GlobalGiving.org: Education Scholarships for Child Laborers in India

A Turning Tide

Rachel Curtis — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:46:18 GMT

Neeraj, Sukhpal, Kamlesh and sister

On December 7 we distributed sweaters to keep 56 brick kiln bus riders warm from the morning chill on their way to primary school in Bhanguri village of Hathin block. While uniforms are now provided by the government (thanks to our local partner’s legal advocacy in the area) we provide these children with school bags, notebooks and sweaters to further encourage their academic commitment.

Demonstrating how this project has impacted parents’ thinking about their children’s potential, one migrant from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh spoke with our project manager, Suraj Kumar. Sukhpal, whose grade 5 daughter Kamlesh has been attending the school in Bhanguri for the last three years, worries that his work in the brick kilns will impede his three children from learning skilled labor. They help him make bricks after school to raise the family’s income, but he now thinks of the long-term consequences. Next year, he says, he will try harder to find work nearer his home so that his children can stay in school there, and won’t need to work in the afternoons to help finance the costs of migrating. (See our February 22, 2011 update to learn how Kamlesh convinced Sukhpal to let her go to school.)

Your support has been critical to making this type of long-term, sustainable change possible in rural India. Thank you so much for being a part of it.

Neeraj, Sukhpal and Kamlesh, one year ago

Brick Kiln Kids in their new sweaters

Links:

Migrants return to Mewat's brick kilns - plus BREAKING NEWS!

Rachel Curtis — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:46:48 GMT

Babita, Bijerani, Sangeeta and Sanee

Migrant laborers have begun trickling back to the brick kilns of Mewat, Haryana state, from their homes in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh. Visiting on October 19, we found the family of Rameshwar and Anguri Devi was among the first to arrive after the kilns' closure for the summer monsoons. We were happy to see that their children Babita, Bijerani, Sangeeta and Shanshee would be riding our bus transportation to school again this year, one grade up from the last time we saw them. Moreover, the Devis hope to find work delivering bricks throughout the region when the monsoons come next summer, allowing them to stay in Mewat year round. If they are successful, there will be no disruption to the children's attendance either at the end of this academic year or at the start of the new one.

Also with the Devis was another migrant family they knew in their home town outside of Agra (the city of the Taj Majal). This year they opted to migrate with the Devis to Mewat to try working in the kilns, and when our bus - funded by YOU - comes to pick up the Devis' children, their son Sanee will go to school for the first time in his life.

GUESS WHAT? WE HAVE EXCITING NEWS!

We know you care about Indian children's right to education, so we thought we would tell you about another GlobalGiving project that was recently selected to participate in an exciting competition happening RIGHT NOW!

Girls in rural India face enormous challenges when it comes to getting to school. With secondary school located as much as ten kilometers away, they are subject to harrassment or even aggression when walking through unfamiliar villages. This is why we provide safe, chaperoned bus transportation to approximately 100 girls in Mewat, Haryana—the most regressive districts in terms of girls’ education in all of India.

Lotus Outreach has been selected to participate in the first ever Girl Effect Challenge. Between now and November 15, we are competing with approximately 50 other organizations around the world to become one of six beneficiaries of the Girl Effect Fund, a collective giving pool that has raised nearly $700,000 to date.

By becoming a Girl Effect partner, we will not only receive significant financial support for our Blossom Bus project in 2012, but we will also get critical exposure to Girl Effect fans around the world. Need proof that this will make a difference? The Girl Effect has 17,500 followers on Twitter, 260,000 "likes" on Facebook and nearly 1,000,000 views on YouTube! And it isn't hard to see why the Girl Effect is so popular: watch this video to learn why.

WE CAN’T WIN WITHOUT YOUR HELP

Between now and November 15, our Blossom Bus project must recruit as many unique donors as possible. We are asking all of our supporters to give just $10 during this time period to help us win the competition. Every donation raised during this period will not only bring us one step closer to our dream of partnering with Girl Effect, but will ensure adolescent girls in Mewat, India can safely return to school. By providing bus transportation, we will help many of these girls escape childhood marriage and become the first girls to reach high school in the history of their villages!

You can make your $10 donation today.

HELP US GO GUERRILLA

We know we can do this! You helped Lotus Outreach win a similar challenge in 2009. But we also know how important it is to get our supporters mobilized and engaged. Please tell your friends, family and colleagues about this competition and ask them to pledge their support. Every donation counts so please help us spread the word far and wide through email, Facebook and Twitter!

