KIRF supporting education and skills training for the rural poor in Bihar, India January 2010
KIRF continues to help some of the poorest children and their families in rural Bihar, India have a better future by providing educational supplies and vocational training support through KIRF India. Mark Kirwin, the director of KIRF, visited KIRF India's newest free rural village school the Kirwin James International Education Center in the rural village of Shekhwara last year to assess needs and deliver supplies. The rural center provides an academic education, vocational training and health care free to local impoverished lowest caste families who would otherwise go without.
The Kirwin James International Education Center in Shekhwara has three classrooms, playground, a garden, sewing center, and employs two full-time teachers. The sewing center was established by KIRF. The sewing center trains village woman a skill to help them earn money to provide for their families. The sewing center employs a part-time sewing teacher.
The new educational center was established by Diane Kirwin and the local Indian trustees of KIRF India. KIRF India is a non-profit organization created to help people help themselves through the development of enduring, self-sustaining and ecologically sustainable projects.
For the new Kirwin James International Education Center in Shekhwara, KIRF provided the following in 2009:
Sewing center supplies: sewing machines (three, non-electric Singer), textiles, sewing supplies and funding for the sewing teacher’s salary.
Basic utility services: KIRF purchased and delivered a generator for electricity and to provide power for the water pump that ensures safe drinking water for the school’s students and staff.
Physical education supplies: soccer, cricket, volleyball, fitness, games, and badminton.
Local curriculum-specific educational supplies: textbooks and writing supplies.
Supporting Education for Internally Displaced Refugee Children in Burma December 2009
KIRF continues to support a free educational program for internally displaced ("IDP") refugee children in Burma who would otherwise not be able to go to school. According to the interim report of the IDP schools by the Community School Project (May to October 2009) 23 schools educating approximately 1,545 students received aid such as text books, writing supplies and sports equipment as well as mosquito nets, tooth brushes, flip-flops, umbrellas, sarongs and longyis (Burmese apparel) for teachers. Curriculum at these schools included Math, Science, Geography, basic health, history, Karen, Burmese and English. KIRF and other non-governmental organizations deliver the school supplies via an informal aid network based in northern Thailand due to the continued military violence.
The school's are free and teachers receive a small stipend. Challenges to these schools include continued security issues and malnutrition.
Educational Scholarships for four siblings in need in Gaya, India November 2009
KIRF renewed funding for a family of children who live in a slum in Gaya, a city in the northern Indian state of Bihar. They will be able to attend another year at the prestigious St. Thomas Academy. The lives of these children are hard to imagine for most people in the United States. However, they will have a good education and contacts for more opportunity as they get older. Because of KIRF's supoort these four siblings have been able to attend school since Spring 2007. KIRF’s scholarships pay for tuition, school uniforms and school supplies.
Online donations are tax deductable and go directly to our non-profit account at the International Humanities Center. Checks should be made out to “KIRF/IHC":
Kirwin International Relief Foundation (or "KIRF")
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IHC Office: (310) 526-9665
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Top of page photos (left to right): Mark Kirwin, Co-Founder of KIRF with his mother Diane Kirwin who founded the KIRF Bodhgaya Indian Trust in front of a new KIRF Education Center near Bodhgaya, Bihar, India. Photo: Kirwin International Relief Collection;
A home destroyed by the tsunami in flooded estuary near Bin Bang Bang, Thailand. Photo: Mark Kirwin;
Rotating photos:
Angela's new friends at hurricane evacuee campsite in Picayune, MS. Photo: Timothy Burdick/Brooks Institute of Photography
Tsunami orphans who need scholarships to continue school in Ranong Province, Thailand. Photo: Stephen Kirwin
Rebuilding Fish Farm with KIRF donations, Thailand. Photo: Jada
Water again in the village of Bandha – made possible by KIRF's donors. Photo: Rick Fendrick, MSPH;
Right Photo: Maasai cattle leaving over-grazed hillsides during dry season near Oldonyo Sambu, Tanzania. Photo: Angela Rockett Kirwin
KIRF continues to help some of the poorest children and their families in rural Bihar, India have a better future by providing educational supplies and vocational training support through KIRF India. Mark Kirwin, the director of KIRF, visited KIRF India's newest free rural village school the Kirwin James International Education Center in the rural village of Shekhwara last year to assess needs and deliver supplies. The rural center provides an academic education, vocational training and health care free to local impoverished lowest caste families who would otherwise go without. 
The Kirwin James International Education Center in Shekhwara has three classrooms, playground, a garden, sewing center, and employs two full-time teachers. The sewing center was established by KIRF. The sewing center trains village woman a skill to help them earn money to provide for their families. The sewing center employs a part-time sewing teacher. 
KIRF continues to support a free educational program for internally displaced ("IDP") refugee children in Burma who would otherwise not be able to go to school. According to the interim report of the IDP schools by the Community School Project (May to October 2009) 23 schools educating approximately 1,545 students received aid such as text books, writing supplies and sports equipment as well as mosquito nets, tooth brushes, flip-flops, umbrellas, sarongs and longyis (Burmese apparel) for teachers. Curriculum at these schools included Math, Science, Geography, basic health, history, Karen, Burmese and English. KIRF and other non-governmental organizations deliver the school supplies via an informal aid network based in northern Thailand due to the continued military violence.
The school's are free and teachers receive a small stipend. Challenges to these schools include continued security issues and malnutrition. 
KIRF renewed funding for a family of children who live in a slum in Gaya, a city in the northern Indian state of Bihar. They will be able to attend another year at the prestigious St. Thomas Academy. The lives of these children are hard to imagine for most people in the United States. However, they will have a good education and contacts for more opportunity as they get older. Because of KIRF's supoort these four siblings have been able to attend school since Spring 2007. KIRF’s scholarships pay for tuition, school uniforms and school supplies. 
