The Women Empowerment committee is working on creating a craft center for the women of the village, in which they will have access to sewing machines and other craft materials. We will work with a focus group of women who are experienced with sewing and are willing to teach the other women of the village. This center will also serve as a safe space for women to discuss delicate issues and build a sense of community.
The General Health committee is working on building a health curriculum for elementary school children. We will be teaching kids about the two most prevalent health issues in Vemavaram, diabetes and hypothyroidism, and how to prevent them. We also plan on teaching children exercises and stretches to help reduce future joint issues.
The financial literacy committee is working on creating a personal budgeting workshops and finding a speaker from a local bank who is well informed about finances. In this they will be keeping track of their weekly spending habits to determine any areas they spend too much or start accommodating for any financial goals they may have, like saving. For the children, we are working on implementing a taxes and budgeting activity where they will hypothetically purchase a set number of necessities within a given budget.
The Reproductive Health committee is working on our Sanitary Pads Project, which aims to educate teenage girls about menstrual health. We will have workshops to teach women how to make their own sanitary pads and will advertise the project so that women can earn money and make a business out of making pads; they can also use the money that they earn out of making pads to supplement their household incomes. We will create a women's support group center, where women will be given the opportunities to use community sewing machines that we provide, where this center is a space for women to bond and perform tasks that they would not be comfortable with doing in public.
The water initiative committee is working on developing a sustainable solution to address the issue of water contamination in the area. We are developing a curriculum that primarily focuses on the importance of sanitation, and we are working with a local university and NGOs to minimize the contamination and its effects. Additionally, Project RISHI will be working with UCSD's EWH to develop a water filtration system.
The vocational skills committee is currently holding biweekly meetings with college students from Vemavaram. We are working directly with Srinivasa Garu and the students to enhance their public speaking and interview skills, while hosting sessions to help them choose the best career path for them. Each week we build on previous skills and we hope to bring in career professionals from Hyderabad to speak with the students.
The computer literacy committee is working on creating a curriculum for students and teachers focusing on how to use a computer and its features like Word, Powerpoint and surfing the internet for educational purposes. Currently we are working on our Computer Basics Curriculum which focuses on the basics of a computer and a typing game.