By Tarika Vaswani | Online Fundraising
We would like to personally thank you for supporting Magic Bus and the 350,000 children that benefit from our programs every week. This year, Magic Bus USA raised nearly $2m in funding and in-kind donations from thousands of US-based organizations and individuals, including:
We were also featured in a November edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. The publication carried an in-depth interview with Silicon Valley insider and philanthropist and Magic Bus USA Board Member Ram Shriram who is focusing a great deal of his time, money, and energy on helping innovative NGOs (like Magic Bus) improve education in India. Also featured was a case study examining how Magic Bus is changing the lives of Indian children growing up in poverty through an activity-based learning curriculum.
Your support has helped us change the lives of youth across India - like Keerthi, who is a graduate of the Magic Bus Livelihoods Programme. The Magic Bus Livelihoods Programme helps underprivileged youth break out of poverty by providing them with suitable employment opportunities. The programme helps build youth’s capacities, sets realistic aspirations for themselves, inculcates employable skills, and get access to gainful employment.
Keerthi was a part of the third batch of young people in Magic Bus’ Livelihood Programme in Mysore city. After joining the programme, he was taken through a Comprehensive Need Assessment followed by a Personal Development Plan. It was a blueprint of his strength, weaknesses, aptitude and attitude. He also went through a process of training on using computers, managing his finances, spoken English language, and business entrepreneurship. The last is a compulsory skill set giving young minds a direction to become entrepreneurs themselves.
On graduating from the programme, he got a job as a Customer Sales Specialist with Eureka Forbes; where he gets a salary of Rs. 4,000 per month and incentives for every sale that he makes.
“I don’t know if I could be happier. I believe this is the best thing that has happened to me in the last 21 years”, says Keerthi, his excitement seeping through his otherwise calm voice. Especially given that he wasn’t able to find a job on his own for over a year. He says, “When Magic Bus Youth Mentor Deepu came to our house and informed us of the Livelihoods Programme, I was drawn towards it. I had graduated last year and was desperately looking for a job. I asked around in my community and heard favourable responses about the programme. A friend of mine in the community had gotten a job within months of joining the Livelihood Programme.”
Keerthi’s strength and interest was towards managing interactions with customers. He was advised to focus on marketing and sales oriented job. When the Eureka Forbes opportunity came along, the Magic Bus team asked Keerthi to go for the interviews. “It was my first interview. Naturally, I was nervous. But, months of grooming and practice at the Livelihoods Centre had its benefits”, he says.
On asking if he is satisfied with the remuneration, Keerthi explains “Our family has seen some tough days since my father passed away 15 years ago. My mother toiled day and night to make ends meet. She works as a coolie in a local vegetable market earning just Rs. 3,000 per month. I would have dropped out long ago had not a government scholarship funded my education from the 10th standard onwards. I was in desperate need for a job. I had to earn and help share the burden in the family. This job engages me for just three hours leaving the rest of the day to help in household chores and improving my own skills. And, the salary is a huge help for my family. Last month, I took home Rs. 15,800 for selling 6 vacuum cleaners. For the first time in years, my family could at least afford the basic necessities. It is definitely a beginning.”
Keerthi’s performance at Eureka Forbes is being lauded by his team manager there. He is seen as a valuable member, capable of taking up new challenges, and comfortable with the customers.
For Keerthi, this is a step forward in the right direction. “Some more years down the line, I want to start my own agency”, he signs off.
Like Keerthi, Magic Bus is a step forward in the right direction for many underprivileged youth. All thanks to Global Giving and folks like you!
By Tarika Vaswani | Online Fundraising
By Rahul Brahmbhatt | Executive Director
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