Support education for vulnerable children (India)

Sahaara believes that every person has a dream, and our work centres around ensuring that marginalized persons are able to articulate and work towards achieving their dream. Children living in Mumbai juvenile homes are one of the most marginalized children in Mumbai. Institutionalized, these children are most often from highly poverty stricken families.

As a part of the holistic intervention therein, Sahaara imparts computer education to the children between fourteen to eighteen years of age in the juvenile homes. Sahaara’s in-house computer course delivers a fitting foundation to the children preparing their skills for the technology-driven world outside the homes. The children attending the computer training get a start that will help them break out of the poverty cycle and fulfil their dreams of a stable future.

Below is the story of a child who has benefited with the help of the computer training carried out by Sahaara personnel.

Caring for Majesh*

Imagine the warmth that comes when you know somebody has your best interests at heart. It is the comfort and security of knowing somebody cares about your future and is willing to help you do the best you can. However, sadly there are many children in our country left to fend for themselves on a daily basis.

Majesh* was one of these children. His father left their home and did not return for many years. During this time, his mother re-married and the family moved to another location. In 2008, when Majesh was 8 years old, his stepfather and mother quarrelled and his mother moved to the suburbs of Mumbai with the children, leaving her husband.

Three years later, disaster struck and Majesh lost his mother to tuberculosis.

Thankfully, Majesh’s uncle took him and his siblings in and tried to take care of them but soon he began to feel the financial strain. In a desperate attempt to get them the care they needed, he left the children outside the Don Bosco Hostel, telling them to play until he returned. He never came back.

Majesh was then taken in by the Hostel and for the next three years he and his younger brother were shifted through four homes finally settling in David Sassoon Industrial School (DSIS) in 2014. This is where we first met Majesh

Sahaara has been conducting computer classes for the children in DSIS since 2005. When we first met him, Majesh was very quiet and had the tendency to get angry. He found it difficult to understand even the basics of computer software.

When we noticed this, we began to counsel Majesh, listening to stories of his past and taking the time to sit with him and teach him how to use computer software, especially those related to charts, photos, bills and mark-sheets.

Today, Majesh’s confidence level in computer knowledge has grown so much that he wants to do a job related to computer studies in the future. He understands Microsoft Word and Excel thoroughly, attends class regularly and shows an interest in computer studies. He would also like to pursue an advanced course in computers as soon as he can.

We found that just assuring Majesh that we had a personal interest in him and cared about his attendance and progress in education, gave him the sense of comfort and security he needed to be able to study well. At Sahaara, we aim to help boys who have lived difficult lives, like Majesh, feel confident and secure about their future!

*Name changed to protect identity

Links:

• Visit our website

• Progress Report (PDF)