Education United States Project #27758

Send daughter of Mumbai sex worker to US college!

by Kranti

Project Report | Feb 11, 2019
New Year, New Beginning!

By Danish | Krantikari

Winter Wonderland

Hi everyone, I hope 2019 has brought you a lot of joy and new beginnings! I have a huge, HUGE new beginning!! I hope you remember that last time in my report I wrote to you saying that due to financial problems at Kranti and some issues at my university, I was not able to return to college in Fall 2018. But this new year has been amazing for me because not only did all my transfer paperwork work out, I got an amazing scholarship, and a friend of Robin’s (the founder of Kranti) agreed to host me!

So my good news for this year is that I’ve transferred to a university in north Chicago, and I started classes about one month ago. It’s very very very cold, but it’s absolutely AMAZING. I love the classes, my fellow students, the wonderful professors, and the campus is beautiful. The classes are tougher than what I’m used to, but I’m very happy with the challenges. The first week I was a little bit anxious because there were so many classes and I was very overwhelmed. But then I met with my advisor and she said I could drop one class, now I am a lot more comfortable and confident. It’s a good balance of learning new things and being challenge but not too overwhelmed. I’ve already gotten 10/10 on my last two quizzes in psychology, but my history class is a bit challenging and I’m nervous about my first paper!!

Anyway, besides studies, everything is great. I also love being in the middle of a city like Chicago, it’s very similar to Mumbai in so many ways. I’ve met a lot of people who are helping me with settling in and also my studies, especially Robin’s friends because Robin also studied in Chicago and still knows many people here. They’ve taken very good care of me! And oh yes the other thing I really love here is that there are international students from more than 20 countries and my close friends are from Sweden and Germany as well as a couple Indians. (We are only five or six Indians in the whole campus.)

I can’t tell you all how lucky and blessed I am feeling. And while I hope that your 2019 has been just as wonderful, lucky, and blessed as mine, I think that probably I am the luckiest person on earth so your year probably doesn’t compare to mine!! Of course, I would be absolutely nowhere without your kind and generous support, and believe me, I realize this every day. Sometimes in the middle of a walk in downtown Chicago, I think about the people who helped me get here. Of course there is Kranti, my family, and so many other people, but I feel luckiest when I think of all the strangers who don’t know me but continue to believe in me and support me. Thank you so, so, SO very much for sticking with me in my hard times (hard semester!) and helping me get back here.

Lots of love and gratitude to all of you!

Hugs,

Danish

Chicago

Permalink

Oct 31, 2018
I'm really anxious to tell you...but I have to!

By Danish | Revolutionary

Hello! I hope all of you are well and that you and a wonderful, fun-filled Halloween! Normally I try to write you all with my exciting, fun, interesting accomplishments. But I’m sorry that today I’m writing with some big struggles. Actually this report is a couple days late because I tried to delay this as much as possible….but….here it is!

I was supposed to go back to university in August, but due to two things, it became obvious in July that there will be some problems. First, Kranti was unable to raise the amount I needed to pay for Spring 2018, so we hadn’t even started fundraising for Fall 2018. But I was still hoping for some big miracle. Also, I really wanted to transfer to another college, a little because of I wanted to be in a more rigorous study environment and, of course, cheaper tuition!

After lots of research, I found a college in Chicago that gave me a big scholarship. But I still needed my transcript from last semester, which they wouldn’t release until we paid the fees! For a couple weeks, I felt so helpless and anxious because everything seemed beyond my control. I was disappointed when I realized I wouldn’t go back this term, and I took a lot of time to reflect about what it means to live on donations - for everything from basic food to college tuition.

However, living on donations can also be amazing. There was one wonderful man who heard about my situation and he agreed to pay my entire bill from Spring 2018!! I don’t even know how or why this person appeared in my life, but I know that I owe him a LOT!!! Everything is sorted now, and more than half my fees for next semester have been raised. I’ve realized, after a couple weeks of lots of crying, that usually things work out the way they’re supposed to. :)

Now I’ve also had three extra months to practice essay writing, work on my reading comprehension, master MLA and APA formats for research papers. In January I’m starting at a college with a bigger scholarship, a more diverse student population, and a big city - Chicago! In 2015, we performed our Kranti play, Lal Batti Express, in Chicago and received lots of support from the people there...I felt really welcomed and am excited to return. I would love to be in the midst of such a friendly and vibrant city.

There it is...my most difficult GG update I’ve ever written. Thank you all of your ongoing support and faith in me!! Hopefully, one day I will be a psychologist and I can help girls like me to overcome their struggle through therapy, which as you probably know, changed my life. And I promise you I will do everything possible to pay forward everything all of you have done for me. (Even in Chicago I am already applying to volunteer with either sex workers or homeless people.)

Thank you so, so, SO very much for reading. And for being part of my support system for over a year now. Since I don’t know most of you, I sometimes feel like some magical fairies are helping me. :P I do hope I have the chance to meet you someday. Thank you so much for taking care of me in so many different ways. Please know I think of you and thank you almost daily!

Love,
Danish

P.S. One other thing I've been doing is managing Kranti's social media....if you don't follow the Kranti FB, please do so! :)

Permalink

Aug 3, 2018
Where has the summer gone?!?!

By Danish | Revolutionary

Hello everyone!! I can’t believe my summer vacation is almost over!!! During the last three months, I have done a lot of exciting and productive things. I attended a silent meditation retreat and a few therapy sessions; spent a lot of time with my mother, sister and Kranti family; and, most importantly, I worked on my academic writing with my mentor in hopes of making next year a little more smooth. I also took driving lessons so that I can get my license in India and then in the USA.

It's been three months now since I returned from the United States, and I noticed something very funny. When I’m living in college, I always feel like a foreigner living abroad. People say sometimes “You can go out of India, but you cannot take India out of you.” This was always very very true for me. Despite all the time I spent in the US, there was not a day when something did not remind me of my home and my people back home.

But for the first time, over summer break, you know what happened??? I felt a little bit American! For the first time I started noticing the things that are so “Indian.” The last three months, my mind was endlessly comparing the differences between India and the US. Of course there are plenty of difficult things like pollution, corruption, or “Indian standard time,” but also there are really amazing things like deep conversations with random strangers on the local metro, being able to ask anyone on the street for help, and dancing in a stranger’s wedding.

Now that I feel a little bit American, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop all the comparisons in my mind. But one thing is for sure….when I’m in the US, I miss and appreciate India deeply, and when I’m in India, I miss and appreciate the US! I feel quite lucky to feel at “home” in two such different types of places. And, of course…I am constantly aware that it’s only because of people like you that I’m having such an amazing opportunity to have these experiences. Even in my college I see AMERICAN students who are struggling and have to drop out of the college. And it makes me so grateful that despite my background I’m still able to continue studying and learning so much. Thank you for reading...I hope you enjoy my updates and they are not too boring! If you have any feedback (or want to leave me some encouragement :P) please use the links below.

Thank you so, so, so, SO increidbly much for all of your help and ongoing support. Lots of love from monsoon Mumbai!!

Love,
Danish

Permalink

1 2 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.