Hope for the poor

Hyderabad: Three years ago, a bunch of students from the Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, Ghatkesar, heard about a man hard at work, trying to save poor children from bonded labour and the grips of poverty. That man was Kailash Satyarthi and the students ended up starting Bachpan Bachao in Hyderabad their own version of Satyarthi’s Nobel-prize winning initiative. And on Friday, shortly after news broke that their idol had just won the Nobel Peace prize, the bunch broke into celebration.

“We are thrilled with the news. And we haven’t even met Satyarthi, though we know everything about him. There’s also the fact that he is an electrical engineer who then took up a social cause — we are all engineers too. That link was hugely inspiring. His Nobel win has just given us more steam,” says Prashanth Raj, a fourth-year electrical and computer engineering student.

While Satyarthi’s organisation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, focuses primarily on getting rid of child trafficking and child labour, Hyderabad’s Bachpan Bachao — which was part of the United Nations’ youth assembly — has taken a slightly different route.

“One of the reasons why we wanted to start this NGO is because of the children we would usually spot begging at the bus-stops. By giving money to poor children, we turn them into beggars,” he says.

“Instead why not educate them so that they can be empowered to become whatever they want in the future?” he asks.

“We started with government schools and villages surrounding our campus area,” says Prashanth.

“Even though funding was a problem, we began with collecting '1 from each student every month. The money thus collected was used for welfare activities. We also implemented some core projects such as Project Health, where medical care is provided to students by conducting health camps; Project Pustak, where books and other stationary is distributed;

Project Viksara, reverse osmosis plants are set up in schools in order to provide pure and hygienic water -- we have provided 10 so far to various educational institutions; Project

Make a Team and Teach a Village, more like a parent-teacher meeting wherein awareness among the parents about the child education is stressed upon; Project Talent, wherein competitions are conducted to bring to the fore the hidden talents of the students; and Project Vrudhi, wherein motivational sessions are organised for the students,” he adds.

The NGO is currently involved with 17 schools and four villages. Their strength too has grown from just six members to 50 and more than 1,000 volunteers. They also represented India at the UN Youth Assembly in New York in August last year and addressed the topic of universal primary education.

“Funding has always been a challenge for any NGO. But we have been fortunate to have received the support of Ajay Methuku, a working professional from New Jersey. We met during the UN Youth Assembly and he was inspired by what we were doing. He, along with 20 other people, are now aiding us in our activities and continually help us in terms of finances. With their help, we were able to distribute 100 kits comprising year-long supplies earlier this year to the students,” he says.