~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Home of Hope, Inc. Nilimas Travels, Journal #9 Koshish, Delhi March 2014 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ in this issue Koshish, Delhi Dear Nilima, Nilima has begun her annual HOH Yatra to all the projects supported by HOH in India. This is her fourth journal for this trip. In sharing her travels, she hopes to help connect the efforts and dollars in the US to the results she is seeing in India and to provide an in depth look at what is going on at the various HOH project sites. Enjoy the Journey! MY TRIP TO KOSHISH, DELHI THERE IS LOTUS NOW IN MUDDY STENCH!! Traveling to the KOSHISH project, which is located in the garbage dump of Sarita Vihar (a semi posh area in Delhi), one truly feels the ASSAULT on your senses especially the olfactory senses. I have mentioned this in my earlier journals and was overwhelmed by the stench as we approached Koshish. Nothing has changed. In fact, it has increased. The garbage hills of the past seemed to have become mountains, the sewage water of Delhi is gushing out of pipes, creating a river of stenchy, filthy, black, muddy water. The only CHANGE one sees now is the 816 sq foot building, KOSHISH, is now transformed into a blue and red bright building. It truly looks like a lotus, blooming in this stagnant garbage river. This Lotus, which is KOSHISH, is the result of sweat and a labor of love of founder Ajanta Chakravorty and her team. It is an absolute delight to see how cheery the Koshish school looks. There is a wall (thanks to Kartik Jaggis personal donation) with plants recently planted along the wall. Tiny tots wearing bright maroon sweaters, with the Logo of HOME OF HOPE, Inc., displayed like a proud badge of pride are sitting on colorful nursery furniture and doing puzzles. I was welcomed by the staff of Koshish ,who gave me single roses and then a familiar happy face of Chandan (remember him?) welcomed me with a clay purple rose which he had made. He eagerly took pictures of the entire team. Every corner of the 816 sq ft building is used to its max capacity. THE 10x8 ft EEP CENTER This room is the size of our closet in the US. Over 20 tiny tots aged 3-6 yrs are sitting happily on the floor and singing and clapping. I entered the room and was very impressed to see them learning English through a cartoon video (which they got from You Tube). It is a colorful train with different animals getting on and off representing the alphabets. The kids were loving every minute of it. The music was so catchy that I also felt like dancing and singing with them. Their joy was infectious and how happy they were. Chris and Sunil (EEP CREATIVE TEAM) if you are reading this journal please send your EEP dvds as soon as you can. Sunils creative work of interactive English instruction course will just be lapped up here. EEP team - this is another hot bed of eager beaver tiny tots (like at ATMS) who are ready to accept EEP. I told the teachers about Movement exchange and they all loved the idea. I must give credit to Ajanta and her team for taking on such a PROACTIVE role in English empowerment. THE ENGLISH TEACHER (funded by HOH) Shaquir Ali is the name of the English teacher. In 6 months he has made a visible difference, which is truly impressive. The older kids showed their English knowledge by acting an ENGLISH PLAY ON LEADERSHIP. This is the essence of the play: A group of 9th graders get up and are talking about We have graduated and we need to find a job The next scene is an interview with the boss (English teacher, Shaquir). He is asking the following questions: What are your strengths ? Why should I hire you? What can you do for the company? What are your weaknesses? Etc. etc. I was impressed by the answers. Each kid spoke very confidently as though they were in a real interview. They looked straight in the eye and answered intelligently. I could see the training was in confidence and leadership skills. The room is packed, there is NO air, but luckily the room has cheerful colors on the wall and the kids all seem animated. There is a positive CAN DO/CONFIDENT attitude in them which I did not see last time. Maybe it is all about EEP (English Empowerment )? That seems to be the question and answer in every project. EAGER BEAVER CHANDAN The poster child of Koshish. I had interviewed him when he was 11 yrs old. Today he is 13 yrs old and is studying in the 9 grade. He has come with his father from a village where his mother and 10 yr old brother reside. I asked his schedule... 4 AM: He wakes up 4 AM - 6 AM: he does physical exercise in the park 6-9 AM: he cooks breakfast and packs lunch for his father (who works in the dye factory) 9 AM: he is in Koshish at the computer center 1- 5 PM: he is in school, after school and lunch break he is in the school library doing projects. 6 PM: he reaches home, cooks, cleans and has dinner with his dad who comes home by 11 pm. He said all this in perfect English with confidence. Chandan remembers Anjali, Ganisha and Tanya and sends his love. He now wants to be the BEST doctor that he can. In the small cupboard size computer room, there are 3 other young eager beaver Chandan like boys, aged 13- 15 yrs, named Ranjan, Anand, Yaadav and Arun. I interviewed them. They all had ambition written all over them. There is no computer teacher and they have learnt every thing from dear Ajanta. They showed me the power point presentations. One boy was writing an accident report in good English. THE STAFF AT KOSHISH I have already mentioned about the English teacher Shaquir Ali, who is doing wonders! The MATH TEACHER IRFAAN, also teaches Hindi and political science. He has also done wonders. There is now a 100% pass rate in Math and English, which was the weak subjects. In the past the kids were in the 40% rate. Today they are scoring 50-75% which is very impressive. SHEETAL is the Project Manager and according to Ajanta is her left and right hand. DINESH is the watchman and handy man. He is responsible for keeping Koshish so CLEAN and planting the plants at the entrance. GITA is the chaperone of the whole center and teaches tailoring. 