I encourage people to give Krishanu and others with him a chance, by supporting AFNA, to make it a truly non-partisan, charitable entity that all of the Assam community could use.
I heard there are some issues in the AFNA charter that might be in conflict with Krishanu's efforts. But if they ARE there, I am sure he would look into it and do what might be needed, to free AFNA of any particular socio-cultural org.'s partisan baggages to make it a truely broad-based and inclusive instrument Good luck Krishanu and AFNA. cm At 2:38 PM -0400 8/21/03, Kaushik, Krishanu (.) wrote: >Dear Vavani, > >Recently I saw your posting on the topic - "From Sentinel - AANA silver >jubilee / UNITY IN DIVERSITY" - in assam net (www.assam.org). I am not a >subscriber although I check the archives once in a while. I faced the same >dilemna like you when I came to this country in 1995. I started working >with IFAA and AFNA because they were the only two Charity organizations. >Till date I'm not a member of ASA, AANA or UOANA. I lost contact with IFAA >after Joken Kalita and Khanin Pathak went back to India. > >There is no leadership issues with AFNA because nobody wants to take its >leadership. I was made the president last year although I was not very >keen to work from the limelight. Since I got the leadership role I am >trying to make it clear to everybody that AFNA is a non-aligned / >non-affiliated assamese organisation in the US focussed on doing charity >work in Assam. Everyone, from all sections of the society >(ASA/AANA/UOANA/JONAKI etc.) are welcome to join and /or work with AFNA. >It is truly a non-partisan charitable entity for the entire community to >close ranks on. One thing I've learnt is that any efforts to unite the >organisations are deemed to be futile. You can take my word for it! Don't >ask me why? Because I don't know the answer. Instead of wasting our time >and energy chasing our own tails let's concentrate on doing something for >Assam. > >We have plenty of good opportunities, to provide financial assistance, in >Assam. These are projects and relief efforts handled by reliable and >trustworthy people. Some examples are: > >1. Rural Volunteers Center - RVC (an NGO working for relief of Flood >affected people and for long term flood preparedness in Dhemaji) >2. North-East Affected Area Development Society - NEADS (same as # 1 in >Jorhat and Golaghat, including Majuli) >3. The "Aarohan" project by Dr. BN Saikia Children's Welfare Trust - we >can have a long term relationship with that project and make it a success. >4. Journalist Fellowship Program administered ny C-NES - Centre for North >East Studies and Policy Research (Instituted by journalists like Sanjoy >Hazarika) >5. The "Save Kaziranga" project > >In addition to the above we also have some projects listed in our website >www.geocities.com/assamfoundation and some which are not. > >All we need from the community is an willingness to help these projects >and considerable financial contributions - by way of memberships, by way >of donations to a particular project or the general fund. Money from the >general fund is used for day-to-day operations (Minimum. The only big >amount is the $500 registration fees for annual meeting) and to contribute >towards deserving fundraising efforts. e;g we'll be adding $ 500 from the >general fund to the $2000 plus that we have already collected for the >Aarohan project. (The computer you'll donate will be in addition to that.) >There is a $ 25 annual membership fees, which goes to the general fund. >You may send the membership fees to AFNA @ 44963 Lemont Road, Canton, MI >48187. > >We need volunteers to raise funds for these projects and increase the >awareness among the assamese community. > >My humble request to all the recepients of this email - please become a >member and take an active part in helping those who need our help back >home. Please pass on the word to all your friends and aquaintances. > >Regards, >Krishanu Kaushik _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam
