Educate Destitute Girls in Kolkata, India

Ayesha is 12 years old and studying in class VII. She lives with her family of 5 in a single room. Her father is a poster painter. His monthly income is not stable because his work is temporary. Total family income is £30 a month, not enough to run the whole family.  Ayesha is a bright and ambitious girl: she wants to become a designer. But the family were finding it very difficult to keep Ayesha in school until Sheila stepped forward to provide sponsorship.  Now Ayesha is able to stay in school and get the extra tuition needed to help her pass her exams. Her books and uniform are paid for.  She gets health check ups and nutritional supplements. The staff at Tiljala SHED noticed that she is very thin and will use some of the funds to ensure she gets a proper diet.  Thanks to Sheila's generosity, Ayesha now stands an excellent chance of completing high school and going on to train as a designer.  She will avoid the trap of early marriage, illiteracy and poverty.

Tabassum is 17 and in class XII, the final year of school. She lives in her grandmother's home (a single 60 sq ft room) with her parents, her brother and her sister, Anjum.  Tabassum's father is very unwell and unable to support the family, so her mother works as a maidservant, earning just £20 per month.  Happily, Anjum was also a sponsored girl with Tiljala SHED and completed her degree and now works as a librarian, bringing in just enough to keep this family going.  Like Anjum, Tabassum is bright and ambitious and wants to make a success of her life.  And this is now possible - as Helen has come forward to support Tabassum through her college education.  I have met both Anjum and Tabassum and they are a formidable pair.  By giving Tabassum this chance, Helen is empowering a young woman who will not only transform her own and her familiy's life, but is also a role model for other girls.  

Suhana is just 4. She is a happy fun loving child with absolutely no idea what a terrible hand she was dealt at birth. Suhana's father is long gone and doesn't support the family in any way.   Sonali, Suhana's mother, is a maidservant (one of the only respectable options for an illiterate woman) and earns just £20 per month.They live with Suhana's grandmother.  They only survive because Sonali's employers sometimes give her food to take home to the family. Thanks to Karen, Suhana now has sponsorship.  Suhana will receive all the necessary support to keep her in education and to ensure that she progresses well from grade to grade.  The family will also receive a small stipend to encourage them to keep the little girl in school. 

For the other 12 girls, we are doing what we can with the funds already raised.   Our experienced project team, Shreya and Aamna, assess the greatest needs and help each girl accordingly.  But it isn't nearly enough: what we really need is more sponsors to come forward to commit just £27 per month to help a vulnerable girl like Suhana, Tabassum or Ayesha to stay in education, to avoid the terrible traps of illiteracy, early marriage, and poverty which have blighted their own mothers' lives.

I have met all of these girls and their mothers and I can absolutely reassure you that every penny goes where it should.  I have also met a lot of girls who have been sponsored through this scheme and, like Anjum, are now in work, confident and self sufficient.  

If you want to discuss this in any more detail, please contact me janemanson27@gmail.com

Thank you from all of them.  They are very happy indeed to be on the programme.

• Notes from the Project Team (DOCX)