Sophiya is one of our oldest staff members. She came to us way back in 2001 or 2002 when we were still finding our feet and trying to answer the many whys that came our way and looking for people who would give wings to our dreams. Sophiya had been involved in community work and seemed the ideal person to help us understand the needs of our beneficiaries. Moreover I was impressed by her gentle demeanour, her kind smile and the inner strength that seemed to emanate from her and was keen to have her join our team. She did and there was no looking back.
Sophiya joined as a primary teacher and was loved by all our students. She has also stepped up whenever needed and was always eager to help. Sophiya never considered her role in Project Why as a ‘job’ but was an integral part of our vision and mission. In 2004 she told us about the plight of the children in the Okhla neighbourhood she lived in. This was an industrial area with small cramped tenements tucked away between factories that spewed all kinds of venom. There were no schools in the vicinity, no parks for the children to play in and absentee parents that led to children being on their own and ready targets for lurking predators. Sophiya wanted us to start a school in that area and was willing to leave no stone unturned to achieve that.
She offered her home to begin our school as she felt that beginning work would help us gain the support of the community and even authorities. With the help of Pushpa she set out to find a suitable space and also seek permission form the local administrative and political authorities. She did both! You cannot underestimate the power of this quiet, resilient lady!
After much searching a garbage dump was located and Sophiya was confident that it could be transformed into a happy place for children. I must confess that when I first saw it I was far from convinced. How wrong I was.
In no time we opened our ‘centre’ with a couple of bamboo poles and a bright blue plastic sheet. The rest is history. Sophiya and Pushpa weathered every storm, bore every slander but never gave up. Today the Okhla Centre is a vibrant school where over 350 children are busy crafting their morrows. Sophiya is back to teaching her primary kids.
We have known each other for almost two decades Sophiya and I! Over the years I have learnt to admire her quiet but firm ways, even her occasional stubbornness which is so much part of who she is. I realise how much she has given to Project Why and am deeply grateful to her. Sophiya is undoubtedly an unsung hero.
Today the very centre and school Sophiya created with so much love and pain is in danger of being closed. We have launched an online fundraiser campaignto save it and hope you will join it too.
Find Project WHY on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We need your help to share Sophiya’s story with your friends and family on the hashtag #HelpMithuSaveSchool.
Each share can bring us three times the donation.
Add in a little to the fundraiser–with small contributions from a big crowd, we can get together to help Sophiya keep her wonderful school alive!
At Project WHY Okhla centre, a very special reunion of past students, and their teachers who continue to hold the torch for education for children today. Some of these kids have gone on to graduate, found jobs, and broken out of the vicious cycle of poverty in their underprivileged community.
It was heartwarming to hear their stories and proved once again how education can transform lives.
Mithu Mandal lost his legs to polio at the age of 3, and was never interested in a formal education.
At Project WHY, he not only learned about computers, but became good enough to teach children how to use them.The Project Why Okhla centre where he teaches, supports the education of 350 children, quite a few of whom also learn computers from Mithu. Without this centre, Mithu would not have a job.
In the coming year, this centre is about to lose its funding and faces a very real possibility of shutdown, which is why we’ve now launched the #HelpMithuSaveSchool fundraiser.
PROJECT WHY ACTIVITIES
Project WHY is a flagship programme of Sri Ram Goburdhun Charitable Trust, which provides educational support to underprivileged children. This non-profit, after-school support programme goes beyond academics, to include life skills and all-around development.
Project WHY reaches out to 1200 children and 160 women.
Since 2005, Project WHY runs a computer education programme. Mithu started as a student, worked his way up to being a teacher’s aide, and then took over as the computer teacher.
WHY THE PROJECT WHY OKHLA CENTRE SHOULD REMAIN OPEN
The Okhla education centre began its activities in 2004 to address the problems of an extremely vulnerable group of children who were targeted by drug and other mafias.
Space was not easy to find and the only option was a space near a garbage dump. It was ‘reclaimed’ and classes began under a plastic sheet held by bamboo poles. The centre is the result of hard work from its staff and founders, who have faced everything from littering, to assault from criminal elements in order to keep it running for all these years.
Today, the Okhla Centre has a stable structure, and Mithu runs its computer programme. It helps retain children in school, offering primary and secondary education along with the computer classes.
The centre is an important component of the neighbourhood, keeping crime, drugs and negative elements at bay and replacing it with education and employment.
WHAT IS NEEDED
To give us time to find a sustainable source of funding, the Project WHY Okhla centre needs:
1. 4 Staff honorariums for 6 months: 379, 104 (5,330 USD)
2. Electricity for 6 months: 9, 000 (125 USD)
3. Learning aids and stationery 15, 000 (210 USD)
4. Laptop for Mithu 33, 700 (475 USD)
5. Internet 3, 000 (45 USD)
6. Bank fees for fundraiser 48, 379 (680 USD)
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Total 488,183 (6, 865 USD)
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WHY YOU SHOULD DONATE
▪ Computer education has changed Mithu’s life, and he’s passing on his expertise to others who are gaining the skills essential at a modern workplace.
