GlobalGiving.org: From grinding poverty to graduation

Changing young people lives for ever

Naresh- Ji and Santosh Kumar — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:42:21 GMT

Santos

Thank you for your continuing support.

For all of India’s emergence as an economic power the State of Bihar has double the number of people living in extreme poverty than in the whole of Ethiopia. ( Source Department of International development UK)

Your support is very much needed to change these young peoples lives. Here is a letter for you all,

My name is Santosh and I want to say hello and thank you to you all.

I am a CAPS student and I am living in Delhi studying Spanish. I also get to meet and greet official visitors to People First in Delhi and brush up on my English! I cannot tell you enough how much I realise how very lucky I am to get this chance due to a People First Scholarship.

My family is very poor and were unable to provide with me with a good education and there was only the People First School which offered hope to children like me.

But I want to make my parents proud. Education is not an option for me. It is everything. My life. I will be able to help my whole family in the future.

Without it I cannot have any future and my family who work as hard as they can, will still remain in poverty. Here in Bihar India the minimum wage is just $2.00 or £1.50 a day.

Please help students like me achieve everything beyond our wildest dreams. A decent life ,and an escape from poverty for ever.

Thank you,

Santosh Kumar

Links:

Making dreams come true- How do you make that work?

DEEPAK KUMAR — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 08:33:20 GMT

CAPS STUDENTS

Hi Supporters and friends!

Time for another update.

First my I express on behalf of our children our hearfelt appreciation for your donations for this important project.

You will have seen personal testimonies from children, explaining how the programme has given them opportunuities they never dreamed possible.

But what exactly is the CAPS scheme , How does it work?

I thought I would use this update to clarify how the scheme works to bring a better understanding of the reach and effects of the project.

Ok, as you probably know CAPS means Children's Academic Personal Scholarships. But children from where? How are they selected? How much assistance do you give?

The aims of CAPS is very close to the mission statement of the Trust, which is,

"Our mission is the bringing of educational opportunity and to promote health and social rights to those to whom such opportunities have previously been denied to poverty family circumstances or oppression".

CAPS does this one child at a time.

It has several different strands.

Education of the Girl Child

Promoting the education of girls by offering fully paid sponsorship to girls living in the local community from very economically disadvantaged backgrounds to enable them to complete their education

A chance for college

Supporting exceptionally bright students through college and University

A residential school scholarship.

Offering a fantastic chance to very bright students from our village school to complete their education to school leaving examination level at class 10.

Students are selected by a panel of teachers, our education director and a former CAPS student. It is a competitive programme, only the very best can secure a CAPS place. Parents are involved in the process.

Ex CAPS students have gone on to be policeman, bank employees, office workers and translators. It has to be remembered, these are children who come from extremely poor backgrounds , living in mud dwellings and who could not even afford a pair of sandals, who had no possessions at all. On employment they voluntarily give 10% of their earnings back into the scheme as a donation in order to help others.

Thank you for helping them

Deepak Kumar

Chairperson

People First

Links:

My name is Pinto. Thank you all so much

Pinto Kumar and Naresh Kumar — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:43:09 GMT

Pinto a proud CAPS student

Dear Friends,

I am very happy to help write this update for Global Giving with the help of Mr Naresh Kumar the education director of People First.

I come from a small village where there is no electricity school or doctor, but in the next village People First ran a school and when I had finished my chores in the morning I went there to learn.

The school taught the children a song which had the words," I will help with the animals and in the field every day but please let me go to school to learn" I used to sing it to my family.

At night I would do extra studies by the light of a wick lantern.

Soon I was passing my exams in the first position and was recommended by my principal to try for a place on the People First Childrens Academic Personal Scholarship (CAPS) scheme.

My family is very poor we cannot even afford a tile roof so the straw gets damp in the rains, so the chance to go to a private school for a full time residential education was beyond the wildest dreams and hopes for my family.

I was lucky and I got selected, after quite a long process, and two years ago I chose to go to a private school in Bodhgaya, where I study in Class Seven

I want to help my family, I want then to try and use my education to help others. I have the good fortune to be the first in my family to be able to say " I am educated and ready for a whole new future"

Note

This update was based on a series of Interviews with Pinto and some written material translated from Hindi.

Your support really does change lives tremendously,

And Pintos story is quite typical of the CAPS students

Thanks for all your help,

Naresh SIr

Links:

Towards a Better Life

Naresh Kumar — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:10:26 GMT

Prince

Greetings from Bihar,

Here the summer is at its peak and schools and colleges are closed for the summer holidays. Temperatures are reaching up to 111 degrees in the day!

But of course it marks the end of the school and college year and before the summer break it is the time of examinations.

As you know under this scheme we can only sponsor and help the most academically gifted of our students, we really try and give priority to girls.

So how did our students do?

Well first, all the students under the CAPS ( Children's Personal Academic Sponsorship) scheme passed their examinations in their schools.

Prince whose picture is included in this report was taking his school leaving examinations and passed with a 70% first Division Credit.

Remember Sheethal ? She has passed her first exam in accountancy.

In fact not a single CAPS student failed.

I want to make it clear to all supporters the difficulty with student loans, surely I hear you ask are educational loans not available?

The fact is loans (if the student qualifies) are only available after Class 12 level, that is two years after taking their school leaving examinations. There is a reason why quotas in universities in India for the weaker and most backward sections of the community are never filled. How are the very poor to educate their children to the required standard with tuition and support when no assistance is available to them?

Of course every successful CAPS student spells the beginning of the end of not only poverty for them but their entire families. When they marry they will be in a position to educate their own children.

And the first students in full time employment after coming through the CAPS scheme donate 10% of their salary on a voluntary basis back into the scheme to help others.

Those of who receive our updates regularly know from all of the students stories just how important this programme is and we thank you so much for all your support

Please visit our website, the link is below.

Naresh

Links:

People First Website

Walking my own path

Updendra Kumar — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:22:23 GMT

Upendra

Updendra’s Story

Choosing my own path

“Education means everything to me.”

I understand that in the West, in the UK and the USA for example everybody gets a chance to go to School. One of the co-founders of People First told me one day that actually he hated his school and left early with little or no qualifications. When he was my age, about 22 he realized his mistake and went back to school, to university to study for his degree. And now he has started an educational charity and is working for so many children to have the right to an education. He once told me “education is not merely the gaining of qualifications; it is the right to choose your own path in life”. I mention this because without People First that choice would have been denied to me, I would have still been taking my family’s goats to the river, I would not have been able to read even the local newspaper, I would have had no chance of a fulfilling life. I would have been like so many in my village, like so many of my family, unable to even fill in the form for a railway ticket without help, unable to know about my rights, unable to know which bus to catch, kept in ignorance and poverty because nobody was there to teach me to read and write.

I know there are people who say, educating village children will kill the village. They will all leave for the lights and flyovers of the cities and metros, they will abandon their homes, they will never return. But I want to tell you, who are the dishwashers behind the scenes of the five star hotels, who are the rickshaw pullers, the labourers building luxury flats for the rich? They are mainly the uneducated poor from States like Bihar. The general coaches of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata bound trains are full of such people. All travelling in hope and in dirty overcrowded coaches for the chance to make a pittance under the skyscrapers and a polluted sky, far away from the clean green air of the village. Most will return with little to show for their efforts, mostly broken dreams and empty pockets.

The trafficking of people, particularly children from Bihar is well documented but the full extent is not really known, it is a huge problem. And yet people say providing education for the village poor will make the situation worse? I say to those who doubt the value of an education, I am sure you criticise from the position of being provided one.

I will never abandon my family. Nor will any other student that I know from People First. If anything we will be able to help break the so called cycle of poverty.

I want to help provide my family with a tiled roof to replace the straw one, I want never again to see them hungry, I want them to worry no longer about the future, about their children, I want them to live lives of dignity in reasonable comfort, to never again not have money to buy medicines for their children for, my dying brother, who passed away when he was five, for want of a bottle of pills costing about one US dollar. With my education I can do all these things and have a wonderful fulfilled life myself. That is all I ask.

I was born into a Dalit caste family in a poor village in Bihar. Of course we never had toys but we used you make our own, a brick tied to a piece of string would do, but I was soon helping with the household chores and tending the goats. I have two brothers one younger and one older, and one sister. We accepted our life, in our culture to be born into a lower caste is regarded as a punishment from God for transgressions in a former life.

We were often hungry. I always remember in my childhood how my mother would always do her best to look clean, even in her tattered Sari, how she would always try to do her best for us, even if there was only a little rice to cook. And my father who never drank, but would tell us tell us stories at night by the light of a simple lantern, and would try and find a piece of plastic to cover the roof above the place on the floor where we slept, when the rains came.

There was a government school, but there was nobody there except children waiting for teachers to come, or when they did to be actually taught by them.

And then People First started a school. They came to our village because many villagers got together and donated land to them so they could build a school.

It was of course, the beginning of a whole new life, it would transform everything.

I studied hard; I knew this was my way out. I won a People First Scholarship under the CAPS scheme (Children’s Academic Personal Scholarships) to a private residential school. I remember the day I told my mum and dad I was going to study full time, and they both beamed with pride. My mum, tears in her eyes, whispered “Dear God my son is going to be somebody, he will stand tall”

I passed my school leaving certificate and to be eligible for a college scholarship through People First I had to get a first division pass, I just scraped it to be honest.

First Division means the top 10%.

I was sponsored to go to college, and after studying computer engineering locally to Intermediate level, I am now completing my degree in software and computer engineering in a prestigious college in Bangalore, I am presently learning the C++language. I give thanks for the opportunities afforded to me every single day.

I walk the path with joy and hope. updendradasni@rediffmail.com

Note: This story is based on a series of Interviews with Updendra describing his life.

Links:

People First Website

Sheetals Story- Educating Girls and Changing Lives

Sheetal Kumari — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 05:19:41 GMT

Sheethal Kumari

My name is Sheetal. I am 16 years of age. I have 2 brothers and I live in a small dwelling by the main road in Gaya India. My family is very poor and my mother works cleaning houses for about 50 Rupees a day.( Note about $1.10 cents). My father is too ill to work. I was lucky to go a People First School and get an education, but with my brothers being small I also need to help the family.

People First gave me a wonderful chance under the CAPS programme, and because of my situation found a part time work experience and job training opportunity in the People First Office where I am learning bookeeping and accounting. But due to support from the CAP's programme I am also going to college doing a Basic Diploma in Computing skills. If it were not for the People First Staff counselling my parents to allow my education to go forward I would probably be married now with no real future .

I want to say these opportunities given by People First to myself and many others are our way out from a life without hope.

Thank you for all your help and I ask you on behalf of all of the students in this fantastic programme, please help us, agaisnt the odds, to make our dreams come true.

NOTE This was translated from Hindi and is unedited.

Links:

Our website

BINOD GOES TO SCHOOL

Nick Hansen — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 06:47:33 GMT

Binod goes to School

Greetings and best compliments of the season to you all!

The CAPS scheme, designed as it is primarily to assist gifted students gain a college education also offers full time residential education in the community for gifted students, and when funds allow, for street and railway children.

From living on the platform with a bleak future ahead of them, to starting an education which will change their lives, this is indeed a wonderful thing.

Liile Binod shown in the photograph, is one such child. Abandoned on the station, now he is full of smiles and hope.

Thank you all for your fantastic support, and please give what you can, no matter how small the donation, IT ALL HELPS!, and we promise you your money will go directly to children to give them an education . An education perhaps in their wildest dreams they thought they would never have, but which they most certainly deserve.

He has been at school for some months now, passing his exams successfully and talking of becoming a teacher himself.

Again Thank You for all your help.

(name has been changed for child protection reasons)

Change a Life for a Whole Family

Jim and Neil and Naresh Kumar education director — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:03:09 GMT

This is copy of a section of a report commissioned by a supporting organization concerning the CAPS scheme. It illustrates the enormous life changing effect of the programme and its inspiring effect for all our students

CAPS programme

We are full of admiration for the student sponsorship programme facilitated by PFECT. Due to the high level of funding required it is inevitable that the number of students it can currently hope to serve is limited. However, in our eyes it serves several key purposes of benefit for the students it serves and the students who are aiming for it: it is a highly aspirational goal for students to aim for; it is highly competitive and thus a strong motivation for students to succeed at lower levels of education; it clearly has the power to genuinely transform lives; and finally, it creates a sense of positive identity between the students and PFECT. In short, it is everything that education should be.

Although an expensive programme with limited numbers, we feel that wherever possible it should continue. Whilst demanding a high ratio of financial resources , we feel the aspirational example of the CAPs students to current school students, in addition to the life-changing benefits to the CAPs students, is of immeasurable importance.

As such we think that PFECT could capitalize on the success stories of both current and former CAPs students in a more visible way in the village schools to promote maximum aspiration. Whilst it is unrealistic for every school student to progress to further education, the profile and awareness of the success stories seemed limited within the village schools.

Investigate possible avenues of targeted fundraising or corporate sponsorship (both in the UK and India) to secure necessary funding for the time length required. For example, produce CAPS-specific literature with a full breakdown of the current monthly costs required to be circulated wherever possible. Additionally, given this requirement for sustained funding, such targeted fundraising should be openly advertised as being for restricted/designated funds over a minimum time-span to ensure a student can complete their full course without jeopardizing other aspects of PFECT’s work.

From October 12th will be matching funds up to 50% on a $1000 donation. Thank you for your support and help, change a child's future and their children's futures for ever.

Educating Girls in Bihar

Naresh-Ji and Pramilla Kumari — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:33:54 GMT

This Scholarship scheme is particularly targeted at girls and young women who need financial and other support to complete their education to a far higher level than would otherwise we possible. It’s the old adage, “educate a girl and you educate a whole family” Add to that the low status of women in the villages and lack of any opportunity to study and you have as recipe for ignorance. Help us break through that ignorance by helping us educate a girl child. It gives then options and a status they could otherwise only have dreamed of, a self respect and a new awareness, and brighter future.

The following is written by Pramilla Kumari, a girl aged 18 now and studying computer sciences at a local college. My name is Pramilla. I come from a large family of 12 children. My father is as farmer but we have very little land. Our House is made of Mud with a straw roof. My family did not want me to be educated, in fact at first they did not like me going to the local village school run by People First but I was determined. Both my parents cannot read and write. I persevered. A lady teacher came from the People First office and said my teachers had recommended me for a scholarship to study in further education. I have always loved computers. First my family disagreed but People First bought my family a male and female goat and in return they signed an agreement not to disturb my education. I have already passed my interim examinations. I am determined all my children will be educated; my skills will help me support them after my marriage. My education means everything to me.

Thank you for your support.

Please visit our website for news of our work, www.peoplefirstindia.net

A chance of a new life

Naresh Kumar — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:40:43 GMT

I would like the chance to explain in more detail the scholarship scheme. In the west families do make great sacrifices to give a college education to their children, in the UK students have to take loans and often work as well.

The students we help are from backgrounds so poor they have no land or collateral to secure loans from traditional sources, and therefore are denied the chance of further education even if they have worked so hard to gain the qualifications necessary.

People First presently sponsors 15 students in college or at University, and without our help none of these bright young people would be able to continue their studies. The students themselves undertake to give 10% of their future wages back into the scheme to help others have the same chance that they had. Graduates have found employment in the police , with banks and with the State government on good salaries which helps their whole family finally climb out of abject poverty.

For an example of one student who recently found employment please see the latest updates section of our website www.peoplefirstindia.net, "Sanjay goes to HSBC"

We do try and sponsor girls. Their education will give them important security. We would like to thank you for your help, and if you are interested in individually sponsoring a specific student please contact us at india_peoplefirst@yahoo.com

