New Kids in the Family
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New Kids in the Family | 1st Little Twinkle Children Fair
New Kids in the Family
Rahim Kumar SahuRahim is from a rural village named Kalan, which is about 1.5 hours away from Bhubaneswar, India. Although Rahim is physically handicapped (he was polio stricken as a child), he is extremely bright. He has that spark that can be felt when you meet him; something that cannot be described in words. His father sells vegetables at the local market and struggles constantly to provide food and shelter, let alone pay for Rahim's education in the village school.
Little Twinkle has been supporting Rahim for the last couple of years. I had the chance to meet Rahim during my last visit in Dec 2004.
He graduated from high school in May 2005 with a first class. I couldn’t be prouder of him. Now he has moved to the city to pursue college. Little Twinkle is continuing to support him as he pursues his dream of becoming a scientist.
Binaya MahanaSOS village (http://www.soscvindia.org/) is an international organization with an Indian chapter. One of their projects is in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Their mission --"Every child grows up in a family, with love, respect and security". For that, the organization trains and assigns a "mother" to every family. A mom has 10 orphan children in her care and the children acquire their mother's last name. This family of 10 orphan kids functions exactly like one of ours. Children are sent to best schools in the city; they celebrate festivals and pursue their dreams like any middle class Indian family. Monetary support for the family comes from both the SOS chapter as well as individual sponsors like us.
I had the opportunity to meet one such family in 2003 as shown in the picture. The family in Deepak House under the care of their ‘mother’ Sulochana Dei was extremely warm and welcoming. One of the kids in the family is Binaya Mahana, the boy in the extreme right with a striped blue/red shirt. He was brought to the village at the tender age of 4 along with his brother Vinod. Their 'mom' served me the Indian snack called 'pakodi'. When I offered it to Binaya, he was quick to respond, "Our mom will give it to us later. You should eat." There was something about his comment that attracted me to this young boy. Little Twinkle has started sponsoring Binaya starting 2004. He is a 12 year old boy with aspirations to become a pilot when he grows up.
PinkiPinki moved in with her mother and her brother into our our house in India in 2004. One evening as we were sitting on the patio chatting, this young 15 year old girl talked to us about her life. Her lower middle class Indian family was doing fine until the day her father left home and never returned. Her mother struggled to keep the family going and finally like most families, schooling had to be compromised over food.
Pinki dropped out of school and her mother looked for work at our house to support her children. Since that conversation, mom and I have been convincing Piki to finish high school. After 9 months, she has agreed. Currently Little Twinkle is sponsoring Pinki’s tuition as she gets ready to give her Matriculation exam (high school exam) in 2006. Trying to remember her subjects has been only half her problem. The teachers who often times tuition affluent children, have not been very encouraging and supportive of Pinki's endeavors. But, our strong willed Pinki, chugs along!!
Ganeshwar DasGaneshwar is a farmer’s son (annual salary - $250). He graduated from the village high school and managed to get into Orissa's Best Medical College, SCB Medical College. Due to the large population in India, most colleges require students to sit through a qualifying exam. Since these exams are very competitive, it is common for students in India to take coaching classes. Ganeshwar obviously did not have the means to take the coaching classes, nor did he have access to books or libraries. Despite these challenges, Ganeshwar succeeded in the qualifying exams.
Little Twinkle was approached to assist Ganeshwar with his college expenses – expenses in this college near Rupees 57,000 annually ($1400) and Rupees 2,24,430 ($5500) through 5 years – an amount insurmountable for this family. Little Twinkle continues to support Ganeshwar and hopes to receive support from its readers.
