Two weeks ago, I got the opportunity to go to Karjat to meet the students who are sponsored by the Help A Child To Study project.

Karjat is approximately an hour and a half hour train journey from Mumbai. I was really looking forward to this journey as I would get to interact with the students and I needed a break from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai.

Last year, we decided to expand our activities in Maharashtra and we partnered with the Light of Life Trust, an NGO working to transform the lives of the underprivileged in Maharashtra. They helped us to identify students from Karjat and Alibaug towns of Raigad district. After reviewing the applications and conducting interviews, we picked 16 students to sponsor for 2011-12, for courses ranging from Junior College to Diploma to Bachelors in Engineering.

Interacting with each student made me realize how much of a difference this sponsorship could make, in each of his or her lives. Some students have to travel long distances to attend college, some stayed away from home to attend college because there was no college in close proximity of their residence and some worked part time to support themselves and their family. When asked about their future plans, they enthusiastically told me about their ambitions. Most of them wanted to pursue further studies and become a Teacher, Banker, Chartered Accountant or a Lawyer.

One of the stories, which caught my attention, was Sonali’s who is currently in her first year of B.Com degree and works part-time to support her siblings’ education. She works part-time as a typist for a lawyer in her village.  And when I asked her what she plans to do in future, she told me about her dreams of becoming a lawyer. She wishes to pursue L.L.B after her B.Com course.

It was really wonderful to meet the Light of Life Trust team and the students, and to be in the beautiful town of Karjat.

We are looking forward to expanding our partnership with the Light of Life Trust, so that we can reach out to even more students and help them achieve their dreams!

 

Light of Life Trust team with the students

 

 

Just before Andrea’s farewell, we visited Sameerwadi and the adjacent villages where majority of our sponsored students come from. We interviewed some new students who have applied for scholarships and also happened to meet some of Help A Child To Study’s current and past students.

Since my joining in the beginning of the year, this was the first time that I visited Sameerwadi and our sponsored students. It was wonderful to meet the students and to see the impact of our work. Some of our alumni members are now primary school teachers and it was good to see them passing on their knowledge to the children of their village.

I would really encourage our supporters and donors to visit the students if possible, to see the big change they have made in the students’ lives. If you want a visit to be arranged, e-mail me at mallaya.anjusha@somaiya.com.

Here are a few photos from our visit:

Basavaraj with his collection of certificates from participation in various competitions. We are sponsoring Basavaraj for his B.Ed course. He is a very talented and hard working student. His father died when he was very young and his mother passed away recently. He stays alone in a rented house and makes and sells paapads to cover his day-to-day expenses.

Shivaleela who we sponsored from Junior college to D.Ed is now a primary school teacher

Shivaleela with Andrea

Neelavva who was sponsored from Junior college to D.Ed is a primary school teacher in her village

Mahaling with his parents. Help A Child started supporting Mahaling when he was in his Junior college and now he is pursuing a M.Sc.

I know that the blog has been a bit quiet lately but that’s because we have been really busy with the handover between myself and Andrea who has worked here for 3 years and is now heading to Australia to pursue her masters degree. We wish her good luck for her studies and a bright future!

I would like to report that we had a fair success on our first time at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon this year! We would like to thank all the 10 of our supporters who ran for us. A special thanks to our Dream Maker Mr. Vipul Ambani who pledge raised over and above Rs. 5 lakh for Help A Child To Study!

Next year, we’re planning to do it in a bigger and better way and hoping that all our supporters will be on board with us.

Our dream Maker - Vipul Ambani

Monica Thakkar and her son

Arshia Mehta and cousin

Parth Ashar and his son

On Shweta’s return from the US (See the blog post below), we’ve received a couple of press mentions! Here’s the article, the first from Education Time (TOI Mumbai Edition) on 13th December and the second from Hindi paper Prabhat Khabar on 14th December.

Prabhat Khabar, December 14th, page 19.

We bring you a very special blog post today by Ms Shweta Bantanal, who had previously written another post for us on her experiences with Help a Child to Study and how she was supported to escape the cycle of poverty. When Help a Child to Study’s founder Mr Samir Somaiya was invited to speak at Harvard University’s Private and Public, Scientific, Academic, And Consumer Food Policy Group Conference on the topic of ‘Education and Its Impact on the Poor’, the conference organisers asked if he could also bring one of Help a Child’s graduates to tell their own story of how the project changed their life.   We would especially like to thank Harvard University for sponsoring Shweta’s trip to the United States and giving her this amazing experience. Shweta has written about her experience below and we hope that you will enjoy reading it!

