Children of the roadside stands
What is more valuable for a person? Is it lots of money, fame, or life full of luxuries? I have asked this question to myself quite often, and I concluded that it is all about right life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Happiness which one can feel on achieving the goals of life. My journey in pursuit of happiness starts with a small thought. A thought which changed my life and the way I looked the life.
The very thought which started from the wish of doing something "good" as we all know what men is a man who doesn't make this world a better place. This very thought forced me to look around and think what I have done for the very society I lived in and what I can do. Then I realized the world around me. It is not by books or articles that I know what living in abject poverty conditions is. I have seen it very closely as I live just beside a slum in Patna, India. I have interacted with the slum children and felt their misery very closely. I have witnessed children helping their parents in setting up stalls, working to help the family to make both ends meet.
"Which school do you attend?" I asked Bala, whom I encountered everyday while returning from school. Bala was a tall girl with a weighed down head. Her bright, smiling face was not enough to cover her sufferings which were evident from the bones that peeped out from her skin. "My parents can't afford to educate two children so I help them with the stall and my brother attends the nearby charity school." What surprised me most was her casual tone. It was as though she had made peace with the fact that education was not for her. This is not just Bala's fate; it is the story of almost every child living in the slum.
After a brief consideration over Bala's situation, I realized that the people in the slum do not have time to think and mourn over their miseries because they are amidst a war, fighting 24 hours and 7 days to survive, to earn a living, just to avoid death from starvation. The children grow in these slums provides a coalition support to fight this war. One of the means which help them survive is roadside stalls. In order to set up a stall, one requires support from the whole family including young children.
I decided to meet Mrs. Vidyarthi. Mrs. Vidyarthi is MLA from our constituency and runs a well-known NGO "Nav Ras". I requested her to help me to set up some facility for the children who are being denied the right of education. She offered me to join her Organization and work with the NGO for these children. This is how I ended up being a part of Nav Ras. After joining the organization I took my first step towards solving the problem of the children and wrote a letter to the Honorable Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, bringing this problem to his notice. Next I met Mr. Kumar and requested him to start an evening school in my locality so that all the slum children can attend the school after finishing working in the stalls.
The school was opened and started within five weeks of my request. 129 students got enrolled in the school in the very first year and the numbers are expected to increase this year.
Next, with Mrs. Vidyarthi's permission, I founded a separate wing, known as 'Nav Adhar' inside the Nav Ras Organization which works only in the field of literacy. As the President of the wing I have made it my aim to spread the message of literacy and importance of education across the globe. I have been encouraged by the state government of Bihar and have been awarded the Young achiever award for 2012 as an acknowledgement of my dedication and working for this great cause.
What is more valuable for a person? Is it lots of money, fame, or life full of luxuries? I have asked this question to myself quite often, and I concluded that it is all about right life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Happiness which one can feel on achieving the goals of life. My journey in pursuit of happiness starts with a small thought. A thought which changed my life and the way I looked the life.
The very thought which started from the wish of doing something "good" as we all know what men is a man who doesn't make this world a better place. This very thought forced me to look around and think what I have done for the very society I lived in and what I can do. Then I realized the world around me. It is not by books or articles that I know what living in abject poverty conditions is. I have seen it very closely as I live just beside a slum in Patna, India. I have interacted with the slum children and felt their misery very closely. I have witnessed children helping their parents in setting up stalls, working to help the family to make both ends meet.
"Which school do you attend?" I asked Bala, whom I encountered everyday while returning from school. Bala was a tall girl with a weighed down head. Her bright, smiling face was not enough to cover her sufferings which were evident from the bones that peeped out from her skin. "My parents can't afford to educate two children so I help them with the stall and my brother attends the nearby charity school." What surprised me most was her casual tone. It was as though she had made peace with the fact that education was not for her. This is not just Bala's fate; it is the story of almost every child living in the slum.
After a brief consideration over Bala's situation, I realized that the people in the slum do not have time to think and mourn over their miseries because they are amidst a war, fighting 24 hours and 7 days to survive, to earn a living, just to avoid death from starvation. The children grow in these slums provides a coalition support to fight this war. One of the means which help them survive is roadside stalls. In order to set up a stall, one requires support from the whole family including young children.
I decided to meet Mrs. Vidyarthi. Mrs. Vidyarthi is MLA from our constituency and runs a well-known NGO "Nav Ras". I requested her to help me to set up some facility for the children who are being denied the right of education. She offered me to join her Organization and work with the NGO for these children. This is how I ended up being a part of Nav Ras. After joining the organization I took my first step towards solving the problem of the children and wrote a letter to the Honorable Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, bringing this problem to his notice. Next I met Mr. Kumar and requested him to start an evening school in my locality so that all the slum children can attend the school after finishing working in the stalls.
The school was opened and started within five weeks of my request. 129 students got enrolled in the school in the very first year and the numbers are expected to increase this year.
Next, with Mrs. Vidyarthi's permission, I founded a separate wing, known as 'Nav Adhar' inside the Nav Ras Organization which works only in the field of literacy. As the President of the wing I have made it my aim to spread the message of literacy and importance of education across the globe. I have been encouraged by the state government of Bihar and have been awarded the Young achiever award for 2012 as an acknowledgement of my dedication and working for this great cause.
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