Give a girl a bike: help her to go to school

Dear Mann Deshi Friends and Supporters,

Thank you for your continued support of the Bicycle Project.

“I want to become an engineer”. This was an aspiration of Ms. Swapa Bhandare. Mann Deshi started Freedom Ride program in support of girls for who wish to continue higher education. Under this program young girls get bicycle to continue higher education. Lack of transport facilities force girls to drop out from school after 7th grade. Mann Deshi Foundation have provided bicycle to thousands of girls. Bicycle program helps them to travel and continue high school. After high school they also entered graduate program. Mann Deshi also organizes career development workshop for these girls. In one of the workshop Ms. Bhandare said, “Without bicycle I would have dropped out of the school and would have become wage laborers in fields.” High schools education brought aspiration to these young girls. In career development workshop one of them said “I want to become an engineer”

I am thankful to the donors who have supported theses young girls to dream whatever they wish to and also motivate to choose the option like becoming engineer.

We greatly appreciate all the support you have given us so far and hope that you will be able to help us in for our future projects.

Affectionately, Chetna

Bicycle Project:

This proud girl is the ten years old Mohali Shivaji Pise, with her new bike, which she received five days before from donators of the “Research fellows of School of Life Sciences”. With the new bike Mohali can save a lot of time on her daily six kilometre trip to school and back. Without the support of the donators, the family could not have afforded a bike and so Mohali is even prouder to own the first bike in the family. Despite of the really bad economical situation the family managed to repay a loan for a life saving heart operation of Mohalis older sister Swapnali a few month ago.

The bike does not only help Mohali to go to school quicker but also to obtain more confidence, because she feels that other people are interested in her education. Mohali visit the rural school in Mhaswad in the fifth standard and is a really good student. In the last year she got 97% out of 100%. When she will have finished the twelfth standard she wants to go to university to become a teacher. She is curious how the other kids at school will react if they see her new bike. Especially the girls in rural India are often worse supported with material things then boys. So her whole family is glad, that there is a Bank like Mann Deshi, because in rural areas of India few people care about the poor families and their problems. The most indigenous people need loans for their houses, the education of their children, health, marriage, computers or books. But despite all the deficits Mohali is really happy that she could get an own bike thanks to the help of the donators and so she wants so say “Thank you” to all people who show interest on the needs of rural girls like her.

Dhanshri Shivaji Gunjane is eleven years old and in the 6th grade. Her household consists of her parents, a brother and a sister, along with her uncle, aunt, grandfather, and grandmother. Dhanshri’s father is a farmer, and her entire family works in the fields or on the farm. She is a bright student who earned a 93 percent in the 5th grade and who won first prize in Computation. She donated her prize to an orphanage located in the village of Palvan. Since her school is far away from her house, Dhanshri needed a bicycle to attend. Through generous donations to the Freedom Ride project at Mann Deshi, Dhanshri can continue her education and philanthropy.

Dhanshri’s story is one of many similar stories in Mhaswad. For students who cannot afford to purchase bicycles, the Mann Deshi Foundation collects funds to purchase and donate the bicycles. These girls are academically strong and have a commitment to education. You can help support girls like Dhanshri by providing seed money for bicycles. Adopting one girl costs only $50, a class of 5 girls can be adopted for $250, and 10 girls for $500. You can also sponsor a village which has achieved 100 percent enrollment of girls in school for $2250. Mann Deshi can send you information about and pictures of the specific girls you have helped and provide you with the opportunity keep up with her progress in school.

Thank you for your continued support,

Vanita Shinde

Freedom Ride! Banking on Bicycles in Rural India

After finishing the 7th grade, Asma Tamboli wanted to continue her education in high school. She requested a job from the Mann Deshi Mahila Bank so that she could earn money to buy a bicycle. When asked why, she replied that she had no transportation from her village to high school, and her parents had urged her to drop out because they were worried about her walking the long distance to school. Asma felt that using a bicycle to get to school would be the ideal solution but her parents could not afford one. The Bank agreed to employ her for the summer, and she was able to purchase a bicycle and continue her education.

Asma was the inspiration behind the Mann Deshi rural women’s micro-finance Bank’s Freedom Ride Bicycle Program. Asma’s story illustrates some of the main barriers facing rural girls who wish to continue their education. Poor public transportation, high costs for bicycles, and reluctance of parents to allow girls to walk long distances to school are only some of the difficulties rural girls face in pursuing their education. The Freedom Ride Bicycle Program is designed to help alleviate these problems, by providing loans at 0% interest to girls and their families to buy bicycles, and has helped prevent hundreds of girls from dropping out of school prematurely. We also have a special fund allocated for those who cannot even afford a loan but show a strong commitment to education, and we donate bicycles to these girls. The Bank is proud of Asma’s innovation and commitment to education, and continues to support others who want to follow in her footsteps.

You can help support girls like Asma by providing seed money for bicycles. Adopting one girl costs only $50, a class of 5 girls can be adopted for $250, and 10 girls for $500. You can also sponsor a village which has achieved 100% enrollment of girls in school for $2250. Mann Deshi can send you information about and pictures of the specific girls you have helped and provide you with the opportunity keep up with her progress in school.

Ashwini is one of the few girls in her community completing the 11th standard in school. When she was in the 9th standard, receiving a bicycle from Mann Deshi allowed her to continue her studies and attend school without the burden of paying for bus transportation, a common cause for drop out.

Ashwini lives in Mhaswad and is the eldest of her two siblings, a brother and sister. Ashwini never borrows money from her parents. The expenses she incurs, such as buying clothes and shoes, she covers with selling sprouted vegetables in her village. She is completely self- sufficient in this way. The money that is left after covering her expenses, she uses purely for educational purposes. Mann Deshi has given bicycles to more than 2000 girls, which helps them complete their education and make their dreams come true.