Vikas Project, Pushkar (2026)

We are Vikas Project Sanstha Pushkar, a registered NGO working with families from tent camps in the beautiful desert city of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India. Our programs - all of which are free for the families - include a high-quality school with medical care and food, assistance to disabled individuals, supplemental food for families, assistance with housing, a robust art program reaching more than

100 people, routine medical care in the field, and facilitation of surgeries and other complex medical care.

14/12/2025

THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I AM HERE

Imagine being elderly and frail, with no spouse, money or transportation, living in a cold, dark room, with advanced oral cancer (from chewing to***co) and essentially no one to help you. That's the reality for the uncle of one of our students who lives in the neighboring city of Ajmer.

Cancer care here is free and available, but it can be daunting and difficult for someone in this position, made worse if literacy is also an issue. There are a lot of steps that have to be done properly, and associated costs and trips that have to be made.

In this case inaction has allowed the disease to progress farther than it might have, but there is still a good chance. I am fast tracking everything as best as possible. We went to the chemotherapy clinic and he is now registered, and we just got new CT scans and all of the other tests that are required for the doctors to start treatment.

I've been doing this for a somewhat long time now, and sitting yesterday waiting for the doctor and watching Sir cradling his swollen face and quietly trembling just broke my heart. To face it with his circumstances, it's hard to even imagine.

- - -

A GUIDE FOR HELPING

If you happen to visit Pushkar/Ajmer and someone you love or even someone you meet has a developing case of oral cancer (likely from to***co or supari), I can summarize the course of action for you - and you can of course contact me. It may save someone's life. Please note this is advice for helping them to receive professional medical care. Do not ever attempt to administer care yourself.

First they have to be seen either by an E.N.T. or an oncologist and have a biopsy. You can go to JLN in Ajmer (the large Govt. hospital), or Aryabhatta hospital in Ajmer or Chachiyawas. One or the other will do a biopsy, x-rays, blood work, CT scan and other investigations (the term for "tests" in India). You may have to help the person get all these tests, which is free in the government hospital.

If you're not accustomed to using a large government hospital and the cost is not an issue you can also opt to do these supporting tests at an accredited private hospital like Mittal. Do not go to a private diagnostic clinic as these tests are not generally admissable.

One note: I have seen oral cancer patients from Pushkar who choose to go to Jaipur for treatment. This is a personal choice, but I will only say that from a practical standpoint, this is far more difficult and complicated and expensive than doing it in Ajmer, and Ajmer has excellent full-service treatment. Again, it is of course the patient's choice. If you're trying to help someone and they only want to go to Jaipur and you're not very familiar with everything, contact me and I can try to help.

If the biopsy confirms cancer and it is deemed treatable, the patient will likely be referred either for surgery or chemotherapy/radiation therapy. If surgery is prescribed but the tumor is large, then surgery may have to wait until chemo reduces it. These are decisions for the doctors to make. The chemotherapy center in Ajmer is called the Department of Radiation Oncology (address Jln Medical College Cir, Rina Rd., Ajmer). It is part of JLN. If you are anywhere near it anyone you ask will know where to point you.

Get there early (9:30am), go to counter 5, get a slip, and go back to the main counter, and Ma'am will do what needs to be done to get the patient ready for whatever services they are receiving that day. Make sure the patient has their Aadhaar card and other documents ready. The chemotherapy center is well regulated and has procedures that are not optional. You need to be on time, polite and cooperative, with your documents in good order. This is good advice for any medical treatment here.

If the patient is to receive chemotherapy or radiation they will be given various documents that must be retained long-term. Make color copies that are kept separately from the patient, and laminate everything. The most important thing is to never lose the pink colored **Diary**, the biopsy report, or their Aadhaar ID card. There may be several sessions scheduled several weeks apart, and they must show up promptly on the assigned days. Again this is up to the doctors to decide.

If the patient has surgery, it is an extremely serious surgery requiring long-term support afterwards, in terms of nutrition, emotional support (as it is severely disfiguring), material and financial support and of course follow-up dressing changes and other medical evaluations and treatments.

The whole process may take 3-6 months and involve a dozen or more trips to hospitals. If you do become involved in helping someone you can contact me and I will do my best to help as well. Also, always take it as an opportunity to encourage other people in the patient's circle of friends and family to stop using to***co and supari.

21/08/2025

A NEW BEGINNING - WITH NO SMOKE!

I have been continuing my personal mission to help our students' families to stop using wood stoves and switch to gas or electric, by purchasing new stoves and gas cylinders, and in other cases just helping families pay for the gas so they can stop using wood stoves.

