The best part of Suraj’s day

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

Suraj is a 12-year old boy who has been living in an orphanage for the past 4 years.  His mother died seven years ago and his father remarried and abandoned him and his two older siblings.  An aunt and uncle took in Suraj and his siblings for a brief period, but decided to only keep Suraj’s sister, for whom they were secretly planning a child marriage with another one of Suraj’s uncles. Suraj and his older brother were abandoned, again, to a government-run orphanage four years ago.

Suraj and his sister, however, have been receiving educational support services through the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC) since shortly after their mother died, and Suraj goes to the AIC Education Outreach Centre every day.  There, in addition to a myriad of social, personal, medical and educational support services, he also receives daily meals.  Suraj leaves the orphanage and arrives at the AIC Education Outreach Centre early in the morning before school, where he eats breakfast and gets ready before leaving for school by 7 am. After leaving school at noon, he returns to the Education Outreach Centre, where he eats a hearty, nutritious lunch, before settling in for his afternoon studies and homework help.  Although most children only stay for two hours of extra tutoring time after school, Suraj prefers to stay at the Centre all day, as his only other option is the orphanage, where he is bullied and treated badly.  Instead, Suraj eats a healthy snack in the middle of the afternoon and continues his studies until late evening when the Centre closes.

Suraj is very thankful for the meals that he eats at the AIC Education Outreach Centre, because he knows that the alternative, the meals at the government orphanage, are not enough to keep him from feeling hungry and tired all the time!