Educational Sponsorship for 120 Children - India

Dear donors,

Greetings!

Sarita (name changed) is 12 years old girl studying in 7^th standard. She is getting sponsorship aid from IDEA from past 5 years. More than Sarita, it is the story of her mother, Kamla (name changed). Kamla is brought up in one of the city slums and relocated to another slum after marriage. She had just passed 10^th standard when she got married. She is very grateful towards sponsorship programs of the NGOs as she could complete her education with the sponsorship aid given to her elder sister. Her elder sister used to get aid from a non-profit organization and Kamla could complete her schooling by reusing textbooks, shoes and uniform given to her sister.

Kamla’s daughter, Sarita has a serious health problem which was diagnosed when she was in 5^th. She has to be on medication throughout her life to keep her heartbeats under control. Her heartbeats are monitored through an Eco test and sonography after every three months. Sarita’s brother is in 4^th standard. He had a surgery when he was a baby. The family somehow managed to pay for the hernia surgery. Sarita’s father is an alcoholic. He is drunk day and night. He tried to work in several places but did not continue anywhere. He owned a tempo which he drove only for a few days. He was a watchman for some time. He also worked as a vegetable vendor. Kamla suffered a lot because of her husband as he never stopped drinking alcohol and never earned a single penny. Tired of all this, Kamla took him to her parents’ place hoping that he will change. But he started making scenes by fighting constantly. Therefore she shifted to a place close to her in-laws and started working as domestic help. She became the breadwinner of the family. Her in-law arranged to buy a hut for them in the same community. She earns around 5000 Rs. per month. She pays fees of her son through the bonus she gets during festival of Diwali. Sarita is a brilliant child. She performs very well in school. She stood 1^st in special exam on English and Mathematics conducted in her school. She wants to be a mathematics teacher in future.

Kamla gets help in kind through the households she works as a domestic help. But she finds it very difficult to meet both ends through her meager income. Her husband grabs money from her to drink alcohol. She has been a strong support for the children. Looking at her education, we have offered her to work as a teacher in our new initiative of adult literacy program in her community. This has been a great demand from the ladies in her community as most of them are illiterate. She will finish her work by afternoon and conduct adult literacy class in the afternoon. We do not know whether we could sustain her job but she will certainly be a role model for the ladies in her community.

We depend a lot upon your generous support so that the literacy class can begin with all the resources and women become literate soon. We request you to give more because what you give comes back to you!