Instead of going hungry, Rajan is well fed!

Thank you for coming together to provide a full year of meals to Rajan.

Five year old Rajan moved to Pune last year with his older brother and widowed mother so that he and his brother could be enrolled in school through the Ashraya Initiative for Children’s Education Outreach Program.  Rajan and his older brother had previous fed themselves by begging on the streets, as their father died several years ago and their mother had also grown up begging as a child and knew no other way of supporting herself and her children.  Before being enrolled in the Education Outreach Program, Rajan and his brother were constantly hungry.  Now, Rajan receives breakfast, lunch, and a healthy snack every day at the AIC Education Outreach Centre.  These meals include chapati (flat bread), bhaji (cooked vegetables), boiled eggs, fresh seasonal fruit, yogurt, milk and several other items. Rajan has visibly flourished – previously, he had skin problems due to vitamin deficiencies and was underweight and quite small for his age; now he is growing rapidly and finally looks like the kindergartener that he is! Perhaps the most relieved of all is Rajan’s mother, who had felt shame and sadness knowing that she was unable to keep her boys well nourished.  The first time she brought her boys to the AIC Education Outreach Centre, she wept with embarrassment watching them fight to eat the food as fast as they could, because they were so accustomed to extreme food insecurity.  Now that Rajan and his brother eat their fill at the Education Centre every day, she feels extremely grateful.