Whilst India is emerging as a power on the world stage, the contrast between rich and poor is still profound. According to a recent studyCitation, India has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world, with the gap between rich and poor steadily rising for at least two decades. For those at the bottom of the heap, life is extremely tough. Figures are endlessly disputed, but around a quarter of the population – an estimated 300 million people – still live below an extremely low poverty line.
*Micha lives under a staircase in a dingy apartment block, with her brother and parents. Her father has 10 other children by his first wife, and couldn’t support them all. So education was out of the question for Micha – until the family found Kolkata’s Pavement Club, funded by Global Care.
Micha joined Global Care’s sponsorship programme aged four, enabling her to attend school. She received extra educational support and welfare care at the Pavement Club. And she has flourished. Despite the challenges of life at home – she even has to sleep sitting up in such cramped conditions – Micha is now pursuing university education. All this has been made possible through the support of the Pavement Club and her sponsor – and Micha’s determination to succeed. Read more about this amazing young woman’s journey.
*Micha lives under a staircase in a dingy apartment block, with her brother and parents. Her father has 10 other children by his first wife, and couldn’t support them all. So education was out of the question for Micha – until the family found Kolkata’s Pavement Club, funded by Global Care.What are the challenges?
Grinding poverty and illiteracy. Hunger. Limited job opportunities. Lack