Dear Patrons and Well Wishers:
I welcome you to this online Annual Meeting of Helping Hands, for the first time, due to COVID 19 pandemic. It is disappointing as I have missed to see you all in person – the lovely interaction and the fabulous dinner!. Waited almost 2 months however, still there is no hope when we can gather and hence this decision to present what we have done in the last one year through this virtual interaction.
The year 2019-20 was quite successful for Helping Hands. We have entered into partnership with several organizations within and outside India – United Technologies, USA, Cyient Inc, USA, Al Kausar Inc, USA, Share International Inc, USA, Islamic Humanitarian Services, Canada and The Mainstay Foundation, UK. A group of volunteers from UK is also contributing on monthly basis. Locally while we closely work with Faiz e Aam Trust and Siasat Daily, this year we joined hands with Engineers Without Borders (EWB India) too. Husaini Foundation, Bhavnagar, also extended its support consecutively for the second year. This has not only boosted our morale but also increased our donations almost one hundred percent as compared to last year – rather more than one hundred percent!
As proposed in our last year meeting, Light House, with ground plus 5 floors building with an area of 12,200 sft with a conference hall, language classes, computer lab, library and units for skill development was opened to the public from Jan ’20. As the name indicates, “Light House” shall inspire the youth and the activities here will encourage them to excel in all walks of life.
Effective from Jul ’19, The Star School – in the heart of the city, has also started its activities with classes from Kindergarten to Class VI, with a provision to add an extra class each year. More details are presented on subsequent pages.
The student support base has crossed more than 800 this year. A small activity which was started with 29 students from Qayam Nagar, Hyderabad, is now 30 times and extended to several cities outside Hyderabad. This year we have spent Rs 1,39,55,501 on education and education related activities and are satisfied that we could produce few successful cases. Nisha from Qayam Nagar has completed BE with Computer Science with distinction and has joined Zensar. Dawar from Qayam Nagar has completed BE with Electronics and Electrical Engineering. Prabhakar from Kishan Bagh has completed BE with Computer Science with distinction and has joined TCS. Rukhaiya from Moula Ali has completed BE with Computer Science and has joined Genpac. Heena from Moula Ali has completed BE with Computer Science and has joined Cognizant. Similarly Fatima Unnisa from Malkajgiri has completed her graduation and has joined HGS, Kulsum from Qayam Nagar completed her graduation and has joined Genpac. The list continues with Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Charted Accountancy.
In the last 7 years we have made an attempt to mould the life of may be 1000 students with an investment of Rs 6 crores! Yes a journey of a thousand students has just begun and I can say: lot to do before I sleep.
Thanks to the Hussaini Foundation, Bhavnagar, who has supported us with Rs 2.52 lakhs to disburse as Cash Awards among meritorious students. We hope that the same will be repeated this year too. However, the worrying factor is our boys have a long way to catch up as compared to the performance of our girls.
In order to inculcate leadership qualities, public speaking, increase networking and to deliver something outside the prescribed text books, a series of lectures were organized by inviting eminent speakers from various walks of life. The response was overwhelming and students and parents attended these meetings in hundreds. Hope to have a positive impact in the days to come.
Helping Hands has a new eLearning Centre established in Qayam Nagar in Apr ’19. Thanks to Mr Bharat Maharaj, Chairman, EWB India for his kind support. The said centre is one of its kind in the entire area. Attached with the eLearning Centre is the activity of Girls Who Code. Girls Who Code is a US based NGO and is on a mission to close the gender gap in technology. It is building the largest pipeline of future female engineers in the United States. Girls Who Code offers learning opportunities to young girl students to deepen their computer science skills as well as their confidence.
At eLearning Centre in Qayam Nagar, the Girls Who Code club was formed by Nisha, a Helping Hands Volunteer, whose active participation has not only trained several girl students from nearby schools from classes VIII – X, but has also created a passion for computer science and its applications. Nisha and the members of the Club were highly appreciated by Mr Mahesh Patel, Director, Global Engineering Source, Pratt & Whitney, USA and felicitated her recently.
Looking at the developments at our eLearning Centre, Pratt & Whitney, USA, supported Helping Hands to establish 14 such centres in and around Hyderabad. Six such centres were already established and inaugurated. Working on remaining centres was stopped due to COVID 19 lockdown and will continue shortly.
Last year I made a proposal if each one of you can commit for Rupees One Lakh! Not that you have to shell down one lakh from your pocket, but you can be instrumental to generate one lakh from your family and friends. Thanks to those who have put their first foot forward and have responded to my request, though I am yet to see few more (actually many more). Because of your continuous support and the confidence that you have in Helping Hands, this year we crossed a target of Rupees 2 Crore. We have closed our balance sheet at Rs 2,24,14,583. But please note that the cost of tuition fee and the cost of books increases continuously and exponentially.
In 2013 while we could support 154 students with Rs 7.72 lakhs (app Rs 5000/student), in 2019-20 we paid Rs 97,32,917 for 795 students (Rs 12,200). That is the reason that while our funding was raised from Rs 7.72 lakhs to Rs 224.15 lakhs (more than 29 times), the number of students were raised only from 154 to 795 (just 5 times)!
The Tailoring Centre at Qayam Nagar and Moula Ali are working as usual, and several ladies from these areas are trained and most of them are now working on their own. Both the centers are run with a professional trainer and is open from 10 am to 2 pm on all working days. At Qayam Nagar, we now execute commercial orders and the earnings are shared among the participating ladies.
We are committed to delivering fruitful, sustainable and measureable benefits through financial and skill development. Empowering beneficiaries with skill development and vocational training helps them to achieve goals that were hitherto not possible.
I must also mention that Helping Hands has an ijaza to receive khums and a license for Income Tax exemption under Sec 80 G of Government of India. Helping Hands is also entitled to receive funds from outside India under FCRA.
Helping Hands thank the donors, well-wishers, partner institutions, volunteers, students and parents for their kind and continued support. Special thanks are due to Mr P Suresh, Venugopal and Chenoy Chartered Accountants for providing us the audited report.
Lastly, my wife suggested to take a day off in a week, whereas I pray to God if we can have one more day in a week.
There’s lots to do before I sleep!
There’s lots to do before I sleep!!
Shaukat Mirza
Managing Trustee
Dr Shaukat Mirza is the Former President of American University of RAK, UAE, Director, EWB India and Author of the book “Sustainable Development – Give something back to the society.