Education for All

This week, we started a new project with the Young Dreamers. We had two meetings since the hygiene rally that have been quite productive. Our new topic is to end child labor in Ambedkar Nagar and teach the importance of education. Since we only have a month left in India, and it’s a big project, we have to move quickly. We also decided some main goals. We are going to find at least 50 kids who are not going to school and try to get 20 of them into school. I gave the idea of focusing on a small amount and letting that small amount influence the others. We’re going to focus on kids who are not going to school because their parents can’t afford or because they work instead of school. I really, really want to do this because forcing young kids to work is not cool. This project relates to Radhika, who I wrote about last week. She’s 10 and she has been working cleaning houses instead of going to school. She’s definitely on our list. Someone in the group had the idea of asking parents in Ambedkar Nagar to sign a pledge saying they will keep their kids in school until 12^th grade. If we get that, it will be a huge success. It’s definitely a big job, but keeping this life lesson in mind, it’s do-able. If you put your mind to something, and you really, really try, you can do amazing things.

On Tuesday, we had the big community meeting in the Elephant Village. We talked about the importance of education. The volunteers working there showed the kids’ work and talked about the immense progress they’re making. We also talked about the importance of going to school every day because some kids there just kind of stop by whenever they feel like it, but they don’t truly want to go all the time. They are some kids, though, who have gone every day and it’s incredible to see the progress they’re making. At the end of the meeting, we delivered the news of the new school we will be forming in the Elephant Village. All the kids were super excited and the moms were too. They especially liked hearing that they will b=get backpacks and uniforms. A father even came and started asking a bunch of questions. We’re putting up the ad to hire 2 new teachers this week, so hopefully they come quickly. I am very excited for this new school. I still can’t believe that after 500 years, of this community not having a school, we’re finally making this happen.

Some more great news. A few days after I started writing this week’s blog, Radhika’s dad finally agreed to let her go to school. He even made a public promise to my dad’s partner. She’s not going to the government school. For the rest of the school year she will get private tutoring. Then she will have to take an exam in March to see if she can qualify for 5^th grade next year. We’re going to give her a scholarship for the private school She’s going to be a Young Dreamer! I’m really excited because we succeeded to get another girl to school.

This weekend we’re going to Himachal Pradesh which is along the border with Tibet in the Himalayas. With a visit to the Dalai Lama Temple and hiking and camping in the mountains, I should have a lot to write about next blog.