Shweta speaking at the Conference at Harvard

Shweta Bantanal:

As they say, there are some Experiences cannot be expressed, but only experienced.

Nobody knows when opportunities will knock the doors, but utilizing them to the utmost level is the real task on mankind and I am happy that it has been a great time of utilization for me when an Indian daughter stepped inside Harvard University, USA on behalf of Help A Child for the PAPSAC conference at Harvard University. The long hours spent on our terrace watching planes can become a wonder while traveling across continents.

 

I received call from our Help a Child Coordinator Dr.Vijayakumar Kanavi asking would you like to go USA on behalf of HAC for PAPSAC conference at Harvard University. Wow, I thought!  Have you ever been in such a lovely situation where, you get a happy news, how do you react to a thing like that? Trip to USA!, that too for conference at Harvard university which is one of the best universities in the world ?!  I agreed to go, as there were more than one positive to the news, I get to go to Boston, in a flight and Harvard Business School will bear the cost of my travel and accommodation… it would be a fantastic experience and I would also grow myself in career by this first step…ideal deal.

 

Flight Experience:

I was so thrilled when I reached the Bombay airport. The Swiss Airline to USA was at 1.30am. I have gone through all security check and immigration. As I entered the plane, a smile welcomed me in and saw the aircraft doors, the cockpit entrance. I hardly slept in flight fearing my impending first experience with flight. Feeling hungry yet not consuming anything was taking its toll on me. I started remembering all the prayers that I could remember and kept chanting even before the actual flight. I was a nervous wreck and I seem to be the only person who was worried about the flight. My fear became a joke.

 

My colleague had given some information on how it would feel when we touchdown and there is no need to panic etc… I was thinking does this guy know anything about me, hello, I travel in government buses on rural Karnataka Roads, and nothing can beat that.

 

Just like any first time flier I too wanted a window seat, I found my seat. I heard all kinds of rattling noise. I could see the right wing. Flimsy metal plates bumped along. Slowly the plane picked up speed and whole of my stomach was at my throat. The tires lifted and rattling sound increased. The land moved and the distance between the plane’s wing and the land grew. For the first time I was surprised into pleasure by the sight of the land below. It became big patches of building and green. I relaxed the takeoff was smooth let us see what happens to the rest of the flight thought my mind.

 

The rest of the flight was pleasant. I hogged the entire unpalatable airplane food much to the airhostess surprise. I wasn’t feeling sick and actually I was enjoying myself. The flight was pleasant and landing equally smooth.

 

Conference & Sightseeing:

Prof. Ray Goldberg from the Harvard Business School who had organized the conference welcomed us gladly. The conference was focused and collaborative. The educators and leaders from business and government who attended PAPSAC knew this was a very special gathering. I got the chance to meet industry leaders who are passionately committed to driving innovation and entrepreneurship. And attendees leave with an infectious desire to be change-makers once they return home. Plus, PAPSAC conference provided me solid face-to-face time to network and build relationships with peers.

My talk on ‘education and its impact on poor’ was there on 2^nd day of conference. I spoke about how my education improved my family’s situation and resulted in turning a sad story into a successful story. I spoke about how many rural Indian students have to choose only one option between eating and studying, it is unpleasant to hear but when they make the choice it is converted into a motivation factor to achieve their aspirations. Other factors involved in rural education is parents are hesitant to send their daughters to schools having only male teachers, they are more comfortable with lady teachers. Bright students of rural area lag behind in results and achievement due to lack of exposure and quality education. Finally I answered queries about my dream to become a social entrepreneur to help many students like me.   When I finished my talk all great achievers who are CEOs of big industries gathering there rushed towards me to wish me. Another amazing experience is that I met the head of Harvard Business School on the same day. I felt so happy that I can’t express the feeling in words.

This experience provided me broad skills and confidence that complement a technical education, which can empower me to become an innovative professional in larger, established organizations as well. The conference also offered me some unique information regarding food security.