Questions? Please contact info@lotusoutreach.org.

Blossom Bus girls in rural Mewat

Links:

Summer break update from Mewat's brick kilns

Glenn Fawcett — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:15:09 GMT

A migrant laborer looking over our education flyer

Our campaign in Mewat, Haryana has awakened brick kiln laborers as well as teachers and authorities to children’s right to education and the laws that support it. When we started our advocacy four years ago, almost everyone simply ignored the fact that local school-age children were living as laborers. Local schools were happy not to have to deal with the extra work required to instruct them.

The good news for us all is that we have helped hundreds of parents and children develop the habit of attending school in the knowledge that education is the only way out of the ruthless cycle of poverty. Some of these families have been mired for generations in illiteracy and destitution; for some, as long as living memory.

In the current monsoon season the brick-kiln communities at Mewat have a deserted atmosphere, but soon migrating families will return from their home villages where they were tending their own small plots of land, mending flimsy homes, or laboring on farms and construction sites. Community leaders and families remaining at the Mewat’s brick kilns have told us the wonderful news that many of the children who traveled to school on our Brick Kiln Kids bus have continued to attend school over the summer break in their home villages.

We have also been told that many families may not return to Mewat’s kilns, preferring to take up the option of working through a new government rural development scheme. Designed to ensure villagers have sufficient work and are paid a minimum wage, this program will hopefully allow many families to remain in their home communities.

Whatever the outcome, we expect to see many families return to the kilns and in October we will begin transporting as many as 400 of their children as possible to school. We will keep the issue of education for migrant labor on the front burner through our ongoing partnership with national and state level education authorities. Our goal remains to see them become sensitive and proactive in creating strategies to ensure children are identified and brought to school, whether children of migrants or local villagers.

Thank you so much for the support you have shown to this migrant community. In our next report we will be able to tell you how many children have returned to the kilns, and how many are continuing their studies as a result of your contributions.

In the classroom instead of the kilns

History and civics lessons

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The face of child labor

Rachel Curtis — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:08:41 GMT

Brijesh

The family featured in this video migrated to Mewat's brick kilns from the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, where they typically return each year during the rainy season. This year is different; with five of their eight children attending school regularly thanks to our buses, parents Ram Das and Malma Devi want to stay in Mewat so as not to disrupt this education - and to add literacy to their legacy.

The radiant smile of 10 year-old Brijesh, pictured below, inspires us to keep this transportation in place until we can pressure the local government to provide it instead. Brijesh, four of her siblings, and 400 other brick kiln children spend their days in a classroom rather than under the hot sun because of this program.

While we have many projects designed to keep children in school and out of work, our brick kiln kids illustrate this reality most starkly. This June 12 is World Day Against Child Labor; we hope you will take the time that day to remember the faces and families you see here. Thank you for your continued support of these happy and hopeful children.

Watch our video to meet Brijesh and her family.

Making bricks from mud

No time to play

A kid's place - with other kids, learning ABCs

Links:

Daughters deserve school, too

Rachel Curtis — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:01:46 GMT

Sukhpal, Kamlesh, and Neeraj

Migrant laborer Sukhpal has come to work in the brick kilns of Mewat from Uttar Pradesh for each of the last 12 years. His eldest daughter is married, but two of his younger children accompany him on his annual journey to Mewat. When Lotus Outreach officers approached him about enrolling his children, Sukhpal had mixed feelings. “I was very happy as I felt it was important that my son be educated, but I admit I didn’t want to lose another income,” says Sukhpal. He decided to split the difference by keeping his daughter at work with him. As is all too typical among the rural poor, Sukhpal felt it wise to support his son's education over his daughter's.

A few days after eight year-old Neeraj began taking the Lotus van to school, 12 year-old Kamlesh shyly approached the driver and asked, “Can I also go to school?” Familiar with Lotus Outreach’s mission to provide access to all school-aged children, the driver made our officers aware that Kamlesh had been left behind.

Asked why Kamlesh was still working when she was very keen to go to school, Sukhpal explained that the loss of her income would be very hard on the family. Officer Suraj Kumar impressed upon Sukhpal that educating a daughter was just as important as educating a son, and that Kamlesh would benefit equally, if not more, from formal schooling. Sukhpal agreed to send her.

