We Provide Free Education For The Poor, Street & Slum Children In Varanasi, India

About the project

Started in 2004, this project works with poor, street and slum children. Every six months we do a survey to find poor children and those living on the streets. We bring them to our place to give them a better education and food. Our volunteers and teachers help this project by giving their time, helping to fundraise and providing donations and ideas. The children who come to us are very poor and often have very bad family situations; some children have nowhere to live, some children have no parents, some children have to work as servants or have experienced drug addiction. We welcome all of these children to our centre.

 

In Indian society people look badly upon these children because they are poor and uneducated. In the past nobody has tried to help them. That is why I have set up this project with my volunteers.

 

How do we help?

Children come to the centre, in the morning and evening, and receive education in subjects such as Hindi, English, Maths, Science, General Knowledge, and moral education. We provide games, drawing and activities to help build the children’s confidence and self esteem. We have teachers who provide these facilities, and volunteers sometimes give their time and support to help us and give suggestions. Our place is informal and we treat the children as friends because we believe that we can teach them more in this way. We also teach them to speak English and help to develop their personalities to give them a good start in life.

 

We believe that nature and our environment are very important, and every three months we plant a tree with the children. It is very important that they know about global warming and love and respect nature to ensure that we leave a clean planet for future generations.

 

The education we provide is practical; we do not simply provide books for them. We teach them good behaviour. We provide food for the children and from time to time we organize for them to have a special meal so that they enjoy life.

 

Our main motto is to make all children self confident, so that they can stand on their own feet in this world. Here in our school, children feel very safe and happy because we treat the children well, giving them love and happiness which they would usually only get from their parents. We also have a health care programme and bring a doctor into the school every one or two months to treat the children and give them medicine.

 

In short, the children receive an education as well as fun which helps them learn different skills and subjects quickly and builds their self confidence giving them a better start in life.

 

Future goals

In the future we want to create a much bigger school and shelter in Varanasi where many more children could both live and learn. We want to create jobs for the children, and provide vocational training such as candle making, handicrafts, arts etc… so that the children can open bank accounts and start to save for the future and perhaps use this money for their further education. We would like to be able to house volunteers in this centre to make it easier for them to help us. We are currently fundraising for this programme.

 

How can you help?

Anyone interested in this project is welcome to become a volunteer. Volunteers are free to share their passions and skills with the children. People can volunteer for a day, a week or a month – as much or as little time as they like.

 

There are some rules we would ask them to follow:

-         Volunteers should not take any drugs.

-         Volunteers should be over 18.

-         Volunteers must leave a copy of their passport and visa with the school.

-         Volunteers should commit to a regular pattern of work.

-         Volunteers should give an indication of how long they wish to work for.

 

Should volunteers have any problems they are welcome to share these with the founder.

 

People can also help by donating at…. Or by taking part in one of the yoga or other classes, as the money from these goes to help the children.

 

( blog address- http://www.varanasivolunteer.blogspot.com  or E.mail- saraswati.yets@gmail.com)

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