Problems Noticed :
- While interacting with the school staff from Rural Government High Schools, the following problems have been noticed:
- Frequent dropouts of both boys and girls in the age group of 11-15 yrs (6th – 10th class)
- Very early marriages for the girl children
- Very high unemployment rate since the children here are not prepared with enough skills to go and compete in the job market
Root Cause Identified :
Most of these children are orphaned and/or abandoned with single parent OR no parent. These children are usually under the care of grandfather/grandmother/uncle.
The root cause of this situation is both parents were either uneducated or remained as dropouts during the high school education. Unfortunately, this section of the people is totally unnoticed and very easy to be missed out.
These children have no mother/father to guide them, protect them or love them. All they have is a shelter to stay. Most of the time they are hungry, lonely, afraid, have holes in their cheppals or no cheppals at all, and face the greatest challenges of any children on the face of the earth. Unless adopted or absorbed by someone, these children are left to wander the streets, beg or steal food. This cycle results in a high rate of suicide, the need to turn to organized crime and prostitution for survival, ultimately producing more orphans.
The cycle continues forever unless there is an intervention at the school age by providing basic education and thus empowering them to become self reliant.
Proposed Solution – Project VAARADHI:
The only solution to break the poverty cycle of these needy families is to bring these children under one program and provide basic needs as well as the required counseling.
Once we help them understand the importance of education and provide the required tools to gain basic education and technical skills, they will be on their way to a sustainable livelihood leading to productive and positive contributions to society.
Empathy – Opportunity – Equality :
The goal of project VAARADHI is to translate our empathy into action by providing orphaned/abandoned children the opportunity to help themselves and be treated with the equality they deserve.
Expected Impact :
After providing the basic needs for school & health care, these children are encouraged not to miss the school. They can focus on their studies better now without having to worry about their family’s inability to support their educational and health care expenses.
With basic education and proper counseling, they will be EMPOWERED to support themselves.
-“Your Talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God”
Project Co-ordinators - Dilip Kuchipudi (248) 797-3548 & Jayasekhar Talluri (631) 523-1999