CHILDREN'S HOMES

THE NEED

In the Ganges River Plain area of North India there are an estimated 35 million destitute children. They are malnourished, have no opportunity to get an education, and are exploited in child labor and prostitution. Their parents are oppressed by the more educated classes, and have no way of escape. There are very few institutions or programs which are addressing this massive problem. Those that are addressing it are limited by the funds they receive from the West.

 

THE POSSIBILITY

Were these children brought into an environment where they have a loving family environment, good food and an excellent education, the cycle of poverty can be stopped. From a generation of hopelessness, we can raise up a generation of glowing children who will bring honor to their country and who will no longer live in poverty.

 

CURRENT WORK

We currently conduct informal education programs in 65 villages serving approx. 2000 underprivileged children. We also care for AIDS patients and children of HIV positive parents, and operate an orphanage of 32 children. These children’s lives have been completely transformed. Once half starved and abused, now these children are aglow with joy and life. They attend an excellent school where they are also learning English. They even have their own little computer lab and are learning the essential skill of computer operation and typing. Seeing the transformation in these lives has left us with only one option: To do this for thousands more children across this needy land of North India.

 

THE PROBLEM

It would be a difficult task to raise from Western sources the ongoing financial support necessary for the monthly upkeep and schooling of thousands of children.  Therefore, we need to create a self-supporting prototype facility, which can then be multiplied across India and across the world…

 

THE SOLUTION – SELF-SUFFICIENT PROJECT

We propose to construct and operate a self-sufficient, non-profit relief facility. The facility will include orphanage, widow’s home, school and industrial center. Persons helped will include the most destitute widows and children, and widows having AIDS and children/orphans of HIV positive parents.   The facility will be located in the suburbs of Lucknow City, a metropolitan state capital in the densely populated Gangs River Plain between Delhi and Calcutta. Thus we will accommodate highest-risk children from both urban slums and from remote villages.

 

Land purchase - We will purchase land in a semi-urban and also in a rural area of Luknow.

·         In the semi-urban location we will construct a high-quality school of capacity 500 children, and a children’s home with capacity of 250 children.  The facility will incorporate the use of solar energy and wind ventilation. This will reduce dependence upon outside power sources and will decrease the overall operating expense.  

·         Because cost of land is very high in the semi-urban area, we will obtain the farmland in a more rural area. 20+ acres will be purchased and local villagers will be benefited by being provided jobs planting crops and raising livestock.  Towards the goal of self sufficiency, crops, meat, milk and eggs will provide the majority sustenance for the children, widows and staff. Excesses will be sold to provide funds necessary to purchase other necessary items such as clothing and personal hygiene needs such as toothpaste and medicine. Providing favorable environmental factors, the farm should be providing 90% of the food needs for the facility within one year.

 

The School - The school will generate income in its first year of use and after start up expenses are met, should generate profit the second year onward. The income from the school will account for 50% of the other operational costs of the widows and children’s home.

 

Industrial Center – Finally, we will construct and operate a center in which the younger widows, older orphanage children, and other underprivileged persons will produce handmade items which will either be sold in the city or exported abroad. We will also provide vocational training with the goal of them learning a marketable skill by which they can thrive out in the corporate world. Younger widows and women with children will also be encouraged to participate, enabling them to learn a skill, earn an income, and at the same time generate an income stream for the maintenance of the facility.

 

Examples of the types of industry under consideration include: silk worm farming and sales, green brick manufacturing and sales, handmade crafts to be marketed both locally and internationally, tailoring work and sales including clothing manufacturing for overseas clients, as well as agricultural and livestock sales. 

 

OUTCOME – within 5 years maximum, the following goals will be attained:

1.       A world class, fully enrolled, energy efficient school serving 500 students.

2.       An environmentally friendly, as well as self sufficient residential facility accommodating 250 orphan children including AIDS orphans, and widows including HIV positive widows. 

3.       A farm generating both food for the facility and financial income from sale of excess

4.       Industry income will be providing skills training for all capable residents as well as surrounding community, while also generating all remaining funds necessary for the support of the facility.

 

 In one of the most densely populated and impoverished areas of the world, a prototype facility will be in place that can be multiplied to stop the cycle of poverty throughout the nation and the world. There will be no further need for outside funding of this Project.