TRANSFORMATION CENTER

The eastern region of the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is one of the most backward areas of India. The largest community is Varanasi, dating back 3,000 years - one of the ancient living cities of the world. Varanasi is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism and is famous for its exquisite handloom silk products.

However the darkness here is overwhelming. Child prostitution is common in the temples along the Ganges River. Over 40% of the rural population lives in abject poverty, barely subsisting by laboring on the land owned by the wealthy. Children and youth growing up in these destitute families have almost no hope of escaping the cycle of poverty. They can't afford good schools where they would learn to read and write. Many are forced to drop out of school around grades 5-8 in order to go to work to help support the family.

A six to nine-month vocational skills course would enable these young people to get a good job or to start their own business. However they can't afford vocational training. Thus the next generation of nearly 40% of the rural population is doomed to repeat the cycle of poverty in which their parents and grandparents were trapped.

Our presence in Varanasi and the rural districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh goes back to 1997. Living Hope Alliance has provided the skill of tailoring to hundreds of destitute women and has enabled over 60 families to start their own small businesses through our micro-loan programs. We have provided goats to 50 impoverished families enabling them to start their own goat herds.

Most recently, we are conducting two strategic projects: We are enabling 60 young men to attend a government-accredited Vocational Skills course. This will effectively lift their families out of poverty for the rest of their lives. Secondly, we have gone into the most remote villages where large numbers of the children are not even able to read and write, and have established informal education centers. There is no building and the teacher is a local villager who has had enough education to teach basic reading and arithmetic. There are now over 60 centers providing basic education to 19,000 destitute children.

Our future vision is to establish an international-quality school and vocational institute in which at least 20% of the student body will be children and youth from destitute families. These individuals will receive their education almost free. The project will be entirely self-sustaining.

For further information please contact us.

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