EDUCATION = a fundamental human right

274 children currently attend our 7 Project Help India centres …they love coming to school. For these kids the education they receive is a precious gift in so many ways.

We are pleased to present a series of short blogs about education.

To receive an education is one of the fundamental rights of being human. We may take this for granted but unfortunately many children, especially girls and those with disabilities, have unequal, limited or no access to education, let alone attend a school that provides access to a quality curriculum that is delivered by qualified, caring and loving teachers.

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights when published and adopted in 1948 was, and continues to be, a milestone document. For the first time, the world had a globally agreed document that marked out all humans as being free and equal, regardless of sex, colour, creed, religion or other characteristics.

Sadly, it seems that our world needs to stop and recognise this more than ever before.

At Project Help India, our key priority is advocacy for the right for vulnerable (all from poor and marginalised communities) to receive an education. Here are some of the beautiful faces of the 265 children who attend our 7 small centres in Kotdwara and Bijnor in Northern India. When the kids are at school their lessons include Hindi, English, spelling, maths, art, poetry, writing, drama, games, environmental care, body parts and body safety, health, hygiene and safety. It’s also an important priority for us to celebrate the cultural and religious traditions of the unique and diverse communities that are part of. We seek to give them hope for the future, to understand that they are precious individuals, and to give them skills and understanding to be contributing citizens who will flourish in life.

Go to the OUR SETTING page on this website to learn more about our schools.

Article 26 of the UNDHR states that ‘everyone has the right to education’.

Primary schooling should be free. We should all be able to continue our studies as far as we wish. At school we should be helped to develop our talents, and be taught an understanding and respect for everyone’s human rights. We should also be taught to get on with others whatever their ethnicity, religion, or country they come from. Our parents have the right to choose what kind of school we go to. link

Over the coming weeks we look forward to sharing more with you about these kids and their stories, as well as provide you with further information about the education and care they receive through ‘Project Help India’. We are thankful to our many supporters whose generosity makes these smiles, and all that the children learn and do at school possible.

We hope you will find this series interesting and helpful, and also encourages you in the impact that you are making possible.

Sunita's House - so grateful to you because the urgent repairs have commenced

We hope this finds you safe and well, especially those of you in Sydney, Northern NSW, the Illawarra and other areas, who presently are overwhelmed by the rain and floods. We are writing to give you a quick update, and a word of thanks for making it possible for Project Help to help Sunita and her family. You may recall back in mid February we put out an urgent call for assistance. Sunita lives with her elderly mother, and four older children, one with polio - causing significant mobility impairment and never being able to attend school because of this. Then while visiting our projects in Bijnor, we had the opportunity to visit the family. At the time I (Doug) reflected that I had never seen a family live in such miserable conditions, it really was very distressing to observe and to experience.

Please click this link for the original story

Following our call for help, a number of amazing people responded which made it possible for us to commit to the task, to go ahead and to give Sunita the good news. Straight away, we provided Sunita with some urgent supplies, some beds, blankets, basic food items, along with plastic sheeting for the roof as an interim measure - to protect the family when it rains. We promised (and hoped) that the major structural repairs to the house might be underway by Easter. Sunita was overwhelmed, breaking down in tears, as she thanked Amrit who made the delivery. She said that she had never felt so loved before. 

Great job Amrit …thanks for all your hard work, to make this happen.

This week, the renovations commenced. We are so pleased to have been able to start, with the hope that everything will be completed before the monsoon rains hit in early-mid May. 

Yep, we are over budget

Our initial estimate for the repairs was lower than required ...no surprises to most of us that most renovations go over budget. This is fine because we able to draw on funds away from other projects funded within our regular budget, however, if you could help, we would be most grateful. 

We anticipate needing approximately another $1000. Please let us know if you can help. You can make your donation by clicking the DONATE button at the top of the page.

Thank you so much.

Meet the newest and 'smartest' looking member of our team

Earlier this month we were super excited to have a new team member join us …it’s so smart looking too! We cannot believe that we have been gifted a brand new ambulance. It’s a beautiful story … a local police superintendent, Mr. Kripal Singh, who used to work closely with Project help in Kotdwara, bought the ambulance in memory of his late mother, who sadly passed away during the COVID pandemic last year. His mother would have made it to hospital if the community had more ambulances at the time. He told us;

I bought it to use it for people in need, but being a police official I am too busy to be able to use it. So I give this ambulance to Project Help India as an offering to be used for the poor and needy people. I trust and respect Project Help and know they will use it well.

