Education United States Project #27758

Send daughter of Mumbai sex worker to US college!

by Kranti

Project Report | May 4, 2018
I survived freshman year!!!

By Danish | Revolutionary

Hello everyone, hope you are doing great no matter where you are in the world! I am doing well but I can’t BELIEVE my first year is coming to an end!! I don’t want to bore you with so many details so I will just give you the three big updates from my life...

First, my academics are going well…we are in the middle of exams now and we will be finishing the semester in two weeks. I am little sad that semester is ending because I liked all my classes this term and most of my professors were amazing. I especially LOVE my psychology class and I know I am in the right major. But only problem is that every time I learn new type of psychology I start thinking “Maybe I’ll be good at this! Or maybe I will like THIS field of psychology!” So I don’t know how I can possibly decide what type of psychology. I hope I will have better idea in next two or three year but I am also scared that I will become even more and more confused when I’m taking more classes!

Second, I am going to India for my summer break and I am so so so excited! When we come to study abroad we never have expectation that we will get to go home in summer...maybe not even for four years! But I am so shocked that someone from Etihad Airways contacted Kranti after seeing Lal Batti play in Mumbai and he is helping for the tickets for me and Farah to go home!!!! So I am very very excited. First of all to see my Kranti family, also for spending time with my mom and sister in Mumbai, and I am also looking forward for attending one or two meditation programs. But because I am such a dedicated student ;) I am doing a small summer internship so I can improve my writing in the summer. I can see now how much I must develop my writing skills for next year as there will be more and more paper writing in upcoming three years.

And third big, BIG update….I decided to transfer from UWest to another college in New York! As you might be knowing, another Kranti girl, Sandhya, is studying in Wagner College in New York. And I went to visit her in February for few days and I really really fell in love with the place. Actually Sandhya and me were both accepted to Wagner last year but I chose UWest so I could be close to my sister Farah and also because I was scared of New York weather! But now after one year I am very confident in myself that I can manage things alone and now I’m not so scared of weather. Also when I saw how many activities and programs Sandhya is doing in New York it really inspired me because I’m feeling like I’m not doing enough in LA. Here I do not have transportation and so it’s hard to leave campus. Like if I want to volunteer or intern somewhere I have to spend $20-30 on Uber because there is not much connectivity from campus to LA. And Sandhya is speaking in panel discussions, attending lots of programs in the city, enen volunteering in couple places. And even her classes are little bit more challenging than UWest so I I want to push myself a little bit more because I am doing so well academically in UWest and I want to try for next level of classes. So me and Sandhya both decided together that I will try for transfering to Wagner, and I got accepted! I am of course little bit scared but I am very excited and hopeful too!

I hope you will continue to support me as I start this next chapter of my college life! Thank you so much for everything so far, I really appreciate everything you, and people around the world, are doing for me. Sometimes I still sit and reflect about where I am from and where I am today...I still have a hard time believing. Thank you so much for making all my dreams, and even my crazy ambitions, possible. Lots of love and please take care!

Sincerely,
Danish

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Jan 29, 2018
I got straight A's.....almost! :P

By Danish Shaikh | Krantikari

Hello everyone!! First of all, can I please take a moment to express my gratitude to all the people who always help us to dream big and understand the vision of Krant….sometimes I still freeze for a minute and think…..I AM STUDYING IN LOS ANGELES!!! :) So thank you to all of you for helping make this possible for me.

Secondly, I'm extremely excited to share with you guys about my grades - I got three A’s and one B in my first semester of my university! I found some subjects very challenging because unlike the Indian education system, American education requires creative thinking while writing papers and also lots of formal research. We never ever had such requirements in Indian schools.

I'm struggling but I'm also lucky enough to have excellent teachers who help me with my writing work. In my 2018 resolutions I have promised myself to make more efforts to grow in my creative writing. But honestly, I can't study in America and score these good grades without the help of our generous donors. Some people never have this opportunities like studying in abroad or traveling but I am so lucky for these things.

Something else very exciting I want to share is that this winter break holiday I went to visit my younger sister who is deaf and mute and currently studying in Colorado. I had an absolutely CRAZY adventure time with her. The weather was so cold in Colorado and there was a lot of snow when we went to the Aspen mountains for trekking. We were freezing but it was a super fun experience. I haven't seen my younger sister for almost two years, but when I met her I was so amazed to see her growing and learning so many different things like art, swimming, skirting and communicating in American Sign Language. :)

I’ve been part of Kranti for three years now and I have seen my growth as well as my sisters growth in this time. But three years ago, I could never imagine the kind of success we all have had, academically and emotionally. You are some of the people I can say thank you to, but there are so many strangers who share our journey that I won’t be able to thank…..I feel so grateful to the whole world sometimes! :)

Lastly, I’m back in class for the last two weeks, so back to normal life! I’m sharing photos mostly from our trip to Colorado. I hope our smiles give you an idea of the things you make possible for us.

Thank you sooooo much for everything! Hope the new year is going wonderfully for you and for allllll your loved ones!

With gratitude,
Danish

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Oct 16, 2017
Two months already??

By Danish Shaikh | Krantikari

Me at UWest!

Hi everyone! My name is Danish and I am writing you from my college in Los Angeles!! I have been here EXACTLY for two months, and I don’t know where the time is going. :)

After our adventures traveling throughout the UK for the "Lal Batti Express” performance this past summer for two months (check out the links below!), I was really excited that I would be studying with lots of American AND international students in one classroom. But when I first moved to the campus, I had a difficult time setting up my new lifestyle which I know is normal when you are experiencing a whole new world - especially moving from India to America!

For a couple weeks I felt so shy to talk to any students on campus and it took me almost a month to come out of my shell and adapt to the campus culture. It's been a bit difficult for me but I'm doing my best to enjoy the journey!

I really appreciate the people who have supported me in this wonderful experience to study in America. Aside from that the beautiful landscape that I'm living in, I enjoy the creative thinking encouraged by the American education system. This pattern of learning was luckily introduced earlier to us by Kranti School and I find that it has deepened my learning process and my knowledge. In India, it is common to teach by memorization and I am enjoying all the new, different types of learning here. :)

I am studying psychology so that I can give back to the community some day, and I am trying my best to learn as much as I can here. I am even doing yoga and meditation classes regularly here. And I’ve joined many study groups with students from so many different countries. I am loving it all, even though it is a little hard. Honestly the hardest part for me was to learn how to use the online systems like submitting assignments online I never used it before and it can be so confusing. But there are many helpful people on the campus and I am learning slowly.

Anyway it is midterms time so I should be studying!!! I just wanted to say THANK YOUUUU to everyone who helped for making this dream possible for me. I am so lucky to have all of you in my life, even more so because many of you never met me but you are helping me and believing in me. This is driving me very much for working hard and doing my best. Thank you and take care, I will write more soon!

Sincerely,

Danish

Yummmmm

Before I went swimming!

Links:

Kranti on BBC!

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