by anouradha bakshi | Mar 29, 2019 | Anou's Blog
A few weeks back we launched a fundraiser to help four teachers of Project Why save their school from closing.
This school has an incredible story. It was set up more than 15 years ago by two incredible women Pushpa and Sophiya to help children who were being abused by predators, looking for hands to steal and push drugs.
These children were from an industrial area bereft of any school and were left to their own devices by parents too busy surviving. The catch was, that in this area, there was no place to start a centre as barring factories and tiny settlements in empty spaces there was no space that could be used. This did not deter our formidable duo and they found a space that was a garbage dump. Where others saw squalor and filth, they could see a school and hope. It took their determination and a few trucks of mud to reclaim a space large enough to start a school under a plastic sheet held by four bamboo poles. There was no looking back.
Today over 350 children come to our Okhla Centre where classes from I to XII are held and many have graduated and gone on to take their place in the sun. Along the way a computer centre run by incredible Mithu was set up to ensure that the children have IT skills. The secondary section is spearheaded by Naresh who has the ability to turn failures into toppers! It is a win-win situation.
Today this school has lost its main funder and is at risk of closing down. To keep it open and give us time to find a long term solution, it is critical that we are able to pay the salaries of our staff for the next few months and that is why we launched this fundraising campaign.
We are nearing the end of the campaign and have managed to raise the funds. This was made possible by the wonderful way in which old and new friends came together and reached out with their support. The magic of the Internet allowed us to reconnect with many old friends and supporters and I am so touched by how each and everyone responded with so much love and generosity.
What was also overwhelming was the number of new friends we made during this campaign.
With help from our dear friend Damyanti Biswas, we were able to organise a Blogathon that helped us reach out to more people and I was touched beyond words by those who blogged for our cause, and shared the campaign on their networks allowing us to reach out to a wider audience. Many of them contributed generously to our cause and thanks to each one of them our Okhla school may get the breather it so needs.
With the help of old and new friends we have been able to do what may have seemed impossible: Save our Okhla School.
I have no words to express my gratitude. The fundraiser closes in 2 days, but anything extra raised will go to Our Okhla Centre.
by anouradha bakshi | Mar 26, 2019 | Anou's Blog
It had been ages since I attended a Parent’s Meeting in any of the Project Why Centres, so when the Okhla staff asked me to come and be part one I immediately accepted. I was curious to know what parents thought of our work and how they perceived us. The meeting was scheduled for 10 am and I reached a little after that wondering how many would come as this was morning, and most were busy either at work or in their homes. Imagine my surprise when I walked in to find the place teeming with mothers all dressed up in their best attire, some with babies at their hip, each wearing a huge smile on her face.
We settled down to business. The question that was looming large was whether they were happy and satisfied with our work. The answer was a loud resounding YES! Many chose to share their experience. One mother said that her children had been studying for over 10 years now, all five of them. One had passed out and was in college and one, the elder daughter was married. When I looked at her a little perplexed she was quick to say that her daughter was 20 and had completed her school. She had understood that education was important and would make her a better mother. Another mother shared that it was only because of our presence that her children were able to pass their exams with good marks. They would have dropped out otherwise as the family could not afford the much needed tuition. Because of Project Why children were now busy, not roaming streets and prey to abuse. All mothers felt that things had changed since we began our work in 2007.
As they talked, I was filled with so much gratitude and emotion. Gratitude to Sophiya and Pushpa who had found about the plight of these children and decided to urge me to reach out to them, and emotion at the magnitude of what a little effort on our part could do. A recent alumni meeting had showed us how far our children had gone and how they had broken the cycle of poverty in which they were born.
One mother was very grateful that even after having all our computers stolen, we had not given up and packed our wares as many would have done, but replaced the computers and carried on our work. All others were very happy that their children were acquiring computer skills. The one thing that warmed my heart was that all mothers present and the two fathers said that they had realised that education was the only way out for their children.
One mother asked whether we could start sewing classes for them as they too wanted to learn a skill. The thought has seeded and who knows, with the right support, the Sewing Circle of Okhla may soon see the light of day.
After I had left, I was surprised when a teacher came rushing to ask me to come back. I was perplexed not knowing what to expect. As I reentered the room the ladies started applauding. That is what they had called me back for. Tears welled up in my eyes.
That this centre may close as we have lost its main funder and are desperately trying to find a new one is nothing short of heartbreaking.
We have started a small fund raiser to help us tide over the next months. But the miracle I pray for is a generous donor who would take over the whole centre and understand what a huge difference a little help can make in the life of these children.
by anouradha bakshi | Mar 20, 2019 | Whats new
The results are out and our kids shine again. Well done Amit, Vikram, Ashish, Krishna, Rohit, Nirmal and Neeraj. We are proud of you. These boys are from our Govindpuri centre.
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.