We have big plans for this ambulance, after it is registered we will particularly use it to assist people in the remote jungle villages where we work. Many of those who need urgent medical treatment simply cannot access transport to get to the city hospital, nor can they afford to pay. We could recount many sad stories about tragic situations that could have easily been avoided if only people had access to an ambulance.

Our new member of the team will play a vital role as we care for our community, and especially help those impacted by terrible poverty.

Now seeing clearly ...it's so good we checked!

Just this week, the teachers at our City Centre raised their concerns about some of the students who had challenges with their eyesight, concentration, writing and reading at school. So, some of the kids were taken to the Sitabpur Eye Hospital, in Kotdwara for a check-up. Many of these kids unfortunately have had issues since birth, but due to the circumstances of the family, living in poverty, the problems were ignored. Poverty is cruel, and when you are living below the means the adequately feed and care for your children, eye tests and glasses are simply not an option or priority.

Thanks to the intervention of Project Help two of the children were able to get the attention they needed. 7 year old Tannu, now wears glasses and says that it is amazing that she can now see and read and write at school. Ritik, a 10 year old boy from a very poor family, also received new glasses as well. Both kids may need eye surgery in the future (due to long term damage), so we shall continue to monitor their progress and take them for follow-up appointments at the eye hospital. These would not have had eye damage, had they received help and intervention at a much younger age.

We are so excited for Tannu and Ritik, that their learning can now progress and flourish. We acknowledge their teachers for their love, care and dedication to their students.

Check out their smiles, we are smiling too!

An exciting moment.

Three women reflect and share about SHINE Conference

Nazia, Aasma and Ritu share how they were impacted by our SHINE Conference this year. We are so thrilled that many women commented about how much they learnt. Thank you to our team and to each of the presenters for your dedication, hard work and commitment to making this happen. Thank you too, to our supporters whose generosity makes all of this possible.

Nazia …

I liked and learned from all the sessions and the speakers of all these sessions were also really appreciable. I learned many things about laws for women. The session about women's rights instilled a sense of dignity and strength in me. Being from a male dominated society, women like me usually live in fear and submission towards our male partner. From this session, my heart was filled with a sense of importance and strength. We are also not able to discuss about the many problems about women's health openly and many times we were afraid to disclose our personal problems to anyone even if it is our husband or doctor. But here at Shine Conference we were able to discuss these problems openly and were also provided with a satisfactory and effective solution for the questions.

I am really thankful to all the speakers and also to The Shine Conference.

Aasma …

I am really thankful to the Shine conference for enlightening me about the many topics that I never before had considered important. I specially liked the session on women's value and uniqueness from the speaker Mrs. Daisy Samuel. This session made me realise that I am also an important part of both the society and my family. I never considered thinking about it deeply but this session made me realise many things about myself.

I was also very much impressed by the session on women's hygiene and periods. I never thought that this menstrual cycle was also an important part of a women's life, and hence learned greatly from this session. I was literally unaware of periods and menstruation and thought that it was a disease through which all women suffer. But now I know the proper meaning of it, and its importance. So I can say that I learned many things, and it's all thanks to the Shine Conference.

Ritu …

I learned many things from each of the sessions in the conference and hence this conference was very fruitful for me. I learned many things related to women's personal health and hygiene and came to know about the many issues caused by improper sanitation. I was never allowed or was able to discuss about these things with anyone and hence this session was really helpful to me. Also I learned about women's rights, laws and many other rules for women. This has really helped to become self-aware about myself and also given me a sense of dignity. I really thank the conference for making me self-reliant.

SHINE 2022 - It was exceptional

Our SHINE Women’s Empowerment Conference is held at this time of year as we celebrate International Women’s Day 2022.

Celebrating International Women’s Day 2022 in Northern India

What a day Shine 2022 was! It was exceptional and exceeded our expectations. Full of speakers including Rowena and Daisy, educating women to know their strength value and purpose. SHINE Conference is an important aspect of the 'Project Help India’s vision. Our aim is to empower all women in all spheres of life, sharing a message of dignity, strength, purpose and value. Across the day we talked about health, hygiene, awareness of trafficking in the community, family safety and how to empower our women to advocate and educate their children about sexual and physical abuse at home and at school. We shared inspirational stories about remarkable women including Daisy, our Director Secretary’s message that all women have a voice …not to mention we shared a delicious lunch together, we danced, sang, laughed, cheered, cried and shared joyful moments together. Tap on the link below to see the Kotdwara television news item about the conference. It really captures the atmosphere of the day.

