From grinding poverty to graduation

I just wanted to tell you, that it is so difficult for girls like me to get an education. without the support of People First it would not be possible. i am one of many girls going to college sponsored by the Trust. I am studying computer sciences. When i started in the village school run by people first it was beyond my imagining that i would one day go to college. Thank you for supporting us. Education gives us the frredom in life we could never have otherwise. the freedom to be independent, the freedom to choose a better life for us and in time our children.

HOPE CHANGES EVERYTHING

My name is Sunil. I am 21 years of age and I am studying a foreign language in Delhi. My life prospects are good; my job chances are even now promising. I have a life full of expectation and purpose. How different it all was before. I was born into a very poor family in the forest areas of Bihar. At an early age my father became mentally ill wandering the forest leaving my mother to try and feed her three children. As the oldest child, although I was only 9 years old I was sent to live to my Uncle many miles away. They were also poor and were farmers with their own children. I worked in the fields from Dawn to nightfall labouring on land my uncle did not own. At night after my uncles family were fed I was given the scraps, if there was anything left over, sometimes only a single piece of bread. I became very thin. The food was thrown to me on the floor and I had no bed and only one torn set of clothes. I cried for such a long time every night. At that time an organisation called People First were running a school in the village, I was not allowed to go as I had to work. But my Uncle came to know they ran a small hostel and brought me there. I think although they did not have a lot of fund I must have looked very thin and I had some marks from the occasional beating, so they took me in. My life began to change, for the first time for a long time I heard laughter and I was no longer afraid. Hope changes everything; education became the chance I had never had to fulfil my dreams. I worked hard and passed my School leaving examination at Grade One Level and got accepted to study in Delhi. People First through their scholarship scheme made all of this possible. Please consider helping those such as myself, I am a lucky and grateful person, but I know there are so many more children who need such a chance. Help give others hope, help others like me. Please. Thank You. Sunil Kumar People First Scholarship Student Delhi