equipped to meet their aspirations.  Masoom is a not-for-profit organisation with a passion for establishing quality education in Night Schools. In order to achieve this, Masoom partners with Night Schools to facilitate the “Night School Transformation Programme”. The Transformation Programme is specifically tailored to meet the needs of the Night School and the individual students.

Based on the studies conducted by Masoom, it was felt that the two broad areas where such skills upgradation will have a substantial positive impact were Communication skills, especially English Conversational Skills, and Vocational Skills, which enhance the employability and hence the livelihood generating capabilities for the students. Accordingly, Masoom decided to set up a Resource Centre that would offer courses to help the students pick up skills to make them future ready.

The Resource centre was inaugurated on Dec 8, 2012 by Mr. Chris Way, Founder – Reality Gives and Ms. Nikita Chawla of HR College. The Resource Centre is currently training two batches of 10 students each on Computer Proficiency and one batch of 14 students on English Conversation Skills. It will add more market oriented courses in the future.

The Resource centre is a key component of Masoom’s Career Cell, which provides personalized and group coaching & guidance to the students of Masoom enabled Night Schools, and equips them with skills that help them make informed choices about their future.

Masoom is grateful to Reality Gives for their support towards setting up the Resource Centre.

Reality Gives Events... Count on Cycling and Beach Clean-up with RUR!

Today RUR - Are you reducing, reusing, recycling?, the Panasonic Experience Centre and the Reality Group organised a cycle rally to promote the cause of e-waste recycling in Mumbai. Seventy people of all ages - the youngest was 6 years, the oldest above 70 years old - participated in the event to support the cause and spread the word for a greener Mumbai. 

RUR is a longterm partner of Reality that provides us with recycled paper, conducts workshops on recycling in our Community Centre and helps us to promote our school tours. Panasonic supports them as they aim to become a green technology provider as well - at their store in Andheri where the tour started everyone could come and give their e-waste for free. They will recycle it in a 100% clean way. Reality Tours and Travel provided the bicycles - therefore a big thank you to our amazing Asim who had big issues to organize them in a bicycle free city. 

Two weeks back RUR and Panasonic also organised a Beach-Clean-Up at Juhu Chowpatty. For two hours a group of 30 people collected waste and talked to beach promenader and stall and shop owners how we all can do our bit to keep our beaches clean. Five tour guides and ten kids of our cricket and Aussie football program in Dharavi joined the awareness raising and were rewarded with a certificate. 

Thank you Monisha and Sejal for so much efforts towards a greener Mumbai. And of course we are also excited to see so many people from all strate of society to come together to promote this cause - thank you!

Please like RUR also on facebook to help them grow bigger and stay up to date about their events: https://www.facebook.com/RUR.AreYouReducingReusingRecycling