Gallery - 2021 - Caring through the COVID crisis
Gallery - 2021 - thankful
Gallery - thank for 2021 - SHINE Conference
Their eyes shining with happiness
Here’s some fantastic news about two of the kids who attend our new school in Village Dalernagar which opened in June.
You might recall that ‘Project Help India’ has brought education for the very first time to these kids, and their community in Northern India. As with our three other schools close by, the location of Village Dalernagar is incredibly remote. This community is isolated from due to the mountainous terrain, dense jungle, poor roads, extreme heat in summer, monsoon floods and landslides. A motor bike ride to the closest local school (approximately 20 kilometres away) is not possible for these families that live in poverty.
The main source of income for the families in this village is cattle rearing and the selling of milk. These families barely make enough money to survive. They only live with the most basic of basics. There are no healthcare facilities close by. In case of a medical emergency the people have to wait for next morning to travel to the nearby city of Kotdwara. Without a school there is also little for the children to do. They spend their time sleeping, roaming or working for their family. Teens and pre-teens are particularly at risk of harmful behaviours due to little supervision or monitoring. The traditional practice of Guana, the early marriage of girls from age 13, is also followed by many families.
For the kids who are now attending our new centre, the past few weeks have been a life transforming experience.
Imran’s Story
Imran a 12 year old boy, born to a Muslim family of the Gujjar community. His father’s name is Mr. Gulam Rasool and his mother’s name is Mrs. Reshma Khatun. He has a younger brother, Rihan, and a younger sister, Afreen. He lives in a mud house in the middle of a jungle. Imran was once a disobedient, naughty and undisciplined child. He spent his days sleeping, fighting and roaming around, and was famous among the villager for all the wrong reasons. He has never been to any school or has ever learned to read and write. When the education centre was opened, he was among the first intake. He has been greatly inspired his teacher Dilshad and his lessons. Once described as a very naughty boy, Imran is now the first to get to class. He tries his best to learn all new things and he enthusiastically participates in all of the activities. He listens to the teacher with curiosity and concentration. The teacher and his parents have observed significant positive changes in Imran. He now wakes up early and revises the lessons taught. He is now rarely involved in fights. …’this once known delinquent has now turned into a decent and hard-working student’. *
Imran’s family expresses gratitude and immense happiness for all the positive changes and growth of their son. They thank Project Help India for bringing education in their village and in the lives of children.
Asma’s Story
Asma is a 9 year old girl who lives with her family in the middle of the jungles of Dalenagar. She is the youngest sister among her 4 siblings. Her father Mr.Samshad does cattle rearing and sells its milk while her mother Mrs Aamna is a housewife. Asma is a cheerful, ambitious and energetic girl who from a young age, has shown interest in learning, saying if only she could go to school.
Asma was always interested in playing with books and fascinated by the pictures. Once, her elder brother went to a school in another city and he came back on the holidays. He sometimes brought books back home to give to his little sister. As Asma grew she was not only interested in playing with the books but she also tried to read them. Her dream of learning and to be able to read was only a dream because there was no school in her village or the surrounding area. Little did Asma know her dream was about to come true.
Asma was head over heels when she heard that Project Help India was opening a school in her village, She had to wait for 9 years to begin her education and to live her dream. Asma is the one of the most active, intelligent students in her class. She comes to class daily and never misses any work told by her teacher. She completes all her homework and classwork on time. Asma has started recognising the alphabet in her books and she eagerly awaits the time for when she will start reading and understanding.
Asma says that she hopes to become a teacher one day, to be able to help other children like her. ‘Her eyes shine with happiness when she talks about going to school and she thanks Project Help India for helping her to take the first step towards her dream’. *
For both Imran and Asma, their eyes are beaming with happiness and they have a great sense of pride. At ‘Project help India’ we too are delighted and so proud of all our new students.
We thank our supporters for helping us to transform the lives of kids, their parents and family and ultimately their community
*quoted from ‘Project Help India’ Field Officer’s report (July 22)
Above ….a few more smiles from some of our new students
Thanks for what you've made possible. We are loving it!
There are just 3 days to go for you to make your end of tax year donation. We continue to need and appreciate your ongoing help.
Over the past few weeks we have done some significant things. We thank our sponsors and supporters worldwide for all that you have made possible. It’s amazing that we have achieved so much.
Just this month we have started our new village school - bringing education for the first time ever to 50 children. Look at the kids loving their new games and equipment - especially the brand new cricket set, something the kids have never had before.
We have moved premises to open a beautiful new Disability Centre in the slums of Kotdwara. This larger, safer and better equipped space will improve the quality of student experience and the support they receive. We have been able to employ a qualified teacher who brings vision, passion and experience.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for bringing smiles, safety, purpose, joy and happiness to all of these beautiful kids. Each one has a precious story.