▪ The teachers Mithu Mandal, Pushpa Kumar, Sophiya Tirkey, Naresh Bhardwaj belong to the underprivileged community, so when you donate towards their salaries, you’re directly donating to the community and not a non-profit overhead. Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing their stories, each just as inspiring and full of spirit as Mithu’s.
▪ Children gaining secondary education at the centre will be going in for higher education, and staying away from life on the streets.
▪ The laptop will be given to Mithu. This will enable him to take courses, which he will use to improve his teaching curriculum.
▪ The entire expense account would be put up on the Project Why website once the amount is raised. You can check out an account of our previous fundraiser.
▪ Join the Project Why family by supporting Mithu, so he can help others in his community. No amount is too small, and every little bit would help keep Mithu’s workplace, the Project WHY Okhla Centre, safe from a shutdown.
There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. – Walt Streightiff
For We are the World Blogfest I want to share the story of the education of a bunch of children who took it upon themselves to change their futures.
I came to know of this Blogfest through my dearest friend Damyanti and warmed up to the idea immediately as we need stories to renew our faith in humanity.
At times, we lose the ability to revel in the joy of happy occurrences around us. We’re simply too busy living our daily life. I would like to share the story of a bunch of children who motivated us to set up the most dynamic and endearing centre of Project Why: the Okhla Centre.
It was way back in 2004 that we were told about the plight of a children living in the Okhla Industrial area, in tiny tenements tucked in between factories, close to the railway tracks. Most did not go to school as there were no schools in the vicinity and their parents were too busy eking out a living. They roamed around the area and were often targeted by mafias who would use them to steal from the goods trains or push drugs.
Our best effort to find a suitable place to begin a centre met with scant success. But we were determined to reach out and provide education to these children who were eager to have us come to them. Finally we found a garbage dump that we reclaimed and set up our centre with 4 bamboo sticks and one bright blue plastic sheet. Two extraordinary women: Sophia and Pushpa took on the challenge of ensuring the centre ran no matter what. It was the eagerness of the children that propelled us not to give in.
Slowly more and more children would appear from nowhere and want to join the centre. We knew that there was no going back as Project Why became one of the wonders in the eyes of many children. The centre continued to thrive day by day and grow in leaps and bounds. From a flimsy structure that was pulled down ever week by our detractors and set up every time by our brave ladies, the centre acquired brick walls and we had over 100 children studying from class I to V. New teachers joined the initial duo and it was soon a well settled centre providing primary education. We thought it would remain so but when the year came to an end, the class V children insisted we open a class VI. We had no option but to do so. It was their school as they had taken ownership and we had to follow.
Today the Okhla centre has a class XII!
But kids dream, and they dream big. They wanted a computer centre as no centre existed in the area. God listens to children. Thanks to the kindness ofKabir Suri of Azure Hospitality, we were able to build a proper roof, shift secondary classed on the terrace and open a computer centre for the children.
Today the centre welcomes over 300 children who are taught by a dedicated band of 12 teachers.
True, the school is in a garbage dump and the surroundings are far from pretty, but walk into the door and you reach the happiest place you can imagine. A visit to the Okhla centre always lifts my spirits up. A sure feel-good shot! If not for these incredible children, this centre for education would not have happened.
At every step the God of lesser beings ensured that someone came by and helped us fulfill the wishes and dream of these children. Our gratitude to all of the donors.
Today we are praying for another miracle. The Okhla centre funding is coming to an end in march 2019.
If we are not able to come up with a solution, the centre is in danger of closing. We are looking at various initiatives to bridge the gap but above all at long term sustainability to ensure that these wonderful children continue to have their happy place. It is they who wanted it and they who deserve it. We will simply follow.
Do you believe all children have a right to education and see their dreams come true? Can education liberate children from the vicious cycle of poverty? If you ever stop by in Delhi, or if you live here, would you like to visit the Project WHY Okhla centre? Will you support our funding efforts for this centre?
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Please consider collaborating with us! We welcome visitors, volunteers and anyone who can give us advice on how to improve our practices and processes. Check out our Facebook page for information on the events that are held at Project Why.
You can also support Project Why through a small donation. Even a small amount helps us support a child’s education.
We were honoured to welcome Mrs Hiramatsu, wife of the Ambassador of Japan, and the Japanese Volunteer Group to our Yamuna Centre on January 15th 2019. Mrs Hiramatsu graciously donated school books to all the children. We are deeply grateful for this donation.
The ladies organised an origami activity with the children that was enjoyed by all.
Our association with the Japanese Volunteer group began in 2006 and is still going strong.
There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. – Walt Streightiff
