Category Archives: Indian Children from Slum Areas

Children from Poor and Inhumane Background Going School for the First Time

Children from Poor and Inhumane Background Going School for First Time
 Dharam Veer
Kiran
Nancy
Mangal Kumar
Pradeep Kumar
Yash Kumar
Priyanka
Ek Koshish feels immense pleasure to write this blog that our constant efforts to make the children coming from the very very poor and inhumane background of society, eligible to take admissions in an English Medium Modern School.
Ek Koshish has been providing coaching and training continuously to 23 children since long for making them capable of receiving proper education at public schools so that they become successful in their lives and be equally placed in the society and get rid of the curse of poverty and inhumane livings. Out of these 23 children, seven children shown in the photos above have qualified for admissions in Dr. Karam Vir Public School, an English Medium Public School at Faridabad. Ek Koshish has fully sponsored their entire admissions and monthly tuition fees and other expenses to be incurred on their education (uniforms, bags, books and other stationery, etc) as their parents could not have afforded any of their expenses. Most of the parents are daily wage earners and seek work on a daily basis. They also belong to farfetched areas where life is too tough and harsh having always lack of even basic amenities and facilities and no education at all.
It was a matter of proud for the entire team of Ek Koshish to see the parents of children so happy on the occasion of admissions of their children. They were very excited to see their children going for the first time to any school. It was visible on their faces that they could believe to see that their children would be admitted in an English medium public school in which children of the rich class also take education. During the discussion with them, the parents of these children told that as far as their memory goes back, no one in their entire family had ever gone to any kind of school what to say of public school. All parents of these children are illiterate knowing no alphabet (except one i.e. father of Yash who attended primary school in a village up to 2nd standard in the village). The parents of these children have now started dreaming to make their children Engineer, Doctor, Government officer, etc. May God bless them to see their dreams turning out to be true!   
To see the ecstasy, joy and happiness and other mixed emotions of happiness (which is very difficult to express in words) on the innocent faces of these children, on the occasion of their admission, was really a great moment in our lives which one can really equate with ‘bliss’. 
The entire team of “Ek Koshish” is very very thankful to all who have contributed in this “one attempt” and further hope that the same co-operation shall be rendered to us for all such humane efforts dedicated to society. Ek Koshish is highly thankful to its volunteers especially Mrs. Sunita and Mrs. Daisy who have contributed a lot by putting their much-needed efforts to make these children capable of public schools. We are also thankful to Mrs. Sunita who has in addition to her other efforts, taken the responsibility of Kiran also. 
Ek Koshish One Attempt

PROGRESS OF THE ILLETRATE CHILDREN FROM SLUMS AT EK KOSHISH

PROGRESS OF THE ILLETRATE CHILDREN FROM SLUMS AT EK KOSHISH
It is rightly said in our scriptures : SHIKSHA DAAN MAHA DAAN (Gift of education is biggest one) 
Entire team of Ek Koshish feels happy and proud as the children (presently 9) whom  they have been teaching for 3-4 months are at least now ready for being compared with other school going children of the society. The Children at Ek Koshish have now started showing their keen interest in study. Some of the children has learnt alphabets, counting, reading and writing  words  etc along with some Hindi and English rhymes. They have also learnt manners.  As such in their attempt to prepare and provide proper education to the children coming from slums and under privileged society, the members of Ek Koshish have performed a commendable job appreciated by many in the society.  As a result of tremendous efforts of the entire team of Ek Koshish,  some of the public schools have shown their keen interest in giving admission to these children after judging the educational temperament of these students whom the team of Ek Koshish  has been preparing  and tuning by giving personal  one to one attention on each and every child.  If these children are sent to public schools, Ek Koshish would undertake the responsibility to bear all the expenses to be incurred on the education of these children at those schools. We hope that we shall continue in our endeavour with the co-operation and assistance provided by all our workers, members and patrons.
Congratulations to the entire team of ‘EK KOSHISH one attempt‘ ……. as our little attempt is going to be successful….
Chairperson,
EK KOSHISH one attempt
    

