Thank you for coming together to ensure that Vicky gets wholesome nutritious meals everyday for an entire year.

Since 2008, when his father died of liver failure, 8-year old Vicky used to go out to the streets everyday to beg for food.  His young mother has no education and no marketable skills that would allow her to get a good paying job, and with no way of supporting Vicky and his younger brother, sent her children out to beg to bring in money so that they wouldn’t go to sleep hungry every night.  Last year, after a domestic dispute with her deceased husband’s mother, Vicky’s mother decided that a better future was possible for her children. She scooped them up from her mother in law’s place and headed to the city of Pune, 4 hours away, where some relatives of hers had told her about the possibility of educational sponsorship through an organization called the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC).

Arriving in Pune with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Vicky, his 5-year old brother and mother had no choice but to sleep on the sidewalk for several months. The day after arriving in Pune, however, the three went to the AIC Education Outreach Centre to see about enrolling the boys in school. As they had arrived in the middle of the school year, AIC was unable to enroll the boys in school right away, but Vicky’s mother tearfully begged for them to at least be able to come by the Centre every day for the healthy, nutritious meals served to all children in the Education Program. AIC staff agreed, and from that day forward, the brothers began stopping by the centre for breakfast, lunch and a snack. Vicky and his younger brother also began lingering at the Centre in between meals and started sitting in the kindergarten classroom, slowly beginning to participate in more activities and showing interest in learning as the days went on.

By the end of the school year, a mere four months after Vicky started coming to the Centre for the promise of daily meals, he had absorbed enough to be promoted with the rest of the children in the class – particularly impressive as it was an English-medium class and Vicky had no prior knowledge of English and had never been to school! In Vicky’s case, it was truly the daily meals that made the difference for his daily attendance and gradual participation in  an academic environment. Now in his second year at school, Vicky still relies heavily on the daily meals that he receives. His mother continues to beg for a living, but Vicky and his brother no longer join her, as they are too busy attending school and, thanks to the daily meals that you have provided him, do not have to worry about going hungry any more.

Thank you for ensuring that Ruksar is able to undergo a tailoring course which will make her financially independent.

Ruksar is a 14-year old girl who has lived with her grandmother since she was a small child.  Her father, mother and three siblings live in a village outside of the city and her father, who used to be a tempo (vehicle) driver, is now unemployed. Although Chandni had started the 8th grade this year in school, her father recently forced her to drop out of school so that she could earn money to help her family out.

Ruksar’s grandmother is also quite weak and in poor health, which has added to the pressure on Ruksar to leave school and find a job. To develop her skill set, Ruksar joined the AIC Basic Tailoring course. Every day, she and a dozen other women attend the class and learn the fundamentals of basic tailoring in the hopes of one day being able to support their families and themselves.

Ruksar is a bright and talented tailoring student, and she is committed to helping her family by learning to sew. Through the class, she and the other women are also able to eat lunch at the AIC Health and Community Outreach Centre before class begins, and stay for an extra hour of literacy teaching after the tailoring component of the class ends. Although most of the women are illiterate and are just learning to read and write, Chandni is using the time to study independently so that she does not fall behind in her schoolwork. The AIC teacher has encouraged her to enroll in a distance learning program so that she is able to complete her education while also helping her family, and Chandni is excited about this idea.

Thank you so much, Shreeya, Dawn, and Haris (4 months), for coming together to provide an entire six month tailoring course to Ruksar, thereby allowing her to learn a marketable skill!

23-year old Aarti and her husband are expecting their second child. They have an 18-month old son and are hoping that they might have a girl this time. Aarti and her husband both sell used clothes on the side of the road in the market, as this is the dominant trade in their community and neither Aarti nor her husband ever went to school, so they are lacking the training and education to get skilled work.

When there is not enough money from selling clothes, Aarti occasionally goes out begging to supplement the family income. All in all, Aarti and her husband support their family on about 2,000 rupees ($40) per month, which will not leave much for the family to spend on Aarti’s pregnancy or delivery.

Luckily, Aarti was eligible to receive medical care through the AIC Health Outreach Program, so she gratefully signed up for the program. Aarti receives regular check-ups with the doctor at the AIC clinic, nutritional supplementation, medications and all recommended medical testing and coverage of all expenses incurred at the time of delivery.

A community health worker visits Aarti at her home to keep tabs on her health during her pregnancy as well, and  every effort is made to ensure that Aarti will deliver a normal, healthy baby.

Thank you, Meghan, , Cristen, Sam, and Melanie (x4), for helping AIC provide comprehensive antenatal care to Aarti to enable her baby to develop and grow. Thanks to your support, she has the best chance of giving birth to a healthy, normal child.

