Saturday, March 9, 2013

Visiting Children

After two strike days which meant we could not drive anywhere, we were able to get out.  It was a public holiday for International Women's Day which meant children were not at school.  It turned out that some schools were closed and some were not.  We went to the stone quarrey and visited all our children there and also saw some other families, 15 children in all.  I am happy to say all we're doing well.  A couple, Sarita and Milan, have been with NEF since 2006 and are now quite grown up.
Rakesh, who is 11, has also been with us that long.  He recently lost his sponsors but I had a new one for him.  His sisters have both graduated from college now and both have jobs, they were also educated through NEF.
We visited Sunita who is in her first year of a BA program.  She is majoring in English and Journalism.  She has been with us since 2005.  She also has a part time job in a mobile phone repair shop.
Today, now Saturday, we visited 4 more children who have been with us since the beginning also.  3 were boys who were either starting class nine or ten.  One family had moved to a terrible room because the last building they were in was pulled down.  It was tiny and was made of tin and seven family members live here.  When I remarked to Mann about the conditions one of the daughters understood what I was saying and said "we manage".   I told her they were very tough and not like us in the west who need luxury accommodation.  One of the elder daughters in the family was sponsored through NEF right through college and she now has a job in a beauty salon.  We still sponsor two boys here Anjan and Gaptem in classes 8 and 10.  I told them we were very proud of them.
Milan and Sarita

Could not post here yesterday as no electric.  Lots of challenges.

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