Asha for Education

Project Brief: The project is envisaged to bring overall development in the target group of children through rehabilitation, education, skill development including learning, training and production for self-sustenance - residential home for orphans and street kids
Project Type: Child Home (description)
Primary Focus: orphans (description)

Secondary Focus: children of dalits/tribals

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact:
Chicago

Status: CURRENT
Project Steward: Archana Adhyapak
Project Partner(s): Meril K.T
Project Address: Aralu - Belaku
c/o K.T. Meril, Jerusalem Colony
behind Jerusalem Colony
Bidar, Karnataka 585401
Tel: 91-08482-224160
Stewarding Chapter: Chicago

Asha Chicago supports the operational expenses of the Belaku home. This is a residential center for orhpans and street kids in villages outside Bidar. The students nurtured, nourished and motivated to join mainstream schooling and thereby strive to grow up to be productive citizens.

Currently, Asha supports 20 children who live in the residential home. The ratio of girls to boys is approximately 2:1. The age of the children is in the range of 7 - 18. The funding from Asha Chicago for the Belaku Center supports food, health care, daily living expenses, cost of their education, field trips, etc. The children study in nearby government schools.

Asha Chicago also provides financial support to have staff at the residential home. Currently, there is a warden who lives in the residential home, along with two cooks. Since most of the children are first generation learners and come to the residential home at a very young age, a tuition teacher comes every evening for a few hours to help the children with their studies.

The children are screened and selected by Aralu. The focus is on kids who end up on the street or become child labourers under varied circumstances such as
1. due to the death of their parents and lack of a good caring guardian,
2. one or more parents have abandoned them to seek work elsewhere

The philosophy behind the residential home is that in the absence of the environment provided to these children in the residential home, they would be deprived of education, would not be able to have a positive future and might become victims of problems such as child labour.

The center also has a plantation and dairy farm that is being nurtured by the children and staff and serves as a long term sustained support for them.

The children who now live and learn in this center named "Prashanti-Kutir" are slowly taking steps with the love and support of Aralu's staff to develop into confident individuals in the future.