We hope you enjoy the photos below. Please scroll to the very end where you will see the DONATE button on the orange box. Your donation is tax deductible.
We love our new space. There’s even room to grow a garden and to play outside.
The kids are so happy and grateful. We have brought hope and purpose to their lives.
“I’ve never played this before!”
World Refugee Day 2022
At ‘Project Help India’ we are committed to respond to the needs of those who are displaced, like the family whose house is shown in the photo above. I (Doug) took this photo a few years ago in the North Indian city of Haridwar. You are looking at a home made out of rubbish, located in a car park, 100 metres from the “mighty” Ganges River. I was embarrassed to take this photo but I could not believe what I was looking at. It was a heart breaking and sobering moment to stand there, and to imagine the life and circumstances of this incredibly poor family.
On the day of taking this photo I was a guest speaker at a roadside gathering of children and parents as part of ‘Operation Freedom’, a Uttarakhand Police program which aimed to get kid beggars off the streets and enrolled into schools. Many of the kids who would beg for money would live in slums and places like this.
Look again at the photo …imagine if this was your home. What hopes would you have for your future? If you were the father, what dignity and sense of worth would you have as you thought about your ability to provide and care for your family. If you were the mother, what confidence, what fears would you have for the health, education and safety of your children? These thoughts, feelings and fears are the reality for hundreds of millions of refugees around the world today.
Statistics tell us that there were over 5 million internally displaced people in India due to climate change and natural disasters. You can easily stretch this number if you consider the countless millions who are displaced and constantly relocating due to the vicious cycle of poverty (recently made worse by COVID). Many are forced to move from their rural village home to relocate and look for work in the city. Many of these people, including children, live on the streets or in slums with little or no access to adequate sanitation, emergency health care, education and advocacy. Because of the caste system in India, these people are ostracised, vulnerable, targeted and easily exploited.
At ‘Project Help India’ we work alongside these most vulnerable people, providing schooling, nutritious meals, crisis aid and interventions, counselling and delivering short courses to up-skill young people for employment. These are the slum people, the Dalits, who we have worked with for 10 years now. Amit, our Director writes;
They settle mostly besides rivers and railway tracks, and have houses made of plastic and wood (Kuccha House). They hope to accumulate money through jobs like labours and hawkers, and be able to live satisfactory life. But even after their migration they are unable to achieve anything they hoped for. They need to do extremely hard work in order to even be able to afford food for their family. These people are mainly labours (both male and female), hawkers who sell cheap utensils (both male and female), and garbage collectors (mostly women and children). They must work hard in the chilling cold as well as in the hot and humid climate of Uttarakhand to support their family. Their houses do not provide them with necessities like electricity, clean drinking water, urinal facilities, etc. Also during floods, the people living near rivers suffer the most. Along with lack of basic human needs they also lack sanitation making them prone to diseases. The children are unable to go schools due to the meagre wage of parents and hence have to do jobs like labour and garbage collector to support the family. These refugees are also not able to prove the ownership of their land and their citizenship as there are no documents of them being born here in Uttarakhand. Hence the government is also not able to help them in any way possible. They are also not able to get government ration due to this. By opening our Slums Educational Center here, the people in these area are given new hope to survival.
Vulnerable to trafficking
Our parenting awareness programs teach mothers and fathers about the very real dangers of their children being exploited into labour, particularly being trafficked. These most vulnerable children often disappear or have been sold by their parents promised that their child would have a better future rather than endure their present circumstances. It’s very sad…but with your help we are making a difference, and bringing love, dignity and purpose to the lives of some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.
This ‘World Refugee Day’ we can have awareness, empathy, compassion and make a difference. Your donation to ‘Project Help India’ will be used to advocate for and help some beautiful families who are displaced, and who live a life that is so terribly different from all of our Western comforts.
Please donate to our cause by the end of this financial year
With the Australian tax-year finishing in 10 days, your donation is tax deductible…it’s a perfect time to help us. Click the DONATE button located on this page.
A home renovation like no other!
We thank our Australian supporters for your generosity and kindness. Thank you to our team in India for your hard work in making this possible. This transformation of Sunita’s house, we think, is nothing short of miraculous!
This is a powerful story of compassion - responding to an urgent need, and bringing love, hope, dignity and purpose to a very poor family. Our world needs more of this.
Today on 24/05/2022, the Project Help India team visited the Bijnor, Slum Centre to inaugurate the reconstructed house of Mrs. Sunita.
Mrs. Sunita lost her house due to heavy rainfall, and lived in a derelict space with mud covered walls with plastic sheets, no roof and no bathroom.
Sunita lives with her 2 daughters one of which suffers from Polio, a son and an old mother-in-law. Their miserable condition was brought to the attention of our Community Facilitator. Hence, in February 2022, the Project Help India partners Mr. Doug and Mrs. Rowena Thomas and Mr. Amit (Director, Project Help India) and Mrs. Daisy Samuel visited the family, and came forward to assist in reconstruction of the house.
