Participants


	Alim Chandani Program Coordinator Alim Chandani graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) with a B.S. in New Media and E-Business and from New York University with a M.A. in Deafness Rehabilitation and Higher Education. Alim is now working towards obtaining his doctorate degree in Administration and Supervision in Special Education at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Alim was a human rights delegate for Global Youth Connect with fellow delegates in Cambodia. Inspired by this experience, he conceived the idea of providing cross-cultural programs for American deaf youth within developing countries. Thus, the concept of GRO was born. Presently, Alim has a specific mission and vision and carefully plans each trip in furtherance of GRO's goals. He constantly looks for ways to create and enrich global networks between deaf communities and seeks the long-term success of these connections.
	Rachel Blake Assistant Coordinator Rachel Blake was born in a deaf family in Connecticut, USA. She graduated from Gallaudet University in December 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology. Then she went off to India for a GRO delegation in 2009-2010. Ever since then she has been traveling and hasn't looked back, at least, not yet! She traveled across the States for the summer, and is currently in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos & the Philippines!). Rachel is finally reading books again, loves taking photographs, eating international food, and dancing. She is thrilled to be returning to India and to GRO (as an assistant) this winter!
	Rebecca Berman Assistant Coordinator Originally from Minnesota, Rebecca (Becca) Berman has always been fond of non-profits and grassroots organizations. In the past few years she has worked with over 30 NGOs in the United States and aboard. After graduating from Smith College with a B.A. in Sociology, she moved to D.C. to intern with an organization which mobilized voter participation efforts for the 2006 elections. Her involvement with GRO began as a delegate for the Kenya 2009 delegation. This experience inspired her to shift gears and work with youth and education. She then spent six months in India teaching dramatic arts to over 200 children in rural Kerala. Several months later she was thrilled to return to India and GRO as an Assistant Program Co-coordinator for the 2010 India delegation in Trivandrum. Becca believes that GRO is an important organization to inspire youth and young deaf adults to realize their dreams and full potential. Outside of GRO, Becca is currently pursuing a master’s degree in International Training and Education at American University with a focus on inclusive education in international development.
	Samuel Matthew Point of Contact Samuel Mathew , after graduating in Electrical Engineering from Kerala university , did his M.Tech from IIT Bombay and worked in various positions in the IT industry in India and abroad for about 24 years. At that point he took a life changing decision to focus on Special Education and rehabilitation – to work with children and adults with mental and physical disabilities for their education and rehabilitation. To prepare for the work, he pursued further studies and research at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA where he earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Special Education. In between he also worked as a research associate for National AgrAbility Project at (funded by USDA through Breaking New Ground Resource Center at Purdue University) and vocational rehabilitation counselor for the State of Indiana. After living in the United States for 12 years, Sam and his wife Anne (aka Laila) returned to India in November, 2010 to join and work at NISH as the Executive Director. He also independently does counseling and guidance for children with disabilities as well as their parents from his home office. He is available for giving talks on disability awareness, assessment, interventions, rehabilitation and integration into mainstream society. He may be contacted through his email address: snmathew@gmail.com. Sam and Anne have two adult children Ashish and Aamod. Ashish is a computer engineer in Newark, Delaware and lives with his wife Mary. Aamod is a final semester student in Astronautics and Aerospace Engineering at Purdue.
	Shirly G Point of Contact Name: Shirly G Gender: Female Nationality : Indian Age: 44 yrs Qualification: M Tech (Applied Electronics) Designation: Head Responsibility: Coordinating Degree courses for Hearing Impaired Lecture class for Degree courses Experience at NISH:14 yrs
	Keith Blamble GRO Delegate Keith Blamble was born on Earth and grew up in Oakland, Maryland. He attended Gallaudet University and earned his B.A. in ASL. Keith is currently a graduate student at Lamar University for Deaf Studies / Deaf Education and is living in Austin, Texas. This boy can't wait to get out of America and to participate as a delegate for India to help with the Deaf Community and he is looking forward to learning, experiencing, and most of all; living!
	Mallory Malzkuhn GRO Delegate Mallory Malzkuhn was born in Austin, Texas and moved to the Bay Area of California when she was two and grew up there. She graduated from the California School for the Deaf in Fremont in 2006 and has been attending Gallaudet University since then. She is majoring in Educational Theatre Arts and will graduate in May 2011. Mallory's future plans include lots of traveling, theatre, and meeting/working with all kinds of people. She has traveled to a couple countries such as Costa Rica and Greece and is absolutely excited about visiting India!
	Pamela Siebert GRO Delegate Pamela Siebert is a Minnesota native despite being born in Maryland. She currently lives in Overland Park, Kansas with her best buddy, Socks. She graduated from the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in 1999 and earned a B.S. in Information Technology as well as a M.S. in Software Development and Management from the Rochester Institute of Technology. This is her 8th year working for IBM as a Software Engineer. Her last international trip was to Israel in 2000, so she is overdue for another exciting trip!
	Anup Eipe Host Delegate Hailing from Kottayam, about 135 km from Trivandrum, Anup enjoys playing cricket and is majoring in computer science.
	Lekshmi R. Host Delegate Living about 10 km from NISH, Lekshmi enjoys cooking, painting, watching cinema and is majoring in the Fine Arts.
	Lijo Joseph Host Delegate Originally from Alapuzha (about 140 KM from Trivandrum), Lijo enjoys computer programming in his spare time and is majoring in Computer Science.
	Parvathy Raghavan Host Delegate A Fine Arts major, Parvathy is a native of Trivandrum and enjoys painting, awtching cinema, and cooking.
	Rajalekshmi G.R. Host Delegate A native of Nemom, a village on the outskirts of Trivandrum, Rajalekshmi enjoys cooking and painting. She is a Fine Arts major.
	Ritto PD Host Delegate A Computer Science major, Ritto comes from Ernakulam, about 200 km from Trivandrum. In his free time, he enjoys computer programming and playing cricket.