We later learned that Sukhpal had been scared Lotus Outreach would deny Neeraj the ride to school if he refused to send Kamlesh as well. Although this isn’t true, we’re glad he changed his mind. Several months later, with Kamlesh excelling at her studies, so is Sukhpal. “I’m very happy the Lotus people convinced me to send her, as she’s the only child among the 30-odd families at our brick kiln who can read English,” he boasts. “This is a matter of pride for our whole family.”

The illiterate parents who migrate to work in Mewat's kilns are very happy to have their children enrolled there, since the quality of education is better than in Uttar Pradesh. Yet even when Sukhpal returns home during the brief rainy season, his kids insist on going to school. “The children have become so involved with their studies, they don’t want to miss school even at home!”

Grateful laborers and kids in Hathin block, Mewat

First generation learners and proud fathers

Links:

School Bus Service Extended to 400 Child Laborers!

Rachel Curtis — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:32:35 GMT

Children working in Mewat's brick kilns

The last thing Khatuni expected after migrating from her home state of Assam to work in a brick kiln was to be visited by an NGO with uniforms and school supplies for her children. But last fall when officers from Lotus Outreach did just that, she didn’t hesitate to send her three school-aged kids to local schools in Haryana. When the officers returned this year, however, she refused.

Khatuni explains that her children were returning home from school not excited and cheerful, but weary, exhausted and glum. Walking about two kilometers to school was the least of their troubles – the road they walked on was busy with reckless motorists, and the trek exposed the migrant children to discrimination and harassment by local people. As their attendance faltered, teachers also grew impatient and responded with frustration.

This year, Khatuni tried to leave her children behind in Assam with her mother-in-law so that they could attend school there, but the elderly woman felt incapable of providing for them. The entire family returned with the intent of working together seven days a week in the local brick kilns. When Lotus Outreach representatives passed through in October with enrollment kits, Khatuni and other brick kiln parents had the same message: We need safe transportation more than school supplies.

A few days later, Lotus Outreach returned with a plan. Using vans from another transportation program they began operating earlier in the year, the Blossom Bus, the reps would provide rides for the children of that brick kiln’s 26 families making five trips a day, ten children at a time. Although improvised at the last minute, the program successfully filled a critical gap.

In fact, the children are now enjoying their lessons so much that Khatuni’s husband is looking for a way to stay in Haryana during the monsoon season when the brick kilns temporarily close. Most migrants return home during this respite, even though it falls in the middle of the academic year. Now that children are attending school regularly and progressing in their studies, families have a stake in providing continuity. Already, Khatuni’s husband brought his mother to Haryana to tend the house while the children are in school.

On December 1, eight vans contracted by Lotus Outreach collected 400 indigent child laborers – the vast majority of whom are the first in their families to receive formal instruction – and delivered them safely to school. Lotus Outreach is happily sponsoring this initiative to shatter the debilitating cycle of poverty among one of the world’s poorest classes, and we thank you for making this possible.

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EXCITING NEWS: now you can ‘give the gift of hope’ to our beneficiaries and your loved ones this holiday season!

It’s not easy to find original gifts for everyone on your holiday list – until now. GlobalGiving is introducing the Tribute Card this holiday season. When you dedicate a donation to someone, they’ll receive a Tribute Card detailing the difference that’s been made in their name. It’s fast, easy, and perfect for anyone who likes to help the less fortunate. To donate to Lotus Outreach and cover your holiday shopping, follow these steps:

Go to http://tinyurl.com/lotusgive
Choose one of our five projects by clicking “give as a gift in honor/memory of someone” next to the “Give now” box.
Select a gift card and follow the instructions to personalize and send it!

Tribute Card shipping is free now through December 31, and cards purchased by December 20 will still be shipped in time for Christmas. Cards may also be printed directly from the site – perfect for gift exchanges and other last minute shopping!

Preparing to board the bus to school

Arriving to school

Class time!

Asmina and Jamina head to school!

Rachel Curtis — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:18:34 GMT

Last month, Asma and her husband Jamil arrived in Mewat, Haryana from West Bengal – over 900 miles away – to work in the area’s brick kiln factories. Returning home only when the factories close during Mewat’s monsoon season, the couple brings their three daughters to labor at their side. Asmina, 8, Jamina, 6, and Jamila, 4 are already well acquainted with the harsh, hot monotony of the brick kilns that they will likely face the rest of their lives.

