Kohli Foundation - Five Years of Philanthropy
By Navtej Kohli
We often see advertisements on television and on billboards for associations and programs that receive donations for underprivileged children in foreign countries. We’re either moved to call a toll-free number and pledge money to such organizations, or we turn away from the images that make us uncomfortable. It is quite something else to be presented with these images in the flesh, meeting disabled and impoverished children and their families face to face. For me, meeting such people changed my outlook on philanthropy and helped me to understand that calling a toll-free phone line or pledging a couple of dollars to a trust fund isn’t the same as actually working to make a difference in people’s lives. More information is available on my two other blogs, Navtej Kohli at Wordpress, and Navtej Kohli at Livejournal.
On Christmas Day in 2001, my company, Grafix Softech treated our staff to a day out at a farm in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. During the outing, I was introduced to some of the region’s disabled children and their parents. It was a moving experience. Their experiences with both disabilities and a total lack of resources of coping mechanisms highlighted the disconnect between the act of donating some money and the real people who benefit from those funds. The only real way to help people like this is to work with them, and thus, I was inspired to create what is now the Tej Kohli Foundation.
The Gunacaste province of Costa Rica
Although poverty has been reduced over the past two decades, Costa Rica still suffers from reduced economic growth and a 5.7% unemployment rate. Our government’s efforts to provide universal health care and education are hampered by deficits. This fact - the sticky situation our government is in - is one of the main things that fuels the tragic way many Costa Rican children live. While Costa Rica is quite prosperous in comparison to some of our neighbours, these factors mean that certain sectors of our society need help from the private sector and from philanthropic organisations in order to maintain an acceptable quality of life.
Since its inception, I’ve received immeasurable help from my business partner, Grafix Softech co-founder Juan Bonilla and his wife Alicia. Maria Pais has helped us out as well, and as of right now, the Foundation has helped over two-hundred and fifty children in multiple Costa Rican provinces. My plan is now to extend the Foundation’s reach to children in my native India, and to Africa. They’re lofty goals, but before our company outing, I’d never have known that a small group of people were capable of anything near what we’ve already accomplished.
In order to extend aid to the Far East, I recently met with General AJ Singh (Ret.). Up until now, the efforts of the foundation have been funded exclusively by me, but in order to grow, we’ll need funding from other sources. General Singh and I are attempting to find other donors in order to further the scope of the operation and we’ve had some significant interest, but securing some definite sponsors is still a work in progress.
This said, the Tej Kohli Foundation is far from limited in its achievements. My favourite memory from my time working on this project is probably that of a disabled young woman who was confined to the care and shelter of her parents and completely unable to pay for any education. We are talking about someone whose lifestyle and future are predetermined by her physical and financial constraints; however, with the Foundation’s help, she recently gained a Bachelor’s degree in Organic Chemistry and has since found employment.
Other examples of children whose lives we’ve helped substantially improve include a twelve-year-old boy, afflicted with autism and, again, in a severe state of poverty. With the help of the Foundation, Jose is enrolled in a special education program and enjoys are far more comfortable life than he did previously. Helping children like these is fantastic.
The expansion of the Foundation means that its services can extend from being primarily focused on providing medical and therapeutic care, and continue to offer funds for education, food, clothing and other daily needs. As tough as it can be to see the disastrous situations that children in Costa Rica and abroad have to live in, I really do believe that we’ve made a positive difference and have the potential to make an even bigger dent in the problems poverty creates in our world.