Providing Education & Training to Women in India

In June of 2011 GVI Kerala was given the opportunity to take on a huge task. 23 kids from the North East of India, a small tribal state called Manipur, arrived on the doorstop of the boys and girls homes that we work at. Over the last 12 months GVI Kerala had been the sole source of education for these kids. Everyday these kids would come to class ready to learn, keen to absorb anything that was thrown their way. It took a good three to four months before these kids started to come out of their shells, but when they did there was no stopping them. What these kids had endured has been nothing short of terrible, details are always sketchy but it has been a very difficult couple of years for all of these kids. The thing is that you would never know; they were so happy just to be at school, to feel a part of something, they would never complain about anything and never put themselves first, a lesson we can all learn from!

Now this period in their own and GVI Kerala’s lives is over, the kids have all been sent home by the Manipur government to be reunited with their families and to go to school in their local areas, an amazing achievement that has taken more than 12 months to happen.

It was such a great pleasure to be able to look back on all the work the volunteers had put into these kids and the education that they received. On the request of the Manipur government, we were to hand in a report on the work that we had done with these kids. This was quite special, not only because it signified the end of an amazing period, but that the work that we have been doing with these kids is being taken seriously, and that what we have achieved will be taken into account, all of the time and effort, the hundreds of hours of teaching that GVI has provided for these kids is not lost. It has been an incredible 12 months, these kids came into this program and literately turned it on its head, and we love them for it. The lessons that we have learnt about ourselves and what is achievable has changed, and a new vision of where to go next is now the focus, from the experience that we have had with these kids we are prepared and forever grateful to them for it.