Last year, however, Asma and Jamil took an opportunity to send their two older girls to a school in the nearest village. Every morning, Asmina and Jamina walked away from the sweltering kilns to spend their mornings learning among other youngsters like themselves. The possibility of a life beyond the factories’ 16-hour days beckoned, until one day Jamina, then 5, was accosted on her way home from school. A boy from the village attacked her, beating her badly. Asma pulled both girls from school.

This year when Lotus Outreach approached Jamil and Asma to enroll their daughters, the couple resisted. Even though a brick kiln is no place for a child to spend her days, sending her unescorted to a school far from their protection was worse. Asma said that although she would love to send her girls back to school, she would only allow them to go if they have safe transportation.

Last week, Lotus Outreach officers brought a van to take Asmina and Jamina to the village to enroll. Between threats from higher-caste bullies and trucks and tractors on the small, pot-holed roads the children walk upon, the dangers of walking several kilometers to school are a serious deterrent for parents. To shore up support for these children, Lotus Outreach will be providing van transportation for 100 kids like Asmina and Jamina in a pilot program to begin next week. Your continued support will help us make sure these little ones can finish what they’ve started – the long climb towards self-sufficiency and economic independence.

Watch video of Asmina and Jamina riding to school at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6TdhTEB_I4&feature=channel!

You can help us get transportation to more brick kiln children by making an additional donation at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/endchildlabor/.

Links:

Video of brick kiln children riding to school

Letter from the mother of child laborers…

Erika Keaveney — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:43:23 GMT

Children working at a brick kiln in Mewat

“My name is Geeta and I have three children, Madhuri (8), Madhu (6) and Ajit (5). All three are now going to Malhokhra Primary School in Mewat, India. My family migrated here from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh to Malokhra village in Hathin to work at local brick kilns, as we do not get regular work at home.

We all work more than 16 hours every day to earn two meals for the family. Lotus Outreach recently motivated us to send our children to local schools and they provided uniforms, shoes, school bags, etc. We sent Madhuri and Madhu (plus my niece) to school reluctantly, as it may lead to loss of earnings because we now have fewer hands making bricks, but the children were excited by the gifts and insisted that they be allowed to enroll.

My five year-old son Ajit is now accompanying his siblings to school even though he is not enrolled. I am told that he can be enrolled next year when he will be six. The children are very happy to go to school and don’t mind walking more than one kilometer to get there. The teachers are also good and our children are learning good things.

My whole family is very happy that we decided to send the children to school. My husband says that we are earning a little less but we are investing in our children in the long-term. Once educated, our children will become an asset for us and not a liability. Maybe my children will get good education and learn skills which can help them get work at their home town so they don’t have to migrate like we do.

We are sometimes worried about our children as they are crossing a busy road to reach school. The children are also going alone. I raised this concern with people from Lotus Outreach and they suggested that one person from the brick kiln accompany the children to drop them off at school. There are about 30 children from nine families going to school from our brick kiln and one father/mother can accompany the children on a rotation basis. We will discuss this with the nine families and will do what is required for the safety of our children.

We go back to our native place during monsoons as the brick kilns are closed during this season and when we come back, we generally go to a different brick kiln for work and this can create a problem for our children. This time we have decided that we will not shift the brick kiln so that our children are not forced to drop out of school.” We have included a link to a video clip showing these children proudly donning their new uniforms and backpacks and leaving the kilns to attend school for the first time in their lives. Madhuri in particular has taken a lot of interest in his studies and recently told Lotus Outreach, “I want to stay in school rather than go home to my native village during the monsoon season. Please ask my parents not to leave this place so I can continue attending! I like my teachers and love playing with the other children at school".

We thank you for your continued support, which allows us to keep over 700 Indian child laborers just like these in school!

Geeta and family

Links:

Video of child laborers attending school for the first time

2009 Project Report

Erika Keaveney — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 18:39:30 GMT

Please find a brief overview of project activities in 2009. We will also continue to provide scholarship support to these 715 kids, so please consider making a donation again in 2010!

Warm regards, Erika

Attachments:

2009 Q4 Report (PDF)

Update on Scholarship Program for Child Laborers in Mewat, India

Glenn Fawcett — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:33:50 GMT

There is really no way to put a value on the education of a child that would have never spent a day in school unless we had helped them to do so. Lotus Outreach would like to share that sense of achievement with the hundreds of donors who contributed to our GlobalGiving challenge last year, putting 715 children of migrant laborers in school.

