Tag Archives: poverty

Does poverty have a colour?

14 Dec

With the children from the Leading Light school, Goa, India

Hello again;  I’m now back in the UK,  undertaking freelance diversity consulting work for an investment bank in the run up to Christmas – and working on website and newsletter content for Educators’ Trust India in my spare time.

I’ve also updated The Gender Blog with some details and photos of the slum settlement where many of the children helped by this tiny yet passionate and committed charity live – click here for details.

More about Educators’ Trust, India

10 Dec

Here’s the draft copy for the charity website I mentioned earlier this month; I am writing the website and an accompanying newsletter for them, pro-bono.

(The underlined words will be URLs in the final online version).

* * * * *

India is one of the world’s booming economic success stories.  For a few,  it is a country of unimaginable wealth and great luxury.  For many others,  it is a place of poverty,  illiteracy, hunger and poor health – and children bear the brunt of this inequality.  Educators’ Trust India, founded in 2008, is a British and Indian registered charity which works to help the children of migrant, impoverished, illiterate families – and to  educate them,  not only in academic terms but also about health, hygiene and nutrition.

Educators’ Trust India is solely funded by charitable donations and is staffed by a dedicated team of global volunteers who include teachers and doctors.  We run two schools in Goa,  western India,  where we provide a non-denominational education to the children of the migrant workers who flock here, hoping for a slice of the economic pie, from other parts of India each autumn.  These are the children who you may have seen begging on the beach or perhaps selling jewellery and peanuts;  we work to break the cycle of illiteracy and child labour,  which keeps them in poverty,  by teaching them to read and write, to speak English and to learn maths.  We give India’s forgotten children a future.

The people who we help live in shacks and slum settlements,  without access to such basics as running water, sanitation or even a roof over their heads. In addition to our two schools,  we also run an outreach programme in the slum areas where we help the parents understand the need for education, good food and hygiene; there are many proven links between poor health and poverty and so we will always help sick or injured children via our weekly drop-in clinic, run by a retired British GP.

But we can’t do this work without your help.  If,  like us,  you believe that education can improve the future of the poor,  then please join us and support our work by sponsoring a project,  making a donation, volunteering with us or visiting our schools when you are in India. Please follow the links on this page to learn more,  and to support us on Facebook and Twitter.   Thank you.

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