Every university should start such activities to have a deep impact within their local or national entrepreneurial ecosystem. This frontline exposure provides a lifetime of insights for students. Of course there are many conferences but it is important to see how much of the shared knowledge is reaching people like me. I got an opportunity to develop myself further, learnt a new skill, enjoyed a new adventure and embraced another exercise in continual self-improvement. Having seen Harvard University’s operations, I am all the more enthused about the growth in career and personality development that the experience offered.

Apart from the conference we also went to the aquarium, and watched the shark show at IMAX. I was lucky to visit the media lab of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Another exciting experience was the Boston duck tour. I was surprised when bus entered the Charles River then I came to know why it is called Duck Tour. Even roaming on the streets of Boston city in the evening and enjoying an awesome climate on the bank of Charles River was amazing. I loved seeing the huge book collection at the Harvard book stores.

My Gratitude to Help A Child:

I would like to thank Harvard University for their hospitality during my visit and for giving me this wonderful experience. I would also like to thank Help a Child for all their efforts like providing warm clothes, proper assistance to get Visa and arrange my visit. The reason behind my success is the support given by Help a Child to Study and my sponsor for my education without which I would have been left out. I am very thankful to Somaiya Vidyavihar Trust and my sponsor Mr. Mihir Jhaveri for financial support for my education and his beautiful gift.

Thank you so much to the Help A Child project team and Prof. Ray Goldberg for making it possible for me to attend PAPSAC. I wish Help A Child will go a long way to create such a wonderful opportunities for more students.

It’s been quite sometime since our last blog post, and we have a lot of exciting things to report to you!

One of our students, Shweta Bantanal who has previously written a guest blog post for us, was selected to speak at a conference at Harvard University along with our founder Mr Samir Somaiya. Shweta shared her experiences growing up in a poor rural family and the challenges that she faced in completing her education.

We will be sharing a full report on Shweta’s trip to Harvard soon but in the meantime we wanted to share some more of our news with you!

Professors Meenakshi Rajan and Susannah Malkan from S.K. Somaiya Degree College of Arts, Science and Commerce at Somaiya Vidyavihar visited our main project area at Sameerwadi in Karnataka from 7^th to 12^th November to conduct a weeklong workshop on Spoken English for our students.

Around 50 students attended the workshop where they were given the opportunity to improve and practice their English, making presentations to the rest of the group. The experience helped the students to grow in confidence, showing them that if they practice then they can improve their English language skills.

We would like to give our warmest thanks to Meenakshi and Susannah for giving up their time to help our students and giving them an opportunity to learn that they would otherwise not have. We hope that we can offer many more such opportunities to our students in future!

Students hard at work on one of their tasks!

Presenting to the rest of the class

A successful class with their teachers!

 

We are very excited to announce that four of our B.E. graduates who are graduating this semester have been given job placements through campus interviews!

 

Ms Jyoti T. has been placed in Mindtree while Ms Komal D., Ms Jayashree P. and Mr Shambhuling K. have been placed in TATA Consultancy Services!

 

We have six more students graduating from Bachelor of Engineering this year whom we are hoping will also receive placements soon!

 

Apart from our Engineering students, we will also have the following number of graduates in each category in 2011:

 

 

30 students graduating with Diploma of Education

15 students graduating with Bachelor of Commerce

12 students graduating with Bachelor of Arts

10 students graduating with a Technical Diploma

9 students graduating with Bachelor of Education

8 students graduating with Bachelor of Business Administration

4 students graduating with Bachelor of Science

 

1 student graduating from M.B.B.S.

1 student graduating with a Master of Arts

1 student graduating with a Master of Science

1 student graduating with a  Master of Veterinary Science

 

We wish them all the very best of luck as they move forward with their lives and look forward to updating you on their progress!

We’re very happy to be able to bring you another guest blog, this time from one of our recently graduated students, Shweta Bantanal. Shweta’s father died when she was in the 7^th grade and ever since then she and her mother have stayed with her uncle, who found it too difficult to support her studies after 10^th grade on his limited income. Shweta was sponsored for four years for her Bachelor of Engineering degree and graduated in mid 2010, she is also featured in our youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYAq2B_S77U). We’re very proud to be able to tell you that Shweta has recently received employment from Larsen & Toubro, now here in her own words, is Shweta’s journey with Help A Child!

“Poverty is the schoolmaster of character”.

This schoolmaster showed me the path to “HelpAChild” project by making me to approach our beloved Dr.Vijaykumar Kanavi (Coordinator for HelpAChild Project).

