The Baa Foundation: A Legacy of Service in Rural India

Humanitarian Social Innovations’ new program is impacting hundreds in rural India.

Aiding India

The Baa Foundation and the villagers planting a tree.

The Baa Foundation is an organization based in Pennsylvania that provides free health-care services and education to children and at-risk adults in a rural Indian village. They also inform people about sanitation and healthy, sustainable living through education and support. Raziya Shroff founded the program.

The Baa Foundation has hosted a one-day Health Camp every year since 2014 and has served around 1200-1300 adults and children. They provide various services such as free eye exams for adults age 40 and over, cataract surgery, dental checkups and take-home dental kits for children ages 7-15, and rubella vaccines for girls ages 13-21. The sanitation work includes providing garbage bins for every business and establishing a pick-up and disposal service. The organization planted 50 trees in the area with guards to protect them from animals. They also arranged for a year’s worth of watering services to give the trees a good start.

Many of the people who get the cataract surgery can return to work, which helps keep the children in school as an income is provided. When parents can’t work, the responsibility of providing for the family falls on the children, who need to quit school. The village is also kept clean which improves not just the environment, but also the health of the children.

The Inspiration

Raziya Shroff at the health camp.

One of Raziya’s siblings, Janmohmed Mamdani, was an inspiration for his rural village in India. He spent his life helping his people and spreading kindness and generosity. When he passed away on February 14, 2013, Raziya and her siblings created The Baa Foundation: to honor him and his work.

Future

For the future, the organization plans on continuing all of its current services and is looking to serve even more people. One planned new program, for instance, is a one-week class at every school for high school girls. In these classes the girls will learn various career skills meant to help them leave poverty, such as stitching, sewing, beauty, henna, and cooking.

HSI is proud to have the Baa Foundation join our community of social entrepreneurs. We are pleased to serve them as they serve humanity.

Your donations can make a difference for at-risk youth and adults living in poverty in India. Donate to the Baa Foundation here.