Let's take a moment to disconnect from the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping. Instead, let's go back a couple months to when the hustle and bustle was all around back to school shopping. Now, personally, I haven't gone back to school shopping in years. But, I still remember the feeling of it when I was a kid.
Every year the time would come when we would head out to the stores and start filling the cart up with school supplies. And every year my mom would let me get a new back pack. I could pick any back pack I wanted. One year it had wheels, another year it was a messenger bag, then there was the sparkly bag I just had to have which came right after the year I needed the blue back pack with flowers on it. Then there was a few years where I didn't end up liking the bag I had picked. The one shoulder strap didn't work or the wheels weren't ideal for wearing it and riding my bike to school. In which case, I just got another one.
This was how it was, every year, I'd get the newest back pack there was, and I thought nothing of it. I'd walk into school showing off my new sparkly backpack and being so cool and walking around believing I could be anything I wanted to be. Not only did my mom let me have a new back pack every year, filled with school supplies, but she filled it with the undeniable belief that I could be whatever I wanted to be. So you best believe that when I was walking around with that sparkly backpack, going to school, I couldn't understand why anyone would question my belief that if I wanted and worked hard in school, I could be the first woman president, or a lawyer, or a vet or literally anything in the world. It was never questioned.
I never thought,
"Hmmm, how am I going to carry my stuff to school?", "What school supplies do I have to go to school with?", "Can I even go to school this year?",
"Can I be what I want to be when im older without it?"
Who would have thought that a back pack could hold so much?
So much potential, hope, knowledge and selfworth. But it does. It did for me then and it does currently for Sneha. A 9 year old girl in the middle of India, who had to stop schooling at the 1st grade level because her single mom couldn't afford to pay for the schooling fees.
Her mom makes 140 USD every month. This is all they have to support a family of three for the month. This includes food, transportation to work, basic needs, clothing, etc. So it's no wonder when the monthly schooling fee is literally 20 percent of the monthly income, not including the yearly tuition to the school along with the school supplies, this would be the thing that gets cut first. Not because it isn't valued, but because it's what's taking the most away from basic survival for the entire family.
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.”
This is where Hands 4 Zero Poverty (H4ZP) came in. We created a scholarship that would fund this little girl to continue to go to school. What that means, broken down, is that the admission fee, books and stationary, school uniform, monthly school fee and transportation to school would all be taken care of. This was created for a girl because they face a stronger challenge of being able to get that basic education. They are the first ones, usually, to get cut because they are the ones seen to help and do the housework, not the ones to go out and work in the cities or places of "importance". That doesnt mean that girls dont go out and get those jobs and do absolutely amazing things, because they do. Because of this scholarship, we at H4ZP believe that Sneha will be one of those girls.
This belief was made more evident when we started talking with Sneha. Simple questions, that were given no context but were answered purely.
Q: What makes you happy?
A: "I am getting again a chance to go to school. Making me happy."
Q: What do you want to be when you're older?
A: "A police officer."
Q: What is your favorite thing to do for fun?
A: "To make friends in school that I can play with."
My personal favorite one, which I think really shines through what kind of girl Sneha is and all the potential she has in the world:
Q: What is something that you can't do now that you want to be able to do when you're older?
A: "To support my mom. I want to support my mom and my younger sister."
We want to continue building opportunities for girls like Sneha. If you would like to support a child, let us at info@h4zp.org. We would be delighted help you support the education of a child.
A dream came true, First Day of School After One Year