Hundreds of families have migrated to rural Mewat, Haryana to work up to 18 hour days in the 31 brick kilns that dot the countryside. Although the population is almost entirely illiterate, LO staff found attitudes were overwhelmingly positive towards education, both on the parts of parents and children.

One beneficiary of the GlobalGiving campaign, nine-year old Zarina, has four siblings. None of these children had ever set foot inside a school before LO staff intervened to enroll all five at Malokhra Primary school. “I have always wanted to go, and it hurt me every time I saw children in uniform on their way to school,” said Zarina. “It’s just hard to believe that now I’m the same, and go to school every day in my new uniform with a school bag and books.”

While the biggest impediment to attending school was financial, various factors deterred families from participating. Zarina’s father, Junaid, explained other difficulties. “We would have liked our children to go to school in our home village, but our whole family is here working. There’s no one left at home to look after them, so we felt we had no choice,” he said. “Of course the money was an issue for us. We work long hours to earn enough to survive, but I think we would have felt afraid the local people would oppose any idea of our children mixing with the local children. We just wouldn’t have had the guts to bring any demands before the local people and authorities without the intervention of the LEARN program people.”

LO extends its heartfelt thanks to all who provided us with the resources to forge a new path ahead for these disadvantaged children.

**BREAKING NEWS**

We just added a new project to the GlobalGiving community: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/nfecambodia/

We invite you to show your support and spread the word about this exciting initiative. With your support, 130 women and girls will receive the education and training they need to escape Cambodia’s commercial sex trade for good.

Newsletter Article on Scholarship Program

Erika Keaveney — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:21:31 GMT

Photo of more scholarship recipients

Greetings!

Please download the attached newsletter to read an article on the latest developments in the scholarship program for child laborers in Mewat (page 2).

If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our monthly newsletter at www.lotusoutreach.org. Alternatively, you can send an email to info@lotusoutreach.org with “Subscribe” in the subject line.

Warm regards,

Erika Keaveney Executive Director Lotus Outreach International

Attachments:

Sept/Oct Newsletter (PDF)

We did it!!!

Erika Keaveney — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:08:37 GMT

Thank You GlobalGiving!

Dear friends of Lotus Outreach,

In just 30 days, you helped us raise over $27,000, earn a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.com and place first among 167 international organizations, earning us an additional $3,000 bonus grant directly from GlobalGiving!

When we originally set out to raise $4,000 for 200 scholarships, we didnâ€™t hold our breath. Times are tough all over the world -- people are losing their jobs and their homes, political crises are mounting in places such as Sri Lanka and Darfur, and natural disasters continue to strike East and Southeast Asia. But somehow a miracle happened: nearly every one of our supporters stepped up and spread the word, and we managed to not only secure enough funding for 700 scholarships, but we fully funded our LEARN program for the year!

Though the overall success of this campaign is an amazing development for Lotus Outreach, we are even more excited to share that the scholarship program is already underway:

â€¢ 53 of the approximately 700 children benefiting from this initiative have already received their scholarship packages, enrolled in school and started on September 18th, the day the challenge ended. An additional 20 children are committed to enrolling by the end of the month.

â€¢ We have already identified a wholesale supplier of book bags, shoes, uniforms and supplies and the initial order has been placed.

â€¢ Surprisingly, this provider does not manufacture girlsâ€™ uniforms but we have created an exciting opportunity out of this snag: teenage girls in Mewatâ€™s villages will sew the uniforms themselves and in doing so, secure much needed employment and income.

â€¢ The remaining 650 children will be enrolled and provided with scholarship materials as their families return to Mewatâ€™s brick kilns in the coming weeks following the monsoons.

