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Helping the slum children
Art at Aarohan
Six months at Aarohan
and look what the children have achieved
The four gangsters
Rani Patel who started
Aarohan
My wife with the
Aarohan children
Annadaan (Lunch) for slum
children on Akshaya Triteeya day
Sujata,
a slum girl with polio affected legs,
negotiating the Aarohan steps
Both
legs of this fatherless child are affected by polio. She is
determined to study & comes on a wheel chair.
Latest news: In the
exam results declared in end March 2008, class 1 to class 7th, 51
Aarohan children swept the class topper positions 1, 2 & 3 in 3
separate MCD schools. A memorable achievement is by a family of
four children - Asha, Neena, Bhavana & Akash - all are toppers, in
spite of the fact that their father has thrown them out of
house. Their mother works as a servant maid.
They are the slum
children. You can find them easily in any of the "prosperous" big
cities - begging near the temples and tourist places and traffic
light junctions, or picking pockets or stealing from shops in the
crowded market places. The more fortunate ones become cleaners in
small hotels or sell news papers or incense sticks on the roadside.
Childhood, which is supposed to be period of love, fun and
merriment, is a period of misery for them. If at all people talk to
them, it is either to shoo them off or to abuse them. Mortality rate
is about 20%. Of the ones who manage survive and grow up, 75% will
be beggars, prostitutes, pimps or petty criminals.
That's what they are
because most of us don't care at all.
Their parents are mostly the on and off type labor class, the
vegetable and fruit cart vendors and the domestic servants, plus of
course, the beggars and the petty criminals. They live mostly in the
illegal slums. Life is a non stop struggle to make ends meet.
Poverty has killed most of their emotions and finer feelings. They
don't have the time or the means to care for these children. They
can’t afford to feed them or give medical check up or education. But
they produce more children quite frequently. So the 5 to 10 year old
children are made to look after their younger siblings instead of
going to school. Once they grow up a bit they are almost forced to
earn something to support the family. How they earn is normally not
questioned.
Admission to a
Municipality school is something which is a fundamental right
granted to the poor children according to the High Court Judgment but getting them admitted to the schools
is very difficult. Most headmasters and
teachers are averse to giving admission to the dirty looking slum
children and make it very difficult on some or other pretext.
The orgainisation Aarohan,
run by a dozen ladies, is fighting an uphill battle to improve the
lives of these unfortunate ones. They have fought with the
Municipal authorities, they met the Mayor of Delhi and charged into
the house of the Social welfare minister to ensure that the children
get a chance to improve their lives.
During
the last academic year 2005-2006 they got 154 children
admitted to Municipal Schools and during the present academic
year 2006-2007 they have admitted 95 children to
schools. After the school the children go to Aarohan and free
coaching is given so that what is taught in the class room
is clear to them. Regrettably our primary Municipal school
teaching is really hopeless.
The Zee News TV and
especially 3 of its kind hearted souls, Sheetal Rajput, Kritika and
R.P.Singh, did a program on Aarohan. On Sunday 18th April
2006 at 3.45 PM, India's leading TV channel Zee News, gave a 15
minute coverage to the work being done by Aarohan in their program
Pehal. The program was rated the best program. The
program anchor Kritika ended it with a quote of Swami Vivekanana:
" If children cannot
go to school then the school must go to the children"
All this is just not enough. People from this background normally
cannot pursue education beyond a point. Firstly, a lot of youngsters
are forced to stay home to look after their much younger brothers or
sisters. Secondly, they are forced to earn a living to support their
family. Quite a few fall pray to the gangsters who are ever willing
to tempt them to crime. To improve their lives Aarohan started a basic five pronged plan as follows:
1. Admit them to school and then coaching of school subjects in
Aaroha premises so that they understand what is taught in the class.
So far they got 550 plus children admitted to Municipal Schools.
They have 11
teachers to teach them.
There is a beautiful
verse in the scriptures about Vidya Daan:
Na chora haaryam
na cha raaja haaryam
Na bhraatru
bhaajyam na cha bhaarakaari
Vyaye krite
vardhata eva nityam
Vidyaa dhanam
sarva dhana pradhaanam
It cannot be
stolen by thieves, nor can it be taken away by kings.
It cannot be divided among brothers, it does not cause a
load on your shoulders.
If spent it indeed always keeps growing.
The wealth of knowledge is the most superior wealth of all!
2. Crèche/ play school for the infants
and the very young so that the five year old + children, who are
being prevented from going to school to look after the infants, can
attend school. The Crèche was inaugurated on 8th July 2006 by the Delhi Minister for Health and Social Welfare Sri Yoganand Sastri. Right now there are
25 children coming to the
crèche regularly.
3. Vocational training courses which will enable them to earn a living.
They have started drawing, pottery making Mehandi training. Planning to start soon Training courses in Stitching, knitting, some basic training of bicycle repairing, scooter repairing. These will at least enable them to earn something without turning to crime.
4. Annadaan - mid-day lunch scheme to give them at least one square meal per day - for 25 days per month. So far
5 donors, have sponsored to feed them all once in a month. Wanted 20 more!!. Per day lunch for an average
250 children is Rs.2500/-
5. Medical aid - check up and medicines where required. Fortunately
they have found a few noble minded Doctors who are doing this freely.
