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

“It is my dream to serve in the Indian Police Service”, says Farida.

My name is Farida and I am currently studying in the 10^th standard. We are a family of five- I have a brother and a sister. My father is a farmer and he tends to the family crops. I used to walk to school daily. Since it was 3 kilometres away it often took me an hour to get there. My teacher who was aware of my predicament told me about Mann Deshi’s bicycle program. Hoping against hope, I applied to Mann Deshi for a bicycle, and when I finally received it I was overjoyed. Today I am able to reach school in a mere ten minutes.

The extra time I now save allows me to use my time more productively. I enjoy singing and applying mehendi to my mother and my palms. It is my dream to serve in the Indian Police Service. I run 1 km daily to train for the IPS entrance exams. To keep myself on track and motivated I collect motivational quotations from various inspirational books I read.

Thank you so much for Mann Deshi supporters who help the girls like Farida, to come their dreams into reality.

Dear Mann Deshi Supporters,

“Sometimes we would reach late to school and the teachers would shout at us for arriving late, says Jyoti.

Aged 14 and studying in grade 8^th ,Jyoti is the eldest sibling in her family. Her mother is a cook in her school and her father works in a garage She stays in Lambhcha Malla,and studies in Nyanvardhin High School. The distance between her house and her school is about 2 km and it would take about 30 -45 min to cover the distance. Mann Deshi Foundation donated Jyoti a cycle.

 “The cycle has helped me cut travelling time by half and this has resulted in increased time for study and play. Previously I would get only 1.5 to 2 hours for myself. But due to this cycle I get almost 3-3.5 hours to do myself study and also engage in extracurricular activities.” She is found of dancing and is a regular participant in various Dance Completions.

Her ambition is to become a doctor. She believes that there are a lack of good doctors n rural areas and wants to make up for the deficit. When asked if she was offered a job in a city’s best hospital, with a high paying salary or in a village ,where the salary and incentives would be drastically low than the cities ,she  confidently replies “I want to improve the health condition of the rural people, and how ever high paying job I get in cities or elsewhere my first priority is the rural area where I want to work.”

Mann Deshi is grateful for its donors continuous support to bicycle program !

Dear Mann Deshi Supporters,

Educating Girls is like sowing the seed which gives rise to a green, cheerful and full grown plant - but to get that education she has to face many challenges. In remote villages most of the families allow girls to study only till primary school even though she is good in her academic studies. This is often because school is far away so she does not have time to walk there and do house work.Transport in rural areas is either expensive or does not exist. A family's money is given to a boys education, not a girl.

Amruta is a clever student from a village called Gondavale. Her school is far away and to get there she has to walk.

“One day The Mann Deshi Foundation visited our school and gave us the information about the free bicycle programme. I was very happy to listen that there are such institution that help girls in completing their education, for a moment I wished that I could get the bicycle so that I can save my time of travel and surprisingly my class teacher recommended my name for bicycle, I felt very happy. While returing home with bicycle I knew there would be major change in my life and that would really help me and my family.  Now I reach school on time and return home before dark. I can help my mother in her work and get enough time for self-study. All this has helped me in getting good marks in exams. As I reach school early I can participate in other activities also. My aim is to purse the career of school teacher once I grow up because according to me it is the only medium through which you can transfer your knowledge and good thoughts to other", says Amruta.

There are many girls like Amruta in India and The support of Mann Deshi’s Donor help them to complete their education.

Thank you so much for all your support !!

Today I am capable to get to school without stress in time”, says Pranali.

Pranali currently is enrolled as a student in Hanuman Vidyalaya in Palashi. She is currently 13 years old and she is in 7^th standard.  Her Parents are laborers.   She stays in Mankarwadi. Travelling to school every day by walking she says would be an arduous effort, “The distance between my school and my house is 4 Km. Walking up to school would take around 30-45 min. My legs and back would ache by the time I would reach school, and would be exhausted by the time I would get back home.”

In February 2013, Mann Deshi Foundation distributed cycles to schooling going girls from nearby villages, who were in ardent need of cycles for quick transportation from their homes to their schools.

Pranali goes on to say that by providing a cycle to her has helped reduce travelling time by half, and is able to reach school without stress in time. It has also helped her   devote more time for study and help her mother in household activities .She secured a “A”  Grade in 6th standard.   She has also named her bicycle as Mann Deshi Foundation, as a sign of gratitude to the origination.

Thanks to Mann Deshi Donors who help to reduce the girl's stress...

.

“My aim is to purse the career of school teacher once I grow up because according to me it is the only medium through which you can transfer your knowledge and good thoughts to other”, says Amruta.

Educating Girls is like sowing the seed which gives rise to green, cheerful and full grown family plant, but to get that education she has to face many challenges. In remote villages most of the families allow girls to study only till primary or at the most till 7^th standard, even though  she  is good in her academic she is not allowed to study further and this is only because the school is far away from their house and  lack of  transportation  facility.

Amruta  is one of such clever student from small village called Gondavale. She is from lower middle class family. Amruta’s father expired in her childhood. There are 3 members in her family, Amruta, her mother and sister. The responsibility of entire family is on her mother alone. It is really very difficult to run a family with very low income in this high inflation period, but her mother somehow manages it.

Amruta studies in Navchaitanya School, Gondavale. She is in 7^th standard. Her school is 4 km away from her house. She covers this distance by walking. To reach school on time she has leave her house early in the morning & in the evening.  Also it becomes very late while returning, due to this she gets very little time for her self-study and cannot even help mother in her work.

“One day during school hour one of the representatives from Mann Deshi foundation visited our school and gave us the information about their free bicycle program. I was very happy to listen that there are such institution that help girls in completing their education, for a moment I wished that I could get the bicycle so that I can save my time of travel and surprisingly my class teacher recommended my name for bicycle, I felt very happy at that time.” Says Amruta.

I was really happy as my major problem of commuting was solved by Mann Deshi.

While returing home with bicycle I knewed there would be major change in my routine life and that would really help me and my family.  Now I reach school on time and return home early in the evening. I can help my mother in her work and get enough time for self-study. All this has helped me in getting good marks in exams. As I reach school early I can participate in other activities also.

My aim is to purse the career of school teacher once I grow up because according to me it is the only medium through which you can transfer your knowledge and good thoughts to other.

I and my sister will study hard and complete our education as we want to make our mothers life happy, we are aware of the efforts she is taking for our upbringing. She has never made us feel the absence of our father in our life. She plays both the role very effectively.

There are many Amruta’s in this society and I am happy that Mann Deshi Foundation is doing a great job of  reaching to each and every one by providing them with free bicycle and helping them in completing their education. 

I thank Mann Deshi Foundation from bottom of my heart as they have showed us the path of success.   My best wishes for their future activities.

Links:

• Every Problem is an opportunity to innovate