From Child Labour to College: Support Her Future

Vishal, 2 years old, lives in the village of Samanapur in Marashtra, India. His parents are casual day laborers on a nearby farm. The family is very poor and Viahal, his parents, his sister and three brothers all have to get by on their parents income of around £25 per month.

As a result of this Vishal’s mother did not have enough money to feed and care for him properly. Vishal was underweight and he was severely malnourished. The team know from experience that if children are not adequately cared for between the age of 0 – 4 that child is not likely to do well in school in later years. The team decided to enroll Vishal in their supplementary nutrition programmes.  

The team visited the family home to provide supplementary nutrition through foods such as spirulina. The project also referred Vishal’s case to the Integrated Child Development Services. The project workers  coached Vishal’s Mum in nutrition and hygiene practices. Though at first she did not listen to the team after many visits she began to trust their advice and started taking more interest in good child nutrition and hygiene.    

Now Vishal is doing well. He is no longer malnourished and is growing bigger and stronger as a result. He gets less colds and flus and his energy is improving. He now has a much better chance of doing well in school as his growing brain will have the nutrition it needs to develop. Many thanks to all the project supporters who helped make this happen.

Reshma, 19, lives in the village of Velhale in Maharashtra, India. Reshma lives with her parents, grandparents, cousins, sisters and brother. The family took in Reshma’s cousins after their parents died in an accident. In all there are ten family members living in a two roomed tin hut.

The family live on a small plot of land that they grow crops on to sell at the market. However the area is drought prone and the crop often fails. The grandparents are dependent on the family to pay their medical bills. Reshma had always wanted to help the family financially but didn’t have the skills to find a job.  

The project team held a meeting for young people in the village on vocational skills training they were providing in the area and Reshma was immediately interested. The girls who went to the meeting wanted to learn garment making skills so the team agreed to make these available. Reshma completed the course in 2 months making the 10km journey by bicycle that the team had provided for her as transport.

When Reshma finished her training she got a loan from her Aunt to buy a sewing machine. Soon she was taking orders from the local area. With the money she had been able to enroll in university as well as help her family with some of their costs. Now Reshma is facing a much better future as a result of the help given to her by the project and its supporters.