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OUR TEAM - who we are & why we care
Barapur, Etah in Utter Pradesh, India is the ancestral village of Grandmaster Abhai Singh Rathore. The village (and two neighboring villages) are all from the same family line. Grandmaster Singh's great-grandfather started Barapur and it has remained the family's home for generations.
Grandmaster Singh's parents left Barapur in order to have the opportunity to grow, develop and become successful. That opportunity was passed on to Grandmaster Singh and he has never forgotten the sacrifice it required.
Grandmaster Abhai Singh Rathore
8th Dan Black Belt, Taekwondo
Grandmaster Singh is a Kukkiwon certified 8th degree black belt and former Indian National Champion. In 1980, he was a Founder executive member of the Taekwondo Federation of India (TFI) and began spreading Taekwondo to various colleges in 10 different states within India. Through 1980-1990, he established 36 branches of Taekwondo programs in private and public institutions. During this time, he also introduced Taekwondo to the Indian Olympic Association.
In 1993 Grandmaster Singh and his family moved to the United States. He worked hard to be fully responsible for what was entrusted to him, opening several Taekwondo schools in the United States with hundreds of students.
He is now passionate to go back and offer the opportunity of success to his family in Barapur, but without them having to leave the ancestral village in order to attain it, as he and his parents did.
U.S.-BASED TEAM
Udit Rathore
Founder of Sangrock Youth Empowerment Initiative
Udit was born in New Delhi, India and grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has been serving in the U.S. Navy since 2008. As a midshipman he studied Engineering and Leadership Development for many years. In his free time he participated in community building and home construction projects in Baltimore, MD and New Orleans, LA.
Following two tours of service on board the USS HOWARD and USS MILIUS, he was inspired after visiting Ekta Center and knew he wanted to do more for the community. While working on a Youth Leadership Program for Sangrock Taekwondo, he realized that bridging the gap between youth in Charlotte, NC and other overseas community building projects could provide considerable opportunities for both communities.
In 2018, he and his family founded Sangrock Youth Empowerment Initiative, 501(c)3, to further this partnership and support leadership and vocational learning opportunities through collaboration, scholarship, fundraising, and training. Today, this partnership continues to flourish.
Monica Singh Rathore
Co-Founder of Sangrock Youth Empowerment Initiative
Co-Founder of Ekta Center
Monica was born in India. She and Grandmaster Singh have been married 33 years. She graduated with a degree in commercial arts, a precursor to graphic design and has handled the administrative operations of the Sangrock schools since their inception. Her mission with Sangrock Youth Empowerment Initiative is the same as Grandmaster Singh's, to help those in rural India to have the same opportunities that have been afforded to her.
Anu Dhir
Educational Consultant
Anu Dhir is a passionate and committed educator with over two decades of experience teaching and mentoring K-12 students. Her interests and expertise are focused particularly on the differentiated classroom and student behavior management, as well as family engagement. Her approach to classroom management is focused both on providing students with a structured learning environment while simultaneously cultivating a culture focused on experiential learning. Her goal is to bring equity to the educational system in India.
Anu initiated the virtual educational program to align with the founder’s vision of establishing quality education centers in the village with the goal to uplift and enhance the educational system by training the teachers to be able to improve the student outcomes. She is tasked with overseeing the online instruction, training the teachers and curating the curriculum. Currently she is focused on training students on basic computer literacy in preparation for the 2022-2023 school year.
INDIA-BASED TEAM
Smt Asha Soni
Founder of Ekta Center
Ekta Center Director
Born in 1945 in Bastishekh, Jalandhar, Punjab, Smt Asha Soni did matriculation in the early years of India's independence. Consumed by her burning desire to become a doctor in order to serve ailing people, she tried to join medicine studies but destiny had something else to offer her and eventually she had to drop her studies. She got married early and committed herself to home making, which she did splendidly. She moved to the USA in 1999 along with her husband, eventually becoming a citizen. Meanwhile her husband suffered paralysis as the result of a stroke and his subsequent death made her suffer agonizing pain and trials of life.
Gandhian by nature and having long cherished the innate desire of social service, she responded to the call of the Honorable Prime Minister of India Shree Narendra Modi to the NRIs to come back to their roots and work for the upliftment of the youth of the motherland.
Smt Asha Soni returned to India in 2014 and founded a non profit organization, Ekta Center in the village of Barapur. She started organic farming in the village alone with practicing naturopathy. Wanting to empower the women of the village, she also started a sewing training in Ekta Center.
Currently she is working as a Director of Ekta Center. Her guiding belief in life is 'Ekta- Suvidha- Vikas', that Unity brings Facilities and culminates in Development thus resulting in overall prosperity.
Anand Singh Chauhan
Ekta Center Manager & Project Head
Born and brought up in District Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh, Anand moved to Allahabad for higher studies. He has a graduate degree in Science (B.Sc.) and Law (LL.B.) & Master in Business Administration (MBA). Before committing to entrepreneurship he worked in Education, Training and Development, FMCG and Construction Industry.
The idea of transforming Indian kids and youths, especially in rural areas, into action-oriented complete human beings, in body, mind and spirit through Taekwondo training and academic teaching from very early school days moved Anand. He has contributed to this worthy endeavor as a Project Head for the Ekta Center and the many projects that fall under that umbrella, including developing infrastructure within the village and building both the primary school and the community college.
Shikha Singh Chauhan
Academic Head of Badapur Primary School
Mrs Shikha Singh with a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and Master in English Literature has years of teaching and administration experience in various reputed educational institutes of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Moved by her innate desire of educating and nurturing rural kids, she has now joined the Black Belt World Global's initiative of transforming rural kids as a Principal and academic head at Village Ganpatipur, Barapur, District Etah, Uttar Pradesh.
A polite disciplinarian, Mrs Singh has started assisting in making Village Ganpatipur Barapur' Primary School a Smart School where holistic education could be provided to rural youths through regular Taekwondo (Martial Art) training along with Academic teachings.
We can't do this alone.
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