A FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHT TO EDUCATION
“The schools are so far away, how can I afford to pay for the travel and school fees?” Raheem’s* father thought every day.
Raheem’s father Kishore* sells fruits on the streets of Mumbai and with what he earns, he strives hard to provide basic necessities for his family.
Raheem’s family of four lives in one of the poorest slums in the North of Mumbai while his elder sister lives back in their native place. A decade ago, Raheem’s father moved to Mumbai to earn a living. His basic education could not find him any stead, salaried job so he decided to sell fruits to provide for his family.
Raheem’s father would always worry about this one thing – the education of his children. He couldn’t find any good schools with quality education near his slum community and the private schools were far away and out of his budget.
One afternoon, our community counsellors met Raheem and his little sister Rashi* playing on the streets of their community. We asked to meet their parents and learnt that Raheem, who was seven years old, had never been to school. He had already missed out on the crucial window of early childhood learning from 0 to 5 years. Without wasting a moment, we introduced free education at our Beacon Learning Centre for Raheem.
His father couldn’t believe his ears when he heard “Free education”. He was overjoyed to learn that Vision Rescue’s Beacon Learning Centre is right inside his slum community, so that children won’t have to travel far.
Raheem’s father immediately enrolled him in our Beacon Learning Centre and his little sister Rashi joined a year later.
Seeing her children grow in studies, Raheem’s mother started attending our Focus Group Meetings for the women in her slum community.
Things were going fine until the pandemic hit. When the nationwide lockdown was announced, shops, educational institutions, offices, malls, and public transport were shut. The lockdown affected Kishore’s business too. People stopped coming on the streets to buy groceries and Raheem’s father struggled to sell fruits.
Everyday he would wait for customers but hardly anybody turned up. At every meal, Raheem’s father would worry about their next meal. The lockdowns extended and Raheem’s father could only think of hunger ahead. Gradually, things started getting worse but in such difficult times your support reached out to Raheem’s family with groceries every month of the lockdowns. You were the only ray of hope for Raheem’s family and many others in their slum community.
Raheem was 7 when he stepped in our classroom for the first time but the pandemic shut the doors of our classrooms too. Kishore worried if his children would ever get to study again.
With your help and support we started our online classes but Raheem and Rashi were left behind. They had only one smartphone at home but unfortunately that too wasn’t in working condition. Once again, Your gifts made sure that these two precious ones stuck to their education against all odds and with your support we sent Education Representatives, who would teach children on their phones, to Raheem and Rashi’s home.
Raheem and Rashi were happy to continue their studies online.
Raheem’s parents are grateful for your love and support throughout the pandemic that engaged and sustained their children in education.
Thank you for enabling Vision Rescue to bring education to these children, who would otherwise may never have had the opportunity to be educated.
