Help disadvantaged Bengali children + young people

The school at Sarberia started on 5th June 2005 with only 39 children and in this academic year 2012 there are about 300 hundred children and many more are seeking admission.

The Vocational Training Centre was built by Hands Around the World volunteers and local builders in 2008. This building is now used for school classrooms in the morning, but in the afternoon, there is also a sewing and embroidery course for the local women and a computer course for the young men who have little hope of employment after they have attended the government schools, and left with no qualifications.

Men with vision like Alindra Naskar are always looking for ways to improve the lives not only of the children whose potential has yet to be realised, but also the adults who have not had the benefit of a good education. As someone
with a medical background, he is also keen to provide Sarberia with a Health Clinic, where locals can be treated inexpensively, but also learn about hygiene and good health practice. He is concerned about the disaffected youth in the village who have dropped out of the government schools, which is why he began the computer course to
motivate them, as well as providing picnics for the old people to gather and share their concerns with one another.

Alindra writes ‘Our challenge is not only to educate the children but also educate the family as a whole by educating the parents from where the children basically grow up in life. Hence the parents need to be educated in healthy living and understand the value of education. In this way the children and parents are equally a priority for us in order to achieve the success the children so rightly deserve.’

Sponsors and donors so far have enabled Alindra to achieve this much, and he is extremely grateful for all the help and support he has received. He will not rest however until he has improved the lives of the villagers of Sarberia, whom he serves tirelessly.

I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to meet such an inspirational man, the type of person that you only tend to read about.

Wouldn’t you like to walk hand in hand with Alindra Naskar?

I have recently returned from Sarberia, West Bengal, my third visit in four years.
Each time I go I return with renewed vigour to help the New Life Centre’s Director, Alindra Naskar accomplish his vision of a good education for the village children of this deprived area.

During this trip we visited a local government school, 10 minutes walk from the New Life Centre but a million miles away in terms of facilities and practice. There were no tables and chairs in the school for the children, and only 50% of the children attend regularly.

When I first went to Sarberia in 2008 there were 120 children at the school, now there are just over 300 on the roll. Sponsorship through Hands Around the World’s scheme, is even more important as Alindra never turns anyone away, just because they can’t pay.

What is also great is to see more girls staying on at the school, as girls tend to drop out of schooling earlier than boys in this area.

We have 17 sponsors for the school at the moment and I want to double that number in the next few months. If you could see the joy on the children’s faces as they sing the Indian National anthem at assembly, or take part in the
sports which follows extra tuition in the afternoon, then you wouldn’t hesitate to join our band of sponsors.

This is a truly worthwhile cause, and by sponsoring a child in the New Life Centre, you will make a difference.   There are few real guarantees in life, but I can promise you that sponsorship money has a vital impact on the lives of the children educated in the New Life Centre.

Hi,

I am delighted to let you know that Tess Molloy (our HATW project co-ordinator for this project) and Brian her husband are going (at their own expense) to visit Mr Naskar and 'his children' in the last week of February.

No doubt they will come back with loads of stories and photos! For the moment all is well and some new plans for the coming year are under discussion. Mr Naskar is always enthusiastically seeking to develop the work in Sarberia and seeking funds to help make it happen.

We promise to send you a full report when Tess comes home.

Meanwhile, many thanks for your interest - it will be wonderful to read soon about all the great work that is going on!

Mr Alindra Naskar’s visit to the UK this summer has resulted in 8 new sponsors for the school. This will have a long lasting effect on the school as a whole as the money more than pays for individual children, so everyone benefits.

A link with an engineering company, who paid for the building of separate toilets for the girls and boys of the school last year, was also strengthened as a result of the visit. Having met Mr Naskar face to face the board were moved to suggest that they could help to build a health care centre on the site of the school for the local villagers, who at the
moment are at the mercy of untrained ‘medicine’ men.

The school is growing rapidly with 71 new students this term, and soon the new classrooms will be full. If Mr Naskar wants to realise his ambition of secondary level schooling, then further building will need to be done.

Mr Alindra Naskar, founder and Director of the New Life Centre in
Sarberia has just spent a month in England visiting old friends,
making new friends and spreading the good news about his beloved
school and Vocational Training Centre. Whether it was a small house
gathering, a Church group, school visit, or a high powered board
meeting, Mr Naskar's message was always the same and delivered from
the heart, 'How fortunate he had been in his life so now he was
giving back to his own community, so that they too could appreciate
the benefits of a good education'.

Men with vision like Mr Naskar are always looking for ways to improve the
lives not only of the children whose potential has yet to be
realised, but also the adults who have not had the benefit of a good
education, hence the VTC. As someone with a medical background, he is
also keen to provide Sarberia with a Health Clinic, where locals can
be treated inexpensively, but also learn about hygiene and good
health practice. He is concerned about the disaffected youth in the
village who have dropped out of the government schools, and therefore
organises youth gatherings to try to motivate them, as well as
providing picnics for the old people to gather and share their
concerns with one another.

Mr Naskar thoroughly enjoyed his time here and he was impressed at our
standard of living and our infinite choices in everything from food
to facilities to commodities. What impressed me when I visited
Sarberia was the close knit community and the way that a man like Mr
Naskar would use his entire retirement fund to finance his school,
and in cooperation with Hands Around the World, his VTC.

Why has our affluence resulted in a poverty of community spirit?
Hopefully this is a question the developing world will resolve, as
they too improve materially and economically.

• Mr_Naskars_visit_2011.doc (DOC)