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LOTUS FOUNDATION: REACHING OUT TO
POVERTY-STRICKEN CHILDREN IN INDIA
By Rattan Mall
During her stint as a
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) intern in 2006 in the south
Indian city of Bangalore, Vancouver school teacher Gurpavan
Kaur Gill was so staggered by the horrendous
conditions that children in state-run shelters lived in that she resolved to create
an advanced children's complex there for marginalized youth to serve as a
model across the globe.
She recently incorporated a
charity, the Lotus Foundation for Children, to raise $3-million to pursue
this goal. (Visit http://thelotusfoundationforchildren.blogspot.com)
Based on her experiences, Gill
recently published a book titled “Lotus of the Lake: On the Children of Poverty,” to raise
awareness on this issue. The book consists of poetry and prose related to the
true lives of children living in very disparate conditions as slum dwellers,
migrants, street dwellers and in state-run shelters
and "homes."
She told The VOICE the
lotus was a kind of metaphor to highlight the difficult conditions in which
these children are growing up. She noted: “It’s almost like the lotus seed
that grows from the muddy ground and rises above the lake to bloom so
beautifully.”
Gill is currently doing her
Masters in Human Security and Peacebuilding and
will be travelling to Uganda in April for the Masters program. She will be returning to India in August to
continue her work in a children's home and complete
a field study for her Masters program.
Talking about her CIDA
experience as an intern with the international NGO called Peace Child India in
Bangalore, she recounted: “I worked, for the most part, in a children's
facility found in the centre of town.
It was located in a crowded and polluted area of the city and bus
access to the school was very limited.
“During my experience in
both the girls' and boys' homes I came to realise
that the children were under severe stress and anxiety due to the
sub-standard living arrangements in the shelter. They were undernourished, physically abused
and exposed to unhygienic living conditions.
Myself and a few other interns painted a wall
mural in the home to improve the environment of the school.
“They often cried, wanting
to go home or enroll in a different school.
At that time, there was very little I could do. I did try to help a few of the children get
admittance into a private school, however, the state home would not allow
them to leave without obtaining formal permission from their home state.
“Two years later (2008), I
went back to India to re-assess conditions in the home and determine whether any
improvements had been made - there hadn't.
In fact, the situation had worsened.
“I decided at that time to
raise awareness about the children's home by writing the stories of the
children I met along the way.”
Regarding their project
goals, the foundation’s website states:
“In helping to secure their
futures, we plan to build a Safe Home--a Secure Educational Institute and
Home for street kids, neglected and orphaned children, meant to provide
children with educational avenues to reach their potential. The Institute
will also operate as a site for parent workshops and learning fairs, where
parents can get information on child rearing, health education and local job
opportunities.
“As its initial project,
The LFC will manage and fund the construction of an
international children's home and school for Dalits
and other oppressed youth in Bangalore, India. As part of the educational
complex, we will cultivate farm land, growing sugar cane to produce renewable
energy such as bio-fuel and biodegradable plastic products such as, cutlery,
utensils and grocery bags to market throughout India and overseas. It is our
hope that parents in need of employment will be involved in working on the
school's agricultural site while the children attend school. School fees and
medical care for families will be paid by LFC through profits from the sales
of biodegradable products mentioned above! LFC members also plan to initiate
communications with the Indian government to insure project sustainability
through inter-governmental cooperation and funding.”
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