MY NAME IS SANJAY

Sanjay Kumar — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 02:53:03 GMT

Sanjay Kumar People First Sponsored Student

A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM SANJAY KUMAR / THE FIRST STUDENT AMBASSADOR FOR PEOPLE FIRST

My name is Sanjay Kumar and it has been my pleasure to meet people visiting People First arriving in Delhi and helping them. I came to Delhi on a People First CAPS scholarship to study French at the Alliance Francaise. I am also studying tourism management. Now as I come to the end of my time studying and look forward to the world of work, I cannot believe how lucky I have been. My family was so poor they could not look after me and I was sent away to live with my maternal uncle in another village. How different it all was then. Let us say life was hard, I was not even going to school, and I could see no future. Everything changed when I started studying at the local People First village school. From there I was lucky enough to get a place at a residential school and after my school leaving examinations; I went on to study in Delhi. This is all due to the kindness of others, and I shall always remain thankful for all the opportunities that I have received through People First. I have enjoyed my time as Student Ambassador explaining to groups visiting our projects some of the difficulties many children face in gaining an education. I have also learnt so much about different cultures. My education has totally transformed my life. Please support People First. I certainly intend to donate 10% of my income in the future to help support others, so they too can have a chance of a decent life, just like me. Sanjay Kumar

Education means freedom

Nisha Kumari — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:47:59 GMT

Nisha

I just wanted to tell you, that it is so difficult for girls like me to get an education. without the support of People First it would not be possible. i am one of many girls going to college sponsored by the Trust. I am studying computer sciences. When i started in the village school run by people first it was beyond my imagining that i would one day go to college. Thank you for supporting us. Education gives us the frredom in life we could never have otherwise. the freedom to be independent, the freedom to choose a better life for us and in time our children.

HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING

Sunil Kumar — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 02:08:09 GMT

HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING

My name is Sunil. I am 21 years of age and I am studying a foreign language in Delhi. My life prospects are good; my job chances are even now promising. I have a life full of expectation and purpose. How different it all was before. I was born into a very poor family in the forest areas of Bihar. At an early age my father became mentally ill wandering the forest leaving my mother to try and feed her three children. As the oldest child, although I was only 9 years old I was sent to live to my Uncle many miles away. They were also poor and were farmers with their own children. I worked in the fields from Dawn to nightfall labouring on land my uncle did not own. At night after my uncles family were fed I was given the scraps, if there was anything left over, sometimes only a single piece of bread. I became very thin. The food was thrown to me on the floor and I had no bed and only one torn set of clothes. I cried for such a long time every night. At that time an organisation called People First were running a school in the village, I was not allowed to go as I had to work. But my Uncle came to know they ran a small hostel and brought me there. I think although they did not have a lot of fund I must have looked very thin and I had some marks from the occasional beating, so they took me in. My life began to change, for the first time for a long time I heard laughter and I was no longer afraid. Hope changes everything; education became the chance I had never had to fulfil my dreams. I worked hard and passed my School leaving examination at Grade One Level and got accepted to study in Delhi. People First through their scholarship scheme made all of this possible. Please consider helping those such as myself, I am a lucky and grateful person, but I know there are so many more children who need such a chance. Help give others hope, help others like me. Please. Thank You. Sunil Kumar People First Scholarship Student Delhi

Hope changes everything

Sunil Kumar — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:31:35 GMT

HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING

My name is Sunil. I am 21 years of age and I am studying a foreign language in Delhi. My life prospects are good; my job chances are even now promising. I have a life full of expectation and purpose. How different it all was before. I was born into a very poor family in the forest areas of Bihar. At an early age my father became mentally ill wandering the forest leaving my mother to try and feed her three children. As the oldest child, although I was only 9 years old I was sent to live to my Uncle many miles away. They were also poor and were farmers with their own children. I worked in the fields from Dawn to nightfall labouring on land my uncle did not own. At night after my uncles family were fed I was given the scraps, if there was anything left over, sometimes only a single piece of bread. I became very thin. The food was thrown to me on the floor and I had no bed and only one torn set of clothes. I cried for such a long time every night. At that time an organisation called People First were running a school in the village, I was not allowed to go as I had to work. But my Uncle came to know they ran a small hostel and brought me there. I think although they did have a lot of fund I must have looked very thin and I had some marks from the occasional beating, so they took me in. My life began to change, for the first time for a long time I heard laughter and I was no longer afraid. Hope changes everything; education became the chance I had never had to fulfil my dreams. I worked hard and passed my School leaving examination at Grade One Level and got accepted to study in Delhi. People First through their scholarship scheme made all of this possible. Please consider helping those such as myself, I am a lucky and grateful person, but I know there are so many more children who need such a chance. Help give others hope, help others like me. Please. Thank You. Sunil Kumar People First Scholarship Student Delhi