We have attached a few of many photos taken during this initial scholarship drive so you can see your dollars and compassion at work. I also wanted to share a very moving note from our Program Manager, Suraj Kumar, who passionately describes the first scholarship drive:

â€œI cannot explain the joy I saw in the eyes of these children when they lined up to go to school in their new clothes and shoes with a school bag on their shoulders for the first time in their life. Some of them were eligible to go to school even four years ago but were instead forced into child labor. I could clearly see the twinkles in their eyes and the parents could not stop smiling after seeing their children in school uniforms. An old lady who must be above 80 pulled my shirt badly to thank me for this gesture today when I visited one brick kiln to distribute the scholarship materials. All these moments are very, very emotional. The old lady asked me, "Can I also go to school?" I said â€œyes, but I donâ€™t have a school uniform in your size today but I will definitely bring a nice dress for you next time I come here.â€ I have kept a woolen shawl (small thin blanket) which was given to me by school teachers when they felicitated meritorious children a few weeks ago and I am going to gift it to this lady who looks like my mother to me. It is really becoming emotional while writing this mail and I am not able to hold my tears. THANK YOU SO MUCH ALL OF YOU.â€

We look forward to sharing the many wonderful successes of this initiative over the coming year. Though we will keep you updated via GlobalGiving, we strongly encourage to subscribe to our monthly newsletter at www.lotusoutreach.org or email info@lotusoutreach.org with â€œsubscribeâ€ in the subject line.

We have also posted the first of many new projects to come here: http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/lotuspedals/.

Thank you again for your passion, dedication and generosity. You have helped to transform the lives of thousands of children in Mewat.

Sincerely,

Erika Keaveney Executive Director Lotus Outreach International

Girls who recently started school with your support!

Attachments:

Collection of photos with narrative (PDF)

53 Kids Start School Tomorrow!

Erika Keaveney — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:48:22 GMT

Dear friends of Lotus Outreach,

The scholarship initiative in Mewat is already underway! Take a look at what we - together - have achieved in the past week alone:

• 53 of the approximately 700 children benefiting from this initiative have already received their scholarship packages, enrolled in school and will start TOMORROW, September 18th! An additional 20 children are committed to enrolling by the end of the month. • We have already identified a wholesale supplier of book bags, shoes, uniforms and supplies and the initial order has been placed. • Surprisingly, this provider does not manufacture girls’ uniforms but we have created an exciting opportunity out of this snag: teenage girls in Mewat’s villages will sew the uniforms themselves and in doing so, secure much needed employment and income. • The remaining 650 children will be enrolled and provided with scholarship materials as their families return to Mewat’s brick kilns in the coming weeks following the monsoons.

The stakes are higher than ever as we enter the final hours of the GlobalGiving challenge. Lotus Outreach is currently ranked #1 for donors and #2 for dollars on the challenge leaderboard: http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/v2/globalchallenge.html (see: Education Scholarships for Child Laborers in India). With 30 hours remaining and only narrow leads in these categories, we need your hands, heads and hearts now more than ever.

The most effective way for us to win this competition is to drastically increase the number of unique donations received. As an incentive, we have received another anonymous matching pledge of $125. That means the next 13 unique donations of $10 (or more) will be matched an additional $10.

Please help!

Over 220 generous supporters have already stepped forward and made a contribution (sometimes even 3 or 4 contributions)! If you have yet to become a player in this exciting challenge, please donate $10 today at http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/endchildlabor/ and help us reach the home plate.

If you have already contributed, we need your help even more. Please tell everyone in your networks – friends, family, colleagues, and other contacts – about this critical initiative and ask them to pitch in. If each of our 220 supporters can convince just 10 of their friends to partake, we will reach over 2,000 donors and lock in the $3,000 challenge grant for unique donations. Ask your networks to take the “10/10” challenge today – donate $10 and ask 10 people to do the same. We cannot win without your help!

We hope that the good feeling of knowing that you made a difference in lives of Mewat’s children is well worth the investment. Tomorrow, dozens of child laborers will attend school—some for the first time in their lives—and YOU MADE IT HAPPEN!

Warmest regards,

Erika Keaveney Executive Director Lotus Outreach International

Only 3 days remaining!

Erika Keaveney — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:44:24 GMT

10 year old Summati hopes to get to go to 8th grade in Mewat

Dear friends,

The response to our GlobalGiving challenge has been incredible. In less than 30 days, we raised over $16,000 from 174 individuals and organizations – securing $4,400 in matching funds ($3,000 of which has already been contributed); fully funding our scholarship initiative for child laborers in Mewat; and earning us a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.com!

We only have one final threshold to cross in the next 3 days and we need your help now more than ever. We believe that those of you who have contributed to the GlobalGiving challenge have become stakeholders in our victory. As you can see, Lotus Outreach is currently #1 for unique donors and #2 for dollars on the GlobalGiving leaderboard: http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/v2/globalchallenge.html (Project title: Education Scholarships for Child Laborers in India).

