Give 400 needy children & youths a future in India

In the middle of September, the time had come that we started a new attempt with our inclusion school. After the kick-off in March, we had to interrupt again after four weeks due to Corona. We are now hoping for a smoother process.

However, we face major challenges. School operations are still restricted, and we are in the middle of the school year which lasts from April to end of March. Therefore, it is not easy to get children transferred from other public or private schools. Many children are currently not going to school because they have been used to staying at home since March 2020. Many parents are concerned that another wave of Covid is coming and are therefore waiting. In the countryside, many people do not really care whether their children go to school or not. And schools or government agencies usually do not care either. This is one of the reasons why a lot of persuasion has to be done with the parents. Parents and children are not used to the fact that regular school attendance is also an obligation. Regular exams, conscientious and structured lessons, attendance checks, discussions between teachers and parents are not given in many rural schools.

We currently have 45 children registered and will gradually integrate these children into the high-quality teaching classes. But there are big gaps in children's knowledge. Often, children from the higher grades of the public schools with low requirements do not know the material of a third or fourth grade. We also teach in Hindi and English and offer the opportunity to gain initial experience with a computer. And we combine teaching with playing to educate children with fun and ease. In addition, in many families it is not considered essential for girls to go to school.

We are convinced and optimistic that our approach will be successful in the long run. We also have the support of the local authority. But it will take many months, maybe even 2-3 years, for the school operations to settle down. But we know that it is worth investing this time. GIVE CHILDREN A FUTURE.

We will be able only with your great support to walk this path in the long term. Thanks a lot for this.

On March 1st, 2021 we were so happy that we could start inclusion school classes in our Keshwa Child Welfare Center in Sonbhadra. Despite government restrictions due to Covid-19, 25 children attended daily lessons.

At the beginning of April, we had to close our Keshwa Child Welfare Center again, as the second corona wave had broken out in India from then on. According to the media, dramatic scenes have taken place in certain regions of India. In Uttar Pradesh, too, there were sometimes high infection rates, illnesses, and deaths.

We were therefore only partially able to look after some families as an emergency program. As of the beginning of June all regular programs are still not allowed to be carried out. The environment in our Keshwa Child Welfare Center is thankfully not that severely affected by Covid-19, as we are active in a rural area. However, the effects for the locals are quite large.

However, we can use this difficult phase to carry out minor maintenance work on our center, such as plastering the outer wall and fencing our new property.

What is next now?

It is not possible to give an exact forecast as to when the government will ease the restrictions again. But we very much hope that there will be a new opportunity to restart our programs in July, especially the inclusion school and the skill development program. Our child emergency program will probably not be able to start before September / October, as various agreements with the authorities are still necessary and travel restrictions within India for onsite visits to be expected for some time.

Let us keep our fingers crossed that the pandemic in India will ease off as quickly as possible. We are wholeheartedly with all people who are affected by the pandemic and of course we are happy, when our project work again fully benefits the people in need.

As we are not working in the medical field, we currently have limited options, but do not lose confidence. We continue to pay our permanent staff their wages so that their families do not have to suffer from the pandemic.However, this also means that our expenses will only decrease slightly, since wages and infrastructure costs are almost the same.