Authentic, homemade Indian food will be a feature of KU Cultural India Club’s fundraising dinner tonight. The dinner starts at 7 p.m. at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries and tickets are $10.

Amruta Bhadkamkar, Mumbai, India, junior, is president of KUCIC and has been a member for two and a half years. He said KUCIC would donate the funds to one or two charities that alleviate poverty in India. One supports the educational and personal development of Adivasis, the indigenous tribes of India, and the other is Save-A-Mother, an organization working to reduce maternal mortality in India.

“If we don’t collect enough money to split, we will choose an organization after the dinner,” Bhadkamkar said. “But for now, we are hoping that we’ll be able to help both the organizations.”

Sudarshan Loya, Aurangabad, India, second-year graduate student, said the charity for the Adivasis provided medical aid and schools for Adivasis living in the Vidarbha region of India, where those services wouldn’t otherwise exist.

“We are in a very secure country, but there are people around the world who only have one meal a day,” Loya said.

Bhadkamkar said the charity for the Adavasis was started by Prakash Amte, an Indian social activist, 30 years ago. The Adivasis are undernourished and living below the poverty line without good roads and electricity, he said.

“For us students, $10 in exchange for good food would not make or break us. But for these people, the same amount would mean more than a month’s worth of good food, medicines or other hygienic materials,” Bhadkamkar said.

Varsha Desai, Gujarat, India, sophomore, and vice president of KUCIC, said almost 160 women died daily because of medical complications during pregnancies in India. Save-A-Mother helps pregnant mothers with their diets, surgery or any medical issues that could result in maternal mortality, Desai said.

“Education is important and by educating this backward youth of India, somewhere we are further securing the future of the country and uplifting these poverty-ridden individuals,” Desai said. “Being involved in any work which helps the needy provides me with great satisfaction and I consider that as the most efficient usage of my time.”

Desai said there would be about 15 kinds of authentic Indian food and all the items would be prepared using Indian spices. She said the dinner would include several types of vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries, a variety of rices, several lentil soups, Indian snacks, also called “chaats,” along with other side dishes and Indian sweet dishes. Also, Indian chai and lemonade would be provided, Desai said.

Loya said he helped make the Mattar Paneer, an Indian dish of peas and cheese. He said the Indian food would have spices from India that cannot be found in Lawrence, which gave students an opportunity to try food they had never eaten before while donating to help feed the hungry.

“We really wanted to help a charity, but most students don’t have the time to do lots of work,” Loya said, “This way people can give money to the charity and eat authentic Indian food with real Indian spices.”

— — Edited by Sonya English