Mr. Doug Thomas and Mrs. Rowena Thomas gathered the support for the reconstruction, from their Australian friends and with the help of Project Help India the construction proceeded. As a first step the mud walls and floor were replaced with concrete walls and floor, and sheet roof was constructed. Next, a bathroom with concrete walls and proper door was constructed next to the house.
The official inauguration was done on 24/05/2022, in presence of Mr. Amit Samuel (Director), Mrs. Shalini Singh (Field Coordinator) and Miss. Arunima Bisht (Office Coordinator), Mrs. Iris Thomas (Community Facilitator), Mrs. Vaishali (Assistant Teacher) and the family of Mrs. Sunita.
The family had tears of joy to see their house. They thanked and blessed Mr. Doug and Mrs. Rowena Thomas Mr. Amit and Mrs. Daisy Samuel, and the Australian families who not only gave them their home but also new hope of living.
The daughters when interviewed could be seen enthusiastic about their future. Neha wishes to find a job and start earning. On further talking with her, she agreed to be part of Project Help India and work for differently abled children as a teachers support in the new Disability Centre as soon as it starts. Kajal the younger daughter wishes to pursue career in Nursing and hopes to raise the funds to go to College.
The family is eternally grateful.
EDUCATION = the most powerful weapon
Some of our City Centre students getting their hands dirty, potting seedlings while learning about World Environment Day 2022.
A child’s education brings purpose for their today and hope for their tomorrow. Through their learning and the safe and supportive environment that a school brings, we are transforming one precious life at a time. If we consider the impact of all teachers and schools globally there is incredible collective transformative power found in education. As Nelson Mandela famously said [1];
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ...The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success. It can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation.”
At ‘Project Help India’ we recognise the privilege that we have in educating the now 315 children who come to our centres 5 days a week to learn and receive a nutritious meal.
“To come to school is the biggest gift that I’ve been given.”[2]
The kids who attend our schools do so with enthusiasm. They are respectful, cooperative and committed to their learning. They are also grateful knowing how lucky they are, because for most there is no other school to attend.
The mountain locations where Project Help works are remote, with many communities further isolated from town centres due to the mountainous terrain, poor roads, frequent landslides, extreme summer heat, monsoon flooding and dense jungle. The cost of fuel makes the daily motorbike ride into town prohibitive for most poverty-stricken families. If the school is within walking distance the kids, especially girls, are often unable to walk there for fear of animal attacks or being raped. There are similar challenges faced by the slum kids in urban areas too. Many boys and girls are unable to attend school because their parents are unemployed, requiring them to undertake labour and household chores, some are married at an early age, there is much family dysfunction, parent illiteracy, a fear of education, not to mention many are impacted by drug and alcohol addictions. To make matters worse, across 2020 and 2012 COVID forced the closure of many small schools, with teachers continuing to leave their jobs in large numbers.
From the data [3] we can source 5% of all primary aged children, and 6-7% secondary aged children in India have no access to a school education - this is approximately 5 million children.
In the surrounding areas where Project Help works, we estimate that there are approximately 50 small villages (with a population of less than 300) where there is no local school for the children.
Additionally, in these same areas of the 2250 local government schools, approximately 5% have less than 10 students, and most of these have closed down because of COVID. That’s 112 schools no longer in operation.
Source United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Report 2021 [4]
The impact of your donation
We are thrilled to report that across 2020 and 2021, our students were well cared for during the pandemic. Our Director reports;
In midst of everything, Project Help India played an important role in providing education during pandemic situations. When the children were forced to sit down at home, children from Project Help India assisted in community help programs. They assisted in ration packaging and distribution done by Project Help India to help poor and needy people which stopped many of them dying of hunger. Due to the negligence of many parents during this online period, the children across India have become addicted to phone, online games and social media and majorly pornography. This was also dealt in an orderly manner by Project Help India, by constantly providing them with interesting extracurricular work, teaching art and craft work, competition programs i.e. food cooking competitions, dance and song practice. We taught our students about their emotions and feelings, and also about the harmful affects of device addiction, pornography. We taught their parents about the need for constant monitoring of them. We also taught our slum kids about the dangers of the Kotdwara slum mafia and kept them safe from gangs, drugs and other harmful behaviours. Our community workers and teachers visited homes, monitored their lessons and welfare, keeping a constant watchful eye over them all.
All these activities have helped students to grow, socially interact, and remain in touch with their learning during the pandemic period. As all of our students belong to poor socio-economic groups, it can be duly noted that the loss of skills and learning due to pandemic is more at risk in our children than compared to others. Yet many of our students scored great results in their online and offline exams during the period of pandemic with the assistance of the teachers in our Project Help India.