With more and more children flocking in and
to implement all above projects, the expenses are going to go up. This is were
they badly need your help. The limited resources of the few members and the handful of donors
we have now are not sufficient. Great opportunities of revolutionary
reforms, heroism and self-sacrifice etc. rarely come to us. In the modern rat race society our finer humane
feelings and sensitivity are slowly evaporating. But at least once
in a while if we can help a little bit, it can change the lives of
quite a few unfortunate ones. On the judgment day at least we can
show some credit balance to show to Chitragupta and instead of standing
naked before Him, we’ll have a few receipts to cover ourselves! Any help from
you in any from is
welcome. Even if you want to send Rs.51/ per month and want to send
12 post dated cheques you are most welcome.
The following are the areas you can help.
Please note that
Aarohan is a registered organisation and its accounts are audited by
an accredited chartered accountant. On any working day between 11.00
A.M. to 3.00 P.M. you can visit the address given bellow to see the
actual work in progress and the children and teachers.
Material Help:
A) Donate clothes (even used old clothes
will do) bed sheets for children aged 5 to 15.
B) School bags Chappals &
Shoes.
C) Blank or lined writing pads, school copies, registers, pencils,
pens erasers etc.
D) Leftover toys and games of your children.
E) Coloured pencils and
oil paints.
F) Thread and needles
for stitching and embroidery.
Volunteer help: Any one living near Delhi who can teach them
either school subjects or any vocational training.
In the scriptures the
five most prescribed auspicious “Daan” i.e. charities are:
Vidya-Daan or giving education in charity - regarded as the
best form of charity.
Anna-Daan or giving food in charity.
Goo-Daan or giving a cow in charity (in our case a glass
of milk to the children)
Vastra-Daan or giving clothes in charity.
Dhana-Daan or giving money in charity.
Graha Shanti Anna
Daan
If a planet in the birth
chart is afflicted or badly placed, or to get better results during
the Dasa & Antardasa or transit of a planet the scriptures
prescribe various Daanas or charity to appease the planets. They are
as follows:
Sun - Charity: Donate
wheat, or sugar candy on Sunday.
Moon - Charity: Donate cow's milk or rice on Monday
Mars - Charity: Donate wheat bread, sweets made of sugar mixed with
white Sesamum seeds, or Masoor dal (red lentils) on Tuesday
Mercury - Charity: Donate Udad dal on Wednesday
Jupiter - Charity: Donate sugar on Thursday
Venus - Charity: Donate dairy cream, curd
Saturn - Charity: Donate black mustard or black Til (Sesame seeds)
on Saturday.
Rahu - Charity: Udad dal or coconut on Saturday.
Ketu - Charity: Black mustard seeds on Thursday.
Under the Graha Shanti
Daan scheme we will give lunch to our 250 slum children and the
lunch will be on the corresponding day of the planet and will include
the specific food as prescribed for the particular planet's Shanti. Cost: Rs.2, 500/- Click &
Order
You can make an
online donation by credit card or online bank transfer from the
links given bellow for the various donation schemes.
The
donations to Aarohan get tax benefits under section 80G of
the IT Act
Vidya-Daan for
1 child for one year Rs.2, 000/- Click & Donate
Vidya-Daan for 250 children for one year Rs.5,00,000/-
Click & Donate
Anna-Daan (Lunch)
for 1 day to appx 250 children Rs.2, 500/-
Click & Donate
Anna-Daan for 1 month (25 days) to 250 children Rs.62,500/-
Click & Donate
Anna-Daan (Lunch) for 1 year to appx 250 children Rs.7,50,000/-
Click & Donate
Anna-Daan on Shraadh
(Death Anniversary of your dear ones) see
here
A glass of milk
for 1 day to appx 250 children Rs.1250/-
Click & Donate
A glass of milk for 1 month to appx 250 children Rs.31,250/-
Click & Donate
A glass of milk for 1 year to appx 250 children Rs.3,
75,000/-
Click & Donate
Vastra-Daan for
1 child for one year Rs.1, 200/- Click & Donate
Vastra-Daan for 250 children for one year Rs.3,00,000/-
Click & Donate
Full support - All above for
1 child
for one year Rs.7000/-
Click & Donate
Full support -
All above for 250 children for one year Rs.17,50,000/- Click & Donate
Full support for one
child for one year which includes food, stationary, uniforms, school
bag, bottle and medical aid plus new clothes on Diwali day
Dhana Daan
Donate Rs.51/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.101/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.201/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.251/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.501/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.1001/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.5001/-
Click & Donate
Donate Rs.10001/-
Click & Donate
You can also mail
transfer or give monthly auto debit instructions to your bank as
follows:
Aarohan
Current A/c No. 1665
Vijaya Bank
D-86, Main Road,
Malviya Nagar
New Delhi - 110017
Post dated cheques are
also welcome. All cheques and
drafts must be in the name of "Aarohan" and sent
to:
Aarohan
B-127, Right Side, Ground Floor,
Malviya Nagar, New Delhi – 110017.
Ph: 011 65951911
E-mail:
aarohansociety@gmail.com
You are welcome to
visit us at the above address any working day between 1 PM to 4 PM.
No appointment needed to help the unfortunate ones!!
Annadaan (Lunch) for slum
children on Akshaya Triteeya day
Art at Aarohan
Six months at Aarohan
and look what the children have achieved
The four gangsters
Rani Patel who started
Aarohan
My wife with the
Aarohan children
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