FAQ about My marathon running, Fund raising and Asha for Education

Why run a marathon?

Everyone has their own reason to run. But everyone agrees that a marathon symbolizes and demands endurance, discipline, dedication, and the challenge of intense sustained activity that a human body is not used to. All of these are hard to pursue for an extended period of time unless (1) one thinks of it as a lifestyle and/or (2) there is a cause that is driving one to take it up. In my case, it is the second one. . I am running to raise awareness and financial support Asha's mission, educating under privileged kids in India.

What marathons are you running?
I am currently training for the San Francisco Half Marathon (august-3rd, 2008) and Chicago Full Marathon (October-12th, 2008)


What does the training involve?

The training with Team Asha is a well planned and structured program. With four very experienced coaches and many mentors, each runner gets good guidance to embark on the mission.
Training routine (~10 hrs/week) :
Weekday maintenance runs - 2 days a week (~3-5 miles + stretching + strengthening)
Track workout - to improve stamina, speed - Once a week (3-4 miles)
Weekend run - Once a week improving upon the previous week's mileage
Stretching and strengthening exercises are a part and parcel of every run. With 200+ runners and a great team of coaches & mentors, marathon training is nothing short of fun.

What does it take to run?
From the experience that I have had till now, all it takes to run is
[1] sheer dedication,
[2] will power and
[3] belief in the cause.

The reason why I say the above is because:
* The time invested in building one's strength, stamina and long-distance running capability is ~250 hrs.
* Of the need to resolve to stretch perceived physical limits
* Of the determination required to overcome pain & injury and stay focussed

All of the above are made possible because of the belief that every stride I take is going towards bringing hope (Asha) to a child's life.


What is the organization you are raising funds for?

* Asha for Education is dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged sections of society, by funding and supporting their fundamental educational needs.
* Charity Navigator, America's leading independent charity evaluator, ranked Asha as the No.1 charity organization operating on less than $2 million a year, with a total score of 69.82 (out of 70) in the field of International Relief and Development.
* India has a literacy rate of ~65% and ~72% of the population resides in rural areas. The access to primary education is minimal and heavily underfunded. Asha believes that Literacy and Education should be any child's birthright and targets its projects towards the underprivileged children and youth of India.

Why Asha?

Asha for Education is a secular organization dedicated to change in India by focusing on basic education in the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change. Till date, Asha has supported more than 385 different child education projects spanning 24 states in India. In terms of project funding, almost $4,000,000 has been disbursed to these projects since Asha's inception. In 2002 alone, Asha chapters raised and disbursed more than $1,000,000 to over 200 projects. To learn more about Asha For Education, Silicon Valley Chapter and the projects it undertakes, please visit their projects page



What is the state of basic education in India?

While India boasts of good institutions for advanced education like IIT, IIM, AIIMS, etc., the state of basic education in both sub-urban and rural areas beg for attention.
According to the PROBE survey,
* 63 per cent of the government schools have leaking roofs
* 27 per cent have no blackboards * 58 per cent have no drinking water
* 89 per cent have no functioning toilet
* 52 per cent have no playground
* Only 2 per cent had all the facilities while 8 per cent have none at all
The annual cost of sending a child to a government school is not more than Rs.2,500 (~$60) It has been found that one half to one third (56-70 million of a total of 170 million) of the children between the age group of 6-14 years drop out of school because of the economic situation in the family.


What are the specific projects my money is going towards?
All the funds raised will go to one of the projects undertaken by Silicon Valley Chapter of Asha.

How can I contribute?

You can contribute via cash/check/credit card.

1) For checks: Payable to "ASHA for Education" and in the memo field, put my name & runnerid: "Raju Vusirikala Runner ID: 2008TASV1246". Mail the checks to my home address: Raju Vusirikala, 459 Whisman Park Dr, Mountain View, CA 94043.
2) For Credit Card: Use the button "Donate" on my runnernet page.
3) Matching Contributions from your employer:
SalesforceSteps, IntuitSteps, OracleSteps
AMD, CISCO, Ebay, Synopsis, Yahoo, Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Sun, Wachovia

Contact me for exact steps to do to get a match from your employer other than the ones mentioned above.

Suggested Contribution: 25/50/100/Any
Please donate generously. All donations are 100% tax deductible (Tax Id 770 45 9884)