SHINE on the Evening Television News

Many women including the staff members from Project Help were honoured for their work in the community. It was a day of celebration and we are so grateful. Now we can’t wait for next year.

The photos below are just some of the highlights from an incredible day.

The girls are ready to SHINE

Daisy, Rowena and the Project Help Team are working incredibly hard to prepare for a special experience for all of our delegates.

Our fourth Women's SHINE Conference will go ahead this Monday, 28th February! This annual event coincides with International Women’s Day which is celebrated on 8th March. We are so thankful that Doug and I (Rowena) have been able to travel to India to support the Indian team. This year SHINE has been affected because of Covid but it will still go ahead on a smaller scale. We are grateful and excited and full of anticipation. Preparations are in full swing. Buses have been booked to transport women from a number of towns, villages and slum communities. Registration for delegates is also underway, and there is certainly a sense of excitement as we meet and talk with women in the community.

Most of our delegates are women who live in slums, in poverty. These women can't afford to pay, so we are not charging them. 'Project Help India' covers all costs thanks to the generosity our donors and supporters.

Through our work at Project Help India we are providing hope through education and opportunities that many girls and women living in poverty, would never have thought possible.

Our conference aims to educate and empower women and in doing so, raise a new generation of women whose dignity, individual strengths, talents and purpose will create a strong, happy and healthy India. We want to give them an experience they will never forget.

AN URGENT REQUEST - can you help this family?

Sunita is a widow. She and 5 other family members live in this house. Their weekly income is $15 and we would like to help if we can by replacing their roof and making some other repairs.

We are seeking a donation of $1000 to cover the cost of an urgent replacement roof and other necessary house repairs for a slum family who are living in desperate circumstances. We would hope that the repairs be completed before the monsoon wet season in the middle of the year. This family of 6, known to us through our work in the slum community of Bijnor, live in a single room with flimsy plastic roofing, no door and basically no walls ...check the photos! Their weekly income is $15AUS which is significantly well below the poverty line. From an email received from our team this week;

On a recent visit to the Ladpura Slums Centre, Bijnor, by our General Secretary Mrs. Daisy Samuel, was approached by a woman named Sunita Devi who asked for help. She also gave us a formal application for help. We took her request in consideration and also gave her a visit. Her situation was really miserable.

Mrs. Sunita Devi resident of Village Ladpura is a poor widow woman. Her husband Late Mr. Virendra passed away 7 years ago. He was suffering from tuberculosis. Even after several months of treatment in the government hospital, one day due to a sudden pain in his chest he died at his house. He was a labourer by profession.

Mrs. Sunita Devi has 4 children. Hence a total of 6 members in her family because the mother-in-law lives with her. Mrs. Sunita is not even educated. The name of the eldest daughter is Neha and she passed 12th grade. From the age of six months, Neha has suffered from polio, and her both legs are disabled. The second son's name is Shubham and has only studied till 8th standard. We he can he works as a labourer. The third child is a girl named Kajal, who is a student in 12th standard. The fourth son's name is Vishal and has studied till 5th standard.

The room where the family lives is a single room and that also is very feeble. The room doesn't have any roof and is covered with plastic polythene. But even through that polythene, a lot of water comes seeps during the rainy season. There is no door in the room which causes many types of difficulties. She has to very hard work to make her ends meet. Mrs. Sunita Devi, does the work of washing utensils in people’s homes. Due to which her monthly income is only 3 thousand rupees ($60AUS a month). She is hardly able to meet the household expenses with this money. She is also under huge debt by people. The family is able to fill their stomachs with the rations provided by the government.

The family is helpless and miserable in many ways. In this winter also they faced many difficulties living in that open room and also suffered from cold. They have asked many people for help and were not given any response by them. Hence she have requested us for a tin roof to be given to them so that they can have proper roof for that room.

Please let us know if you can help, or simply make your tax-deductible donation by clicking the DONATE button in the banner of this page.

Thank you.