Dear Friends, Greetings from Shaishav Shaishav believes that all children should enjoy basic rights and experience the joys of childhood equally; that all children should become productive, socially sensitive, and democratically skilled citizens. Daxa, one of leaders of our Girls’ group was engaged at a very young age and dropped out of schools in 7th grade, decided to resume her education and appeared 10th standard exams directly and passed in the first attempt. Krishna, other leader of the girls’ group was forced to start working as child labour, but she was aware about her rights and resisted it very strongly. Nirali and Reena come from the families where not even boys from their families have finished 10th grade. They both are studying post-graduation, which is unheard of in their communities. All these and many more such girls became member of our Children’s collective, Balsena and learnt about their rights. They were motivated, educated and were provided opportunities which not only managed to escape child marriage, child labour and child abuse but also continued higher studies and contribute in their respected family and community. Shaishav strongly believes that children are not service seekers, nor just beneficiaries, but are partners in the process of change. They are the “change makers”. Balsena, independent children’s collective which is run, managed and led by the children themselves is first such collective of Gujarat with membership of about 2500 children. This is an inclusive space where children from different castes, class, gender, religion come together in spirit of solidarity and friendship. This exposure help children to boost their self-esteem and learn empathy for each other. This process not only lead to the holistic development of children but they enhance the skills of citizenship and democracy. They learn to contribute back to the society by identifying and solving their own problems. But all children in India are not as lucky as these. India is the second largest populated country in the world and very rapidly growing economy. Due to severe poverty, poor health & lack of literacy amongst the poor parents many children do not get to even a primary education. The circumstances force these children into child labour, child marriage, and thus the vicious circle that starts, never end. There is a huge stress on the population below the age group of 18 to become victim of this socio-economic pressure. This makes children the most vulnerable and least empowered population, who do not enjoy their basic rights. We are writing this letter with an appeal. Starting Dec 1st 2014, we are participating in the month long Global Giving year end campaign, an incredible chance for us to raise money for reach out to many more such children. We will be attempting to raise at least $5000 from at least 50 individual donors between now and Dec 31st. If we are successful, it will be significantly benefiting our projects to qualify for bonus award. So what are you waiting for? Click here to donate! globalgiving.org/projects/shaishav/ This Christmas you will enjoy with your families. Millions of children are still in need of your support. Your generous support will help us provide bright future to many underprivileged children who are still unreached. Did you know that 76 percent of online donations come from recommendations from friends and family? Please forward this message to anyone you think may be interested in our work. Remember, every person and every penny counts. Thank you very much for your very kind and valuable support in advance. Please, don’t forget to come and visit Shaishav and meet our dynamic children and youth when you come to India. Best wishes to you and your family for the upcoming festival season, Parul and Falgun Sheth On behalf of Shaishav Team
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 06:15:50 +0000