Celebrating Raksha Bandhan with Children at Ek Koshish

Raksha Bandhan (Raksha means protection and Bandhan means bond) is the name of a festival which is celebrated across the country irrespective of color, caste and creed.  It is the festival of bond of love between brothers and sisters. Today it is celebrated throughout the country with traditional fervour and enthusiasm. On this occasion, sisters tie Rakhi (Rakhi means a thread duely decorated) or sacred thread (a simple red or yellow thread) on the wrists of their brothers and pray for their well-being. Brothers, in turn, vow to protect their sisters amidst all circumstances.
For them who cannot understand this festival, it is just like tying of friendship band on friendship day. But the difference is that Raksha Bandhan is celebrated between brothers and sisters. However in India, devotees too surrender themselves before God offering Rakhis seeking protection and blessings of God. This is a unique festival by all means which causes immense love between a brother and sister. It is being celebrated since the time immemorial in Indian Culture. History is evident that whenever sisters have been in trouble, brothers have protected them from all problems with all their pelf and power.
Like all Indian festivals, the festival of Rakhi has numerous tales associated with it.  It is always interesting to know the tradition and mythology behind every festival and with the help of them the importance and spirit of any festival can be understood. The most important story about Raksha Bandhan from Indian religion and mythology is about Lord Krishana and Draupadi.
Once Lord Krishna got His hand injured while doing some work. Rukmani, His wife, immediately sent her servant to get a bandage cloth for the wound.  Sathyabama, His second wife rushed to bring some cloth herself.
Draupadi, whom Lord Krishna always took as Her Sister, was watching this incident and without waiting any more, she simply tore off a part of her sari (Indian dress of woman) and bandaged His hand.  
In return for this deed, Krishna promised to protect her from all troubles in time of her distress.
On this incident Lord Krishna uttered the words ‘Akshyam’ which means: ‘May it be unending’.  And we see that after this incident, this tradition of tying up sacred thread on the hand of brother is continuing in Indian Culture.
In Mahabharata (the Greatest War between Kauravas and Pandavas) , we find that when Draupadi was insulted in the court of King Dhritrashtra, father of Kauravs (symbol of evils) and when Duryodhan, son of the King, tried to disrobe her in the open court, that was how Draupadi’s sari became endless and Lord Krishna, her brother, saved her from insult and embarrassment.
In the medieval history of India, there is one more important and interesting tale of this bond of love between brothers and sisters.  This is the true incident which happened between Queen Karnawati and Mughal Emperor Humayun which is popularly known in India even today.
Widow queen Karnawati was ruling over Mewar region of India (Rajasthan) as a care taker empress after the death of her husband, King Rana Sanga. She was ruling in the name of her elder son, Vikramjeet Singh.
When Bahadur Shah of Gujarat region attacked Mewar for the second time, the queen, begged her nobles for support in that time of crisis but  they betrayed the queen.
Knowing this betrayal, queen Karnawati  wrote to Humayun, the then Mughal Emperor of Delhi for help. She also sent him a Rakhi and sought protection.
It is very interesting to know that Humayun’s father Babur had already defeated King Rana Sanga in a fierce battle in 1527. As such there was an enmity between both states.
When the Rakhi sent by the queen reached Humayun, he was in the middle of another military campaign. He took that call for help immediately abandoning that military campaign,  he rushed to Mewar for help of queen Karnawati.
But unfortunately, he could not make it on time as the queen’s army was defeated in Chittor and queen Karnawati committed Jauhar (an act of self-immolation to protect herself from indignity of falling in the hands of enemy)
Bahadur Shah however could not go any further and had to turn away from Chittor as Humayun’s military reinforcements arrived by then to give fight to Bahadur Shah. Bahadur Shah was defeated. Humayun then restored the kingdom to Karnawati’s son, Vikramjit. As such Humayun kept his word to protect the sister who sent him a Rakhi.


As such this is a wonderful festival of brothers and sisters. This festival also plays an important role in the society. This festival strengthens fraternal feelings and the spirit of kindness and goodwill in the society. This festival promotes harmonious social life by reaffirming the faith of citizens in the traditional values of love and protection fostering community bonding irrespective of caste, creed and color and highlights the importance of women in Indian society not only as a mother but also as a sister.

Ek Koshish One Attempt too celebrated this festival of Rakhsha Bandhan with its little brothers and sisters. All little sisters tied Rakhis on the small wrists of their little brothers and entire team of Ek Koshish, put tikas (putting red color and rice on foredhead)  on their foreheads, distributed sweets and some money was given by the brothers to their sisters as a token of love and affection towards their sisters. We hope that we shall succeed in our vow to protect these younger brothers and sisters from all distresses of their life through better education and training.  
EK KOSHISH, One Attempt 

New Batch of Students at Ek Koshish!

Classes of children are continuously running at ours. This week, a new batch of five more children namely Mangal (10 Years), Kiran (8 Year girl), Jatin (5 Years), Bina (7 Year girl) and Priya (9 year girl) has started at Ek Koshish.  All children are very happy and pay attention on whatever is taught to them.  Mangal and Bina seem to be very brilliant students and within a period of 4-5 days, they have learnt counting from 0-9 and some of the alphabets.  They did not have any school background nor have their parents any education. They belong to the poorest strata of human society.  Priya is also intelligent girl having a little school background. She has a great potential to learn.  
Seeing these children, one may realise that God does not craft any discrimination while sending souls on earth. It is the society where shackles of rich and poor exist due to human greed and selfish ends, and opportunities are availed by human beings only on this pattern of society based on richness and selfishness. We pray God that we may go ahead in our attempts to educate these underprivileged children. We will be rewarded enough if every one of capable ones could do Ek Koshish (one attempt) to provide them education in their becoming good citizens and a future voice of our country as well as the whole world.   

We also express our sincere thanks to the people contributing with their time and funds in our attempts to take this noble venture ahead.
Ek Koshish One Attempt

Meet our Newest Student, Karan!

Today, we were very surprised to see that our students brought a friend with them to our daily classes for illiterate children living in poverty: His name is Karan (depicted above), and he goes to an Indian government-run school in the neighborhood. Karan came knowing the alphabet and the Hindi “prathmik gyan” (how we say “alphabet” in Hindi), but he still struggles with both sets of characters. Though he can read each of the characters properly in either language, he has a difficult time remembering the correct order of the symbols and cannot recall the letters from memory. Karan’s arrival marks a milestone for our NGO, as our classes have been offering the children a safe environment, where they are motivated to come, learn, and work hard to achieve their goals. We are very proud that our students are enlightening their friends to join our classes to enrich their lives with precious knowledge.
On another note, our volunteer from the US, Justin ji, has been spending extensive time with each child, especially Arun, to ensure that they properly learn the material they have been taught in their school. Arun, Priya, and Karan all attend government schools, but they lack discipline and sometimes learn material incorrectly when they practice and memorize their coursework at home. It was troublesome for Arun to forget his mistakes and relearn the English alphabet (as he had forgotten the letters “E” and “F,” moving from “D” to “G,” among other mishaps), but Justin ji’s arduous rehearsals of the alphabet finally made an impression on Arun’s mind, as he has relearned the alphabet correctly. We hope we can meet more volunteers who can help us with our mission to illuminate these children out of ignorance. Stay posted on our blog, as we have a variety of new ideas to share in the coming posts!