We are now striving to maintain these rankings in the last three days of the challenge so we can qualify for the up to $6,000 in bonus funding directly from GlobalGiving.

To help us achieve this goal, another generous supporter has stepped forward and pledged $500 in additional matching funds to allow us to increase the number of unique donors participating in the challenge! That means that the next 50 donors who make a contribution of $10 (or more) will be matched an additional $10—up to 224 unique donors (currently we have 174).

Each $10 contribution will not only be matched an additional $10, but will help us inch closer to the thousands of bonus dollars available from GlobalGiving. Please urge your friends, family and colleagues to also become stakeholders in our success by contributing just $10 online today at http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/endchildlabor/. The success of past challenge winners has been almost entirely attributable to their ability to mobilize their supporters to not only donate, but become champions for the cause themselves!

Every dollar beyond our original goal of $16,000 will go toward supporting our LEARN advocacy program in Mewat, ensuring the children benefiting from this challenge—along with over 8,000 others—will receive the quality of education guaranteed by India’s constitution.

Thank you to all of you who continue to put your voices and hearts behind this initiative. The lives of Mewat’s children will be forever transformed as a result!

Warmest regards,

Erika Keaveney Executive Director Lotus Outreach International

Breaking news!

Erika Keaveney — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:20:13 GMT

Dear friends of Lotus Outreach,

We have an incredible piece of news regarding the GlobalGiving campaign to send child laborers in rural India to school!

An anonymous donor has pledged $4,400 in matching funds to increase the number of dollars and donors for this campaign so we can get closer to the GlobalGiving Open bonus grant (and of course, send hundreds more children to school this year!).

Here is how it works:

• Every donation will be matched dollar for dollar until we reach the $9,395 mark on the GlobalGiving leaderboard (currently, we have raised $6,395). • For every new donor, the grantor will donate an additional $20 up to 163 donors total (currently, we have 93 donors).

What does this mean?

• If you have yet to contribute to the GlobalGiving challenge, a donation as small as $10 will be matched an additional $30. That means your $10 will send 2 children to school this month! • If you have already contributed, each additional dollar you donate will be matched in full until we cross the pledge threshold of $3,000. • If Lotus Outreach can raise enough funds to win one or more of the four GlobalGiving bonus prizes, your contribution will be multiplied even further!

We have 10 days to reach this very ambitious goal and we simply cannot do it without your help. Please make your contribution today at http://www.globalgiving.com/projects/endchildlabor/ and watch your investment multiply!!!

Please also pass this email on to your friends, family, colleagues and any other networks you are connected to. Spreading the word will dramatically increase our chances at success. You can track our progress at http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/v2/globalchallenge.html (project title: Education Scholarships for Child Laborers in India).

Thank you for your continued, generous support!

Warmest regards,

Erika Keaveney Executive Director Lotus Outreach International

Success!

Erika Keaveney — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:01:32 GMT

Dear friends of Lotus Outreach,

You are AMAZING!!!

In just one week, 78 generous supporters donated over $5,700, earning us a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.com while ensuring 250 Indian child laborers will start school next month!

Because of the incredible success of this campaign, I contacted our Project Manager in India, Suraj Kumar, to see if we could make this initiative even bigger. He informed me that there are approximately 20-30 children laboring in each of Mewat’s 30 brick kilns and he is confident that we could enroll 600-700 of them in school!

We have therefore decided to “reach for the stars” to give these children the opportunity to do the same. We have expanded our GlobalGiving project goal to a total of $16,000, which will provide educational scholarships for each and every one of the children working in Mewat’s brick factories.

There is another major incentive for expanding this initiative: if we can earn one of the top spots for the number of donors and dollars raised, we could win an extra $6,000 directly from GlobalGiving! As of writing, Lotus Outreach is currently ranked #1 for donors and #2 for dollars on the GlobalGiving leaderboard (keep track at http://www.globalgiving.com/dy/v2/globalchallenge.html). If we can maintain these rankings, we will be awarded $5,000 at the close of the challenge. And if we can get to the #1 spot for dollars, the award will increase by an additional $1,000.

Will you help us get there by spreading the word? Send a note to your friends and family and tell them why this cause matters to you. Every effort counts!

Thank you again for helping Lotus Outreach—and the children we serve in India—blossom. We look forward to sharing exciting developments in the coming weeks and months.

Warmest regards,

Erika Keaveney Executive Director Lotus Outreach International