Help 10,000 kids escape poverty and child labour

Dear Donors, As I wrote last time, the expanded activities of the project this year have included sanitation awareness, and assisting in the construction of toilets. Curbing the practice of open defaction imporves both the health and the environment of the children, as well as others in the village. This month I would like...

Dear Donors, Globalgiving are running a matching campaign on Wednesday 13th March. I have included some information at the end of the update. I hope it is of interest to some of you. One of the main focusses of this integrated child rights project is health, and specifically sanitation. Sometimes it can be difficult to...

Dear donors, Apologies for the delay in updates. I have just returned from a field visit to many of the villages where the project is currently operating, as well as villages which have previously benefited from the project activities.  The villages where the project operates typify rural India - largely agrarian and...

“Timely guidance, help and financial assistance for medical treatment, saved the life of 2 year old Tamanna.” Situation Before Intervention: Tamanna is 2 years old, and lives with her parents in 'Karule village'. Her father is a driver but becasue his income is not sufficient to sustain the household of 5, her...

Situation before intervention: Shabana is a 20 year old Muslim girl, who lives in Pallaskhed Village with her 50 year old mother. The village is 18km from Sangamner. People of the village depend mainly on agricultureand so are entirely at the mercy of the irregular rainfall. They face problems of water scarcity both for...

Shashikant is 17. He lives in Konchi village (17km from Sangamner). There are 5 people in his family - a brother, a sister, and parents. His family is dependent on agricultural work for their livelihood, but the increasing droughts in recent years has made life unbearably difficult for them.  The family could no longer...

The Situation Before: Ajay Mohan Giri, is 7 years old, and lives at Saykhindi village with his father, mother, brother and sister. He is from a poor family, and parents work as labourers, leaving him to look after his siblings. Standards of hygiene are already low, and with the parents away for the whole day,...

One of the big emphases of this project is on child health and nutrition. Poverty and lack of information mean that many of the children are unhealthy when they first enroll in school. Through the project however, children receive supplementary nutrition twice a day, as well as immunizations and health check-ups at the...

This year's project activities kicked off in April. As previously reported, this includes the distribution of books, uniforms and educational materials to the thousand poorest children. With 65% of the population living on less than a £1 a day, something as simple as these school basics can be out of the reach of...

Sharda’s family is residing in Sukewadi village .  His father is working as agricultural labourer and her mother rolls bidi cigars. Sharda too started helping her mother in rolling bidis and dropped out of school 6 years ago.  Sharda has three sisters and two brothers. Her father has worked hard to...

NAME:  Krutik Mukesh Shinde. AGE:  7.   STANDARD:  2nd.  Krutik lives in Jakhuri village, his maternal grandfather’s village, along with his mother and younger sister Vaishanavi. Krutik’s father died one year before, due to HIV/AIDS, and his paternal grandfather and other family members...

Dear Supporters, I am happy to update you with some exciting new developments in the last months. Due to the success of the 'Child Rights' model utilized by our project partners NISD, we applied for and have received funding from the UK Government  (Department for International Development) to run an expanded version...

Vimal Bhagaji Bhoir lives in Bhoirwadi and is a member of Kotamadevi Bachat Gat Self-Help Group. This Group was formed in 2002 as an NISD initiative.  NISD encouraged women to save Rs. 20 from their low income. Vimal was contributing financially to the group fund but could not participate in meetings or activities as...

Rani belongs to a very poor family. Her parents make just enough money to feed the family of 5 by making and selling brooms. Rani herself excels in her studies.  Her school is 10 km away from where she lives and so she must take the bus daily. Her parents were somehow able to pay 10 rupees for the bus each day....

Swati Vilas Gaikawad is 13 years old. Her parents are wage laborers, and the family of 5 live in dire poverty in Karule, Sangamner. Swati was born blind. Up to 3rd standard, she was attending a School for Blind Children in the neighboring town of Shrirampur. However, problems at that school meant that they could no longer...

Age: 28    Educated until:  7th  std.  Address:  At Sabalewadi, Post. Sangnore, Tal. Junnar, Dist.  Pune. Mrs. Kusum’s family consists of herself, her husband, her two daughters, her son and her in-laws. They live in Sabalewadi village, described as "a tribal and most...

Abhishek Babaji Jedgule              Age: 10      Standard:  4th in Zillha Parishad School Saikhindi    Abhishek belongs to a poor family.  His father Babaji is doing Clerical work in a Pvt. Office and mother roll...

" Prajakta celebrated her birthday on the 24th of October. As this fell on a school holiday, she distributed toffees to the members of Child Parliament group of her village. On the day of her birthday, her father purchased another she goat and Prajakta named her “Fulli”. In November,  “...

NISD organised a Child Fair at village Pokhari. There were various programmes – cultural, play, competitions etc. Rani participated by performing a dance to a Marathi song.  The local people really appreciated her dance and Rani got a cash prize for her performance.   Children’s Day was celebrated in...

Aniket Datta Kangune,   Std. 6th.    Address:  At. Saikhindi, Tal. Sangamner, Dist. Ahmednagar.   Aniket appeared for his preliminary  school examination and the got results in December, 2011 and got first class in it.  During Diwali holiday he spend his maximum time in reading and...

Harshida's Story - aged 7   Harshada’s parents, both mother and father, are working as wage labours and  whole day they are away from home.  Harshada’s old grand mother is the only person at home to look after three small kids which was beyond her capacity.  Their financial condition is very...

Child’s Name: Sandeep Dnyandev Kere Village:  Nilwande Education: 10th standard Age :  18 years   Situation before joining the course Sandeep was residing in Nilwande village which is far from town. His financial condition was very poor.   His father is a mason and mother does labour work, but...

Prakash, the leader of the project sent me this story a couple of weeks ago. I found it really moving, but also incredible - how simple measures seem to be making a big difference for individuals, and by extension whole families on the ground. Here's the story of Bhagubai -    Mrs. Bhagubai Ashok Tajanpure was...

Ashwini, her two brothers and parents stay in Pokhari village.  Her father has a small piece of land which he works on.  Income used to be solely dependent on the mercy of rainfall.  Ashwini is a clever girl - she used to always get good marks in her exams.  After 10th standard her parents did not send...

Name:  Sunil Vitthal Ghule Village:  Pokhari Course - Electrical & Home Appliances Repair Education: 9th standard Age:  21Yrs. Situation before participating in the project:  Sunil resides in Pokhari village. His father is doing labour work, his mother does house work and his elder brother is in the...

In June I posted the story of Aniket. Here's a recent update on his progress - Aniket’s  favourate subject is Hindi.  Recently he appeared for quarterly examination, conducted by his school and got very good marks.  His class teacher, Mrs. Kharde says now Aniket is very confident and is doing...