14 ladies have been trained in basic tailoring. I connected Ajanta to famous designer Mandira Virk,who is the daughter of Suniti, my dear friend. I met her for dinner and was very impressed. She is a beautiful young woman, with both inner and outer beauty and seemed impressed by HOH. She has a simple question why are there no women tailors? In this male dominated field. Her calling is to EMPOWER the young women and train them to become prestigious finishing tailors and earn good money. She invited me to the famous WILLS fashion show on March 29. Unfortunately, I cannot attend since I am leaving on March 26. She was very affectionate and even insisted for me to change my ticket. She will visit Koshish after March 29 and connect with Ajanta. Lets see where this connection goes? My job is to connect and spread the awareness. THE BUDGET OF KOSHISH and AJANTA 65% of the funding comes from Ajantas own personal money and the rest is from HOH. I got to spend some time with Ajanta and learned much about her. Like always, I feel very humbled and small in front of our selfless, hardworking foot soldiers. Ajanta is highly qualified. She has PHd in communications, a Masters in Industrial Psychology and Communication. She has been on the faculty of IM Calcutta and XLRI. She is a management consultant, trainer and executive Coach for prestigious corporations where she works full time and donates to KOSHISH. She is a single mom and has 3 daughters that are all very well placed in life. Her eldest daughter, graduated from Cornell and is a professor at Columbia, New York. Her second daughter, from UPENN, Philadelphia, is also a professor at university of Columbia. Her third daughter is from Oxford and is a director of legal at Citi Group, Mumbai. This very accomplished Ajanta, crossed the wall (which separates Sarita vihar from garbage land) in year 2007 and saw kids playing in garbage. She started reading to them under a tree and founded Koshish. In 2009, dear Anil Lal gave the first funding and connected Koshish to HOH. Ajanta has never looked back she sees a STAR in every child like she did in her own 3 daughters. The kids at Koshish have an Attitude and Aspirations to shoot for the stars. I can see where this guidance and hope comes from. They dont want menial jobs to just survive.These kids want to become professionals and THRIVE in the real world as IAS officers, Doctors, Lawyers and join the High Tech world. They definitely dont want to be left behind. YOUTH LEADER MICHAEL MERCHANTs VISIT The kids enjoyed his visit and remember him often. His visit seemed to empower the kids. They have hung on to every positive word he said. He had spoken to Ajanta and suggested for the kids to learn software skills by linking with the Khan Academy on line and become a self sustaining model by doing small projects. The kids are waiting for this to happen so Michael, please follow up with Ajanta. FEW SUCCESS STORIES SUFIA was 5 yrs old when she joined Koshish. She has 5 siblings and is from a very poor family where her father ran away with another woman. She has finished class 12 and is doing an accounting course and is currently working at the West Side big Mall. ABRESHAM also came to Koshish at a very young age. She is currentky 19 yrs, has completed 12th grade, and is studying BA. She along with ROSHINI, another young girl who came also at a very young age, are teachers at Koshish. ZEBA is working as a receptionist at Apollo hospital. RAJESH is working for a prestigious company A-Z. MY VISIT TO TGC COMPANY IN SOUTH EXTENSION Kartik, our PCO of this project, had informed the HOH Board the usefulness of enrolling the kids in these local Private courses that are affiliated with the University. After visiting the centers, I am in total agreement with him. NIIT computer lab was not maximizing these kids potential and was costing Hoh $$$. With our motto of big bang for small bucks this is truly a very lucrative option of empowering the kids. 12 kids are totally ready to join. Ajanta and her team have done all the ground work. ABOUT TGC, located in South Extension, part -1 is a premier institute in animation and Digital media education providing diploma in multimedia and animation which is recognized by the universities. In the last 10 yrs they have over 100000 students and have had close to 100% successful results in job placement, in premier companies like Times of India, NDTV, Hindustan times, tech book, etc. The courses are in graphic design, web design, traditional 2D, advanced 3D modeling, texturing, etc. etc. tgcindia, info@tgcindia I spoke to the counselor Antrita, who was very helpful. A 6 month course is about $1200 and a 1yr course is about $2300. Antrita was very generous and offered a 25% discount for NGO and also unlimited time hours for practice if the kids wish to practice after hours. I agree with Ajanta and Kartik that this is the best gift we can give these kids. She has been waiting patiently and has sent the power point to Kartik to present at the board meeting. I know dear Kartik has been very very busy. I have the power point with me and will give it to Kartik and assist him in this presentation to the Board. I also have the brochure and information for these courses. I know WINJEET foundation wants their proceeds to be directed towards this very worthy project. Rekha is helping WINJEET to collect gently used party clothes. Dear HOH family please assist Rekha. It will be WIN/ WIN for every one. WINJEET, HOH and Koshish. MY THOUGHTS I was very impressed by what I saw today. This is a very worthy project with a leader who has a great vision in making the students a STAR. The ground work has already been done. There is a total of 180 students. The tiny tots who are learning English are about 38. Like ATMS the ground work for EEP has already been done. These kids are like a sponge for knowledge. The energy in KOSHISH is very positive and invigorating! HOH should feel proud of what we have accomplished in empowering another foot soldier Ajanta. We need to support this project the best way we can. I know there is always a question of funds $$$? But I think we should try and send a few kids if not 12 to this course and follow their progress. The goal of HOH is to empower needy projects with potential. I see loads of potential here and my HOH yatra continues. Tomorrow I will be in AMRITSAR. Who ever is reading this journal, please support HOH. Help us to help them. Those kids out there who have nothing going for them except HOPE from kind people who support HOH! Bless us all, Nilima
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:46:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015