Soniya is a 14-year old girl who sells old clothes on the streets to earn money. She lives with her parents and siblings, all of whom do the same work, as they have been doing for generations. Between themselves, the family earns approximately 3,000 rupees ($60) combined each month.

Over the years, Soniya’s family has noticed that the demand for used clothes is dwindling as cheap imported clothes have flooded the market and consumers would rather buy new clothes instead of the used items that the family sells.

Soniya recently joined the AIC Basic Tailoring course because many of her friends were joining and she saw an opportunity to learn a skill that would augment her clothes selling business.

As a member of the class, Soniya is learning tailoring for 2 hours each day, and has unlimited access to the sewing machines at the community centre to practise on, when class is not in session. She hopes that once she completes the Basic course, she will be able to move on to the Intermediate class and maybe even the Advanced course, by which point she will have more than enough practice to be able to start taking custom sewing orders.

If Soniya works hard and excels as a seamstress, she will easily be able to double her family’s meager income, because she will be able to repair the clothes that they sell, thereby increasing their value.

One of Soniya’s favorite parts of the class is the literacy component. She attended school only for a few weeks in the first grade, and is making full use of the opportunity to learn to read and write for the first time in her life. She knows that she will need those skills to create a booming, successful tailoring business of her own and is grateful to have the opportunity to learn them!

Thank you so much, Sam and Joel (x5), for coming together to provide an entire tailoring course to Soniya, thereby allowing her to learn a marketable skill!

Poonam is the 25 year old mother to two boys, ages 6 and 1.5 years.  She lives with her husband and children in her in-laws’ house.  Her husband’s income, about 3,000 rupees ($60) per month from selling cloth TV covers in the market, goes toward supporting his extended family as well, which does not leave anything extra for the family to save at the end of the month.

Poonam and her husband have just found out that they are expecting a third child.  While they are happy to be having another baby, they have no savings to fall back on to pay for medical treatment during the pregnancy, especially since Poonam’s father-in-law died just a few months ago, and the family has fallen into debt from having to pay for his medical care and funeral.

Due to these financial difficulties, Poonam was relieved to be able to receive free and comprehensive antenatal care at the nearby AIC Health and Community Outreach Centre.  By participating in this program, Poonam is able to come for regular prenatal check-ups with the doctor at the AIC clinic and receives nutritional supplementation, including the option of coming to the Centre for mid-day meals.

The program also covers all supplementary medical testing and medications related to her pregnancy, as well as her delivery and the costs of medical care required during that time. Poonam is grateful for this support and the peace of mind knowing that she is being well taken care of throughout her pregnancy.

Your donations, Karen, Ron, Judd, Tom, Peggy, and Thomas (x3), of a month of antenatal care each, provide comprehensive care for Poonam in these vital years.

Thank you Karen, Ron, Judd, Tom, Peggy, and Thomas, for coming together to provide comprehensive antenatal care to Poonam.

25-year old Parveenkaur (Parveen) is mother to four children ranging in age from 9 to 5 years old.   Although she managed to stay in school until the 7th grade, her parents forced her to drop out to get married at the age of 14.  Parveen’s husband works as a caddy at the golf course across the street from the slum where the family lives, and earns about 3,000 rupees ($60) per month, although his income depends on the availability of work and is less during certain seasons.  Parveen is lucky to have a husband who is relatively permissive in allowing her to leave the house unaccompanied; many women from Parveen’s caste and community are not permitted such freedom.

Now that Parveen’s youngest child has started kindergarten, she has decided to take the opportunity to learn a marketable skill during the day when her children are at school and joined the AIC Basic Tailoring Class.  In this class, Parveen and a dozen other women spend two hours every day learning the fundamentals of tailoring under the watchful eye of an experienced teacher.

The class also includes an additional hour of literacy teaching and lunch, as none of the women have completed their educations and many come from situations of food insecurity and poverty.  Parveen hopes that one day she will be able to contribute to her family’s financial standing by learning how to sew and taking orders from within her community.

Thank you so much ,Peggy, Laura, James, Tom, Ivo, and Joe and Karen, for coming together to provide an entire tailoring course to Parveen, thereby allowing her to learn a marketable skill!

Gauri* is a 12-year old student in the 5th grade.  She is the fifth of her parents’ seven children and has had a difficult childhood and home life because her father is an abusive alcoholic.

To cope with this, Gauri spends as much time as possible at the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC) Education Outreach Centre when she is not at school.  The extra time at the Education Centre pays off, and Gauri excels in school.

Two years ago, AIC enrolled her in a private school across the city so that she would have as many opportunities as possible in the future.  As a part of her participation in the AIC Education Outreach Program, Gauri receives daily meals at the Education Centre, as well as a packed lunch to take to school.

Gauri’s father earns only 3,000 rupees ($60) per month to support his large family, and spends a large portion of his income on alcohol. The family never has enough food to go around, and Gauri and her siblings rely heavily on the meals that they receive through AIC to keep their stomachs full.

All of the food served is healthy, fresh and balanced to meet the children’s nutritional needs.  Gauri loves school, especially her history class, and will hopefully become among the first girls in her community to go to college one day!

Thank you so much,  Rohit, Doina, Anita, Keith, Felix (x3), Edgar (x3), and Brandon (x2), for coming together to provide a year of nutritious meals to Gauri.

*Name changed to protect identity

20-year old Lalitakaur (Lalita) is the proud mother of two children – her 3-year old daughter, Rani* and her 2-year old son, Rohan*.  She, her children and her husband live with her husband’s family – his parents and five of his younger siblings.

Lalita’s husband works as a caddy at a nearby golf course, earning about 2,000 rupees ($40) per month to support his family and Lalita stays home and takes care of their children.

Recently, Lalita joined the Mother-Baby class at the AIC Health and Community Outreach Centre to develop her parenting skills.  She and Rohan attend the class every other week with other mothers and children aged 1-2 years.

At these classes, Lalita and the other mothers learn about dietary needs of their children, baby growth and development, birth spacing and family planning, communication and relationships within the family, good parenting practices and many other topics through structured discussions led by local professionals, specialists and health workers.  The mothers and their children also engage in hands-on activities to further enhance their understanding of concepts.

Lalita enjoys getting out of the house and learning how to be a better mother, and Rohan has been having a great time playing with the educational toys and games at the Outreach Centre during the Mother-Baby Classes.

Thank you so much, Dara, Kandace, Mike and Suzanne, and Shari, for coming together to provide a year of parenting classes to Lalita.

*Names changed to protect identities

Sonalikaur (also known as Sonali) is the youngest of her parents’ seven children. At 10 years old, she is halfway through the 5th standard.  Because she is so bright, she was transferred to a semi-private school, where all education and related expenses are covered by the Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC).

As a part of this sponsorship, Sonali is provided daily meals at the AIC Education Centre, as well as a packed lunch to take to school with her.  These nutritious meals are vital to Sonali’s ability to succeed in school, as her family struggles to make ends meet on her father’s meager 3,000 rupee ($60) per month salary as a caddy at a nearby golf course. All, but one, of her siblings still live at home, and the family’s income is not enough to feed so many mouths, particularly as a portion goes to feed her father’s debilitating alcohol addiction.

Sonali is lucky to still be in school – her parents married when her mother was not even a teenager, and her older sister had been pulled out of school in preparation for marriage at age 13 when AIC intervened and convinced Sonali’s parents that education was in the best interests of the entire family.  Consequently, Sonali and her siblings are attending school regularly, but this would certainly not be the case if they were not receiving daily meals.

Unfortunately, in Sonali’s community, child marriage is the norm, and families living in dire poverty are likely to choose to arrange a marriage for a daughter like Sonali rather than have to continue to feed an extra mouth.  Ensuring that Sonali continues to receive healthy, consistent meals at no cost to her family is truly making the difference for her to be able to continue to study and learn.

Your gift of a year of meals, Megan, will ensure that Sonali continues to receive three balanced meals a day for an entire year.

Thank you, Megan, for providing a year of nutritious meals to Sonali.

Thirteen year old Dhanashree studies in the 6th grade at a local government school. She and her younger sister have been raised almost exclusively by their aunt after their mother left them with her many years ago, only making infrequent visits to see the girls ever since.

Dhanashree is very protective of her sister, and tries to be as helpful and hardworking as possible to contribute to the family.  Her aunt was left by her husband because she was unable to have children, so she treats Dhanashree and her sister like they are her own daughters.

Yet, as hard as she works to care for them, it is difficult for a single woman in the slums to manage the responsibility of raising and feeding two growing children, especially as Dhanashree’s aunt is uneducated and is only able to secure work as a day laborer working on construction sites for about 2,000 rupees ($40) per month.

As a result, Dhanashree relies heavily on the Ashraya Initiative for Children’s Education Outreach Program for support that comes in a variety of forms.  Most tangibly, however, she benefits from daily meals, which always include chapati (flat bread), bhaji (cooked vegetables), a boiled egg, fresh seasonal fruit, yogurt and several other items. Without the meals and snacks that Dhanashree receives at the AIC Education Outreach Centre on a daily basis, she would have a difficult time focusing on her studies and breaking the cycle of poverty for her family.

Your gift of a year of meals, Megan, will ensure that Dhanashree continues to receive three balanced meals a day for an entire year.

Thank you, Megan, for providing a year of nutritious meals to Dhanashree.