I was sponsored by the HelpAChild Scholarship for 6years starting from 11th and 12th std when I was worried about my education. Obtaining a bachelor degree in B.E. has been a life goal of mine and I am very fortunate to be a student at  HAC project pursuing this dream with your kind financial support.

The day I still remember when Kanavi sir came to my house along with professional videographers. During the conversation I quoted that I did project which is exhibited in state level competition and appreciated by all. On the spot sir decided to move to our college which was 2hour journey from my house to shoot video clip of my project demo. The time when we finished up with the work was around mid-night 3.30am. This shows the hard work of HAC project team, I love to work in this team voluntarily. I felt very happy when this video is published in Help A Child project website.

I was excited to hear that I had been chosen to visit Bombay twice. First time I got opportunity to attend International Conference and 2nd time to motivate donors to help students like me. These two visits made me to realize still many students are there with critical family conditions and I got exposure to many new things. I got many good friends with different background and shared experiences.

I am very lucky that I was provided with lap top for my final year B.E project work which helped me lot to get through the interview. When I personally requested Kanavi sir, he provided me a pen drive also along with lap top. Was I telling about interview? Yes, today I am part of prestigious L&T Integrated Engineering Services, Mysore.

The poor girl from small town of Karnataka ever could imagine this position. Unknowingly my tears started rolling and my hands dialed Kanavi sir mobile number to share that I got cleared all rounds of L&T interview. This scholarship was very helpful to me in continuing my education and in helping me change my life and achieve my dreams. Today I can say “nothing is impossible because impossible itself says I m possible”

With this I am assuring you that I will put sincere effort to spread this project and I hope I will be able to help students achieve their goals just as you have helped me.

My small Gratitude note to the Sponsor (Mr Mihir Jhaveri):

The challenges of getting an education are outweighed by the knowledge that people like you care about me.

Your generous scholarship support is so appreciated. It has helped me greatly by allowing me to concentrate on school-work without having to worry about finances.

It would not be as far along in my education without your help and student loan. It is so important that people like you help needy, talented and meritorious students change our lives and achieve our dreams. Your generosity will make a difference in the lives of so many students in the years to come. Thank you for your support of students at the rural area. Hats off  to  the Help A Child Project and Somaiya group of industries.

Recently I decided to undertake a research project on the education levels of our students’ parents. I was curious how many of our students were first generation learners, how many of their parents had completed 10th or even 12th and what the disparity would be between education levels of fathers and mothers.

Out of a total population of 1168 students the education levels of 959 fathers and 1097 mothers were available. In some cases we do not have records of our students’ parents education levels, this is generally the case where the parent is either deceased or has abandoned the family. Many of our students do come from single parent families, most often headed by their mother.

Of the 1168 students, 271 (23%) were first generation learners where neither parent had any formal education. If we count cases where one parent has no education and the other is either deceased or has left the family (103 cases) then this number rises to 374 (32%) students.

Of the 959 fathers for whom data was available, 310 (32%) had no education. Out of the 1097 mothers this figure rose steeply to 551, or 50% of the total population.

134 fathers (14%) and 129 mothers (12%) had completed some schooling, but left before the 7th grade. 100 fathers (10%) and 155 mothers (14%) had completed the 7th grade before dropping out of studies. 5% of fathers (46) and 4% of mothers (44) had completed 8th or 9th grade before dropping out.

Disparities again appeared at the 10th grade where 226 fathers (24%) had completed this level (included in this figure are 6 who completed 11th then dropped out). In comparison only 162 mothers (15%) had completed the 10th grade. The drop is steeper at the 12th grade and degree level where 140 fathers (15%) had attained this level in comparison to only 56 mothers (5%).

While the sample population of this study is quite small, it does confirm the official statistics of lower female education levels as opposed to male.

I’m very happy to report that this year every eligible female applicant for 11th or 12th standard has been sponsored. We’d like to thank you all for helping us to ensure that in this generation we can reduce the disparity in education levels between males and females and enable these girls to finish their education.

We’re currently participating in Give India’s “The India Giving Challenge” where NGO’s compete to win matching grants from Give India. Please do consider supporting us at:

http://www.giveindia.org/give/pledgepage/helpachildtostudy

Even a small donation can make a big difference!