Karishma, the all-star student

Karishma lives with her family in Pune, where her father works as a laborer on daily wages while her mother stays at home to take care of the children, including Karishma’s youngest brother, who has special educational and medical needs.

Because of their parents’ struggle to keep the family afloat, Karishma and her younger siblings rely on the daily nutritional support they receive at the Ashraya Initiative for Children Education Centre. There they eat nutritious, freshly cooked meals and an afternoon snack, which makes it easier for Karishma to continue to excel and follow her dreams of attending college and then university!

Karishma is consistently described by her teachers as an ”all-rounder”, ­ a student who excels in everything. And it is true ­ Karishma produces beautiful artwork, is an amazing dancer, can draw lovely rangoli (sand art) designs, participates in any available extracurricular opportunity and is at the top of her class in all subjects! In fact, watching this talented 10^th standard student outperform the rest of the students in her private, Marathi-medium school, you would never know that she comes from a very poor family and lives in the slums. Nor would you know that she and her siblings do not always have enough food to eat.

Thank you, Kowsilliya, Kashif, Adrian, Cathy (x2) and Erica (x7) for coming together to provide one full year of meals for Karishma. With your support, she can continue to dream of going to college one day, and eventually moving herself, her family and her community out of poverty.