by anouradha bakshi | Mar 19, 2019 | Anou's Blog
March is exam month in India and every child is busy studying! I remember when my children were young, come exam time and the whole house went into exam mode. The TV was disconnected, everyone almost tiptoed around the house, favourite meals were cooked, coffee was made late into the night and we were all ever present to the needs of the child preparing for her exams. Parents were as tense as the children, if not more.
For Project Why children it is an altogether different ballgame.
These children come form homes where parents do not care about exams at all. They live in one room cramped tenements where the TV blares regardless, where life goes on as usual with the drunk father coming and being abusive and the meal prepared by the mother may be kicked to the ground and the family would sleep on an empty stomach. In such homes studying for an exam is close to impossible and yet our children do the best they can, sometimes huddling in a corner and making themselves small so as not to disturb others.
That is why at Project Why we ensure that during exam time, children have the space and support they need. Teachers give extra time even if it means going beyond the stipulated closing time or even on a holiday or Sunday. Children are encouraged to ask questions and clear their doubts and mock tests are taken regularly to assess the preparedness of each child and take remedial measures where needed.
And year after year the children have done us proud, as they have cleared their exams with respectable marks, many even topping their classes. I have a profound admiration for these children who run the race with many handicaps and yet come out winners. Hats off to all of them and to their teachers who leave no stone unturned to ensure that each child passes.
In a few days, the results will be out and children will move to the next class. Most of them will come with sweets to share with all of us. And though it has been almost two decades, I still feel a sense of immense pride and joy every time a child comes to me and tells me she has passed! Exam time at Project Why is truly a blessed moment.
by anouradha bakshi | Mar 12, 2019 | Anou's Blog
March 8th was International Women’s Day. It was also the day I was asked by my friend Damyanti to do a Live on Facebook and share the story of the women of Project Why, the women who had inspired it, helped set it up, run it and manage it. I must admit that I had never truly given a thought to the role of women in Project Why. It had always been an education programme for children!
I was very nervous about going live. Till date I had been interviewed on camera and even ‘talked’ about Project Why in front of an audience, but it had always been known ground. Going Live on a social media platform was nothing short of daunting. And that too on Women’s day which meant that the discourse had to be different. Simply talking about our skilling programmes for women was far from enough.
I sat with my thinking cap on and took a walk down memory lane trying to see what role women had played in enabling Project Why. It is then that it struck me that actually Project Why was inspired by the life of one woman, Kamala, my mother, whose life and spirit imbues every aspect of the work of the last two decades. That it is education that I chose to make its centrepiece, came from the importance Kamala gave to education and the way she fought to get an education for herself. That I decided to select a staff of women from the community, came from her fight for women’s rights and her belief that every woman had the right to make her own choices. That I am my mother’s daughter is validated by Project Why!
Project Why is steered primarily by women, women no one believed in, women no one would have given a second thought to. It is such women that run it today. Every single one has walked that extra mile and proved her worth in more ways than one. They have guided me and counselled me and stood by be at every step. Just like Kamala, I believed in them and felt that I had to help them find their voice and make their own choices.
Today almost 40 women run Project Why. Thousands have been skilled and become financially independent. Thousands of girls have entered its portal and left as determined young women who would live their dreams and become equal partners and super moms.
This is the story I would share on the famous Live, I decided.
Easier said than done. For the next days I tried to write a script but was unable to as I sounded flat. I wrote some points and walked around the house rehearsing what I would say but mumbled and fumbled. I slept fitfully and was up before dawn on that morning. When faced with the camera I almost froze and the first lines sounded terrible but then I do not know what happened. I think it was Kamala’s spirit that took over and I shared my story from deep within my heart and the words flowed with ease. It was soon over and I was told it had gone well. For me it had been an incredible experience: that of my sharing my life with the world. I felt humbled.
Today Project Why is at crossroads, its future in peril. If I am unable to find funding, part of it may shut down. I know I have to once again draw strength from the spirit of Kamala and do ev
erything I can to save it.
I owe it to her, I owe it everyone woman who has reposed their faith in me.
If you’ve read so far, please consider making a small donation to the Project WHY Okhla school established by Pushpa and Sophiya, whose quiet perseverance not just established the school, but help run it today.
by anouradha bakshi | Mar 11, 2019 | Whats new
Our special needs students Anurag and Munna are training to be shop assistants in a whole sale shop. This is a new initiative towards employment for our special needs students. At present they go for a few hours and are doing a great job! Well done boys!
by anouradha bakshi | Mar 6, 2019 | Whats new
Our founder, Anouradha Bakshi, was live on Facebook for Women’s Day. For anyone who missed it and would like to hear heartwarming success stories from our history of 18 years
You can watch us here
by anouradha bakshi | Mar 4, 2019 | Uncategorized, Whats new
From March 4 to 10th, Project Why will be participating in the Write Tribe Festival of Words by taking over Damyanti Biswas’s Daily (w)rite!
It is an honour to be part of this Festival and to talk to a new audience about Project Why. I hope all my readers will join me in this exciting journey.
The posts are based on word prompts and the schedule is as follows:
- 4 March – Forgive
- 5 March – Miracle
- 6 March – Serenity
- 7 March – Nurture
- 8 March – Influence
- 9 March – Trust
- 10 March – Grief
So look forward to this exciting venture at the Write Tribe Festival of Words, with trepidation and a little nervousness.
Please read, comment and share the posts–a little love would would go a long way with our outreach efforts! Tag us if you do: you can find Project WHY on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