It is all benefit - and wow what a tremendous benefit it is!! Much shorter cooking times, no time spent collecting wood, more control over the heat source, and - of course, the big one - NO MORE BREATHING KILLER SMOKE for up to two hours a day (and at very close range)!! The impact of this change cannot possibly be overstated.

I was absolutely overjoyed after completing this transition for our pictured student the other day, and then visiting in the evening and the whole family saying how happy and excited they were.

10/08/2025

HAPPY RAKHI

Happy Raksha Bandhan to all of our friends in India and abroad, and to all brothers and sisters. We celebrated by taking a field trip to Nareli, a sprawling complex of temples, gardens and playgrounds that is our favorite field trip destination. Everyone had a great time! We are so happy to be starting our 10th year of school! I will post a variety of photos soon.

12/05/2025

CHANGING LIVES... & SAVING LIVES!

Our motto is changing lives, but sometimes I am fortunate enough to be in the position to save someone's life. Such is the case this past week with one of our students who has been with us for many years. She had been feeling poorly lately and not looking well and had had no real tests or treatment.

We went to Ajmer for a full slate of tests and it was discovered that she had critical, life-threatening megaloblastic anemia, with a hemoglobin level of just 3.5, putting her at risk of heart attack or death. In ten years of doing this i have never seen a more dire blood report where pretty much every value was way out of range.

I am happy to report that now after three days of admission and treatment she has recovered quite well and is looking and feeling much better, with dramatically improved test results across the board. We still have to be vigilant in the coming months, and we have a regimen of diet, medicine and further testing in place to ensure that a relapse does not happen.

There are special circumstances as well, since she has lost both of her parents to illness and has a shaky support structure. In addition to simply having the initiative and know-how to address the problem, the cost in this case would have been several months salary for her older brother who is her caretaker. I am so grateful and thankful to be in the position to assist in a case like this.

08/02/2025

CHANGING LIVES BY HELPING PEOPLE CHANGE HOW THEY COOK!

Wood stoves (chula) are very common in lower-income communities in Pushkar, and they represent an extremely serious health hazard to almost all of the people we work with. It's common for children (girls) to sit directly next to a stove for up to two hours a day, often directly in the line of billowing smoke. This exposes them to particulate pollution that can be hundreds of times worse than even normal polluted air, and because these stoves are so slow to cook compared to gas or electric, the amount of exposure is much longer.

This is one of the leading causes of death for children in developing countries, and this smoke exposure can cause cancer, COPD, stunted growth, stroke and a laundry list of other serious health problems. It's frankly terrifying to watch anyone - children or adult - being exposed to this harm. I've seen it for ten years now, day in and day out. It's a fixture of daily life here, and it's a hard problem to solve.

The best solution in every regard is induction electric cooking - it's by far the healthiest and fastest method of cooking, it's dramatically more efficient than wood, and it's cost-effective - but many of the people we work with have no electricity, which makes gas the next best option.

FINALLY!

I was overjoyed recently to get a very sturdy gas stove and cylinder for the family of five of of our students, after convincing them to finally give up wood after two years of constantly pleading with them, and watching in horror as they cooked INSIDE their small, poorly ventilated room in the colder months, sometimes fueling the stove with plastic.

This is nothing short of an absolutely life-changing revelation for them. Their 6 children (and mom and dad!) are no longer exposed to deadly smoke for hours a day, they don't have to gather wood, they spend much less time cooking, and they have much more precise control over the heat source.

Cost is often cited as a barrier to abandoning wood, but this is simply false. The cost of gas even for a large family is less than most families spend on chai, or heaven forbid to***co and alcohol (much less in this case). A durable, high-quality gas stove and medium-sized cylinder costs about $50, and refilling it just $10 a month. The cost of lung failure is of course immeasurable.

06/12/2024

HELPING MISS SEEMA

When MLK talked about the "Least of Us" he was talking about people like 7-year-old Seema, humble and meek and shy, living her whole life in a tent in the mountains without plumbing or electricity, struggling for opportunity in life and facing an uncertain future.

Recently Seema sustained a severe eye injury after being poked with a stick that punctured her eyeball. She needs a cornea transplant and other corrective measures (help is always appreciated, see vikasproject.org). We've worked with Seema since the day she was born. I was the only person other than her mother and aunt to attend her naming ceremony when she was just 3 days old.

We have been to every eye surgeon in Ajmer over the past week, and we have found the right surgeon, and she is on a good track to deal with this as effectively as possible. If we were not here she definitely would lose her eye, since it was already severely infected and there was no care in motion when they first notified me. I am very thankful to be here for just such situations. She is going to have a long and difficult recovery, and we will stay with her throughout the process.

Address

Pushkar
305022

Website

http://www.vikasproject.org/

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