Would You Like to Adopt a Teacher? #WATWB

We are the World Blogfest focuses on positive stories no matter where they’re found. It is all about spreading peace and humanity on social media. For this edition, Anouradha Bakshi from the non-profit Project WHY is taking over Daily (w)rite. This small organization with a big heart is trying to support education among the underprivileged and do it in a way that empowers the community from within.

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You have all heard of people adopting children. Some adopt pets. But have you ever thought of adopting a teacher?

That is what we ask you to do at Project Why!

For the past months we’ve been looking at new ways to fund our different programmes . Come March 2020 we will lose funding for two of our main centres: Okhla and Khader. This is almost 50% of Project Why.

We need to find funds urgently and we are looking at all possible ways: grants, CSR, philanthropists and institutions. But our search does not stop there.

Looking at Project Why  we realised that our most precious and unique assets are our teachers. They are not your normal teacher but a very different crew sourced from within the community, people many would have found unemployable but who, when given a chance, proved to be stars. They have been the cornerstone of Project Why. So we came up with the India of launching a campaign called: Adopt a teacher!

Before I go on I would like to give you a snapshot of the kind of souls we are asking you to adopt.

Pushpa the diminutive woman of substance who with her colleague Sophiya set up our vibrant Okhla centre, an oasis of peace and joy in the most aggressive of slums were gangs and slumlords prevailed.

If not for them, the children of that area would have become drug addicts and been used by the many predators lurking. Thanks to their patience and determination children were pushed back into school, finished their schooling and went on to embrace a bright future. Some have joined the army, others are pursuing engineering studies and yet others have become accountants and even CAs. These are the women we need you to adopt so that they can continue helping children fulfill their dreams.

There is Shipra who has over the years worked in different centres and has taken on every challenge thrown her way. Today she runs the Kalka Mandir centre teaching beggar children and women in a difficult environment, never losing her smile. For her as for us, if one child can be saved from a future of begging, it would all be worth it.

Then there is young Anita, today a secondary teacher but whose journey with Project Why began when she was a tiny tot and joined the center in class 1. Today she is a woman who has found her voice and place in the sun and is busy ensuring that other young girls can find their way just like she did. The stories are endless, each more poignant than the other. Every Project Why teacher is truly unique.

Each teacher takes care of 45 to 50 children in a day, that is 50 lives, 50 dreams, 50 futures. And they do it year after year, then over 10 years each teacher teaches and mentors 500 kids. So by adopting one teacher, you are making a difference in the lives of hundreds of children.

The average cost of a Project Why teacher is 10, 000 rupees a month (145$ or 130 euros). That is all it takes. We urge you to adopt a teacher as an individual, or a group of friends.

If a few people get together to commit to giving a little each month, you can easily fund a teacher. You will receive updates on the teacher, on the children they teach, and the difference you’ll be making in these precious lives.

It is possible to make tax-deductible donations from the USA and France, and you can also contribute from the UK, and other countries.

Adopt a teacher, and change many lives. Help us help these teachers and children, and keep alive our dream of education for all.

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Do you have a child or teacher in your life? What impact has a teacher had on you, or your children? Would you, or a group you are part of, like to adopt a teacher from Project WHY? To support Project WHY’s teachers, get in touch with Anouradha : anouradha dot bakshi at projectwhy dot org

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Anouradha is the descendant of an indentured labour and a freedom fighter, and the daughter of a senior diplomat. She travelled the world before settling in India.

A professor in French, an interpreter and a conference organiser, she found her true calling when she set up Project WHY in the year 2000.

She is a wife, and a mother not only to her two girls, but also to the scores of children whose dreams she holds in custody.

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This post was the 24th installment of the monthly We Are the World Blogfest: I’d like to invite you to join, if you haven’t as yet, to post the last Friday of each month a snippet of positive news that shows our essential, beautiful humanity.

The co-hosts for this month are: Shilpa Garg, Simon Falk, Lizbeth Hartz and Eric Lahti.and yours truly.

Here’s a sampler of this blogfest. Click here to know more. Sign up here and add your bit of cheer to the world on the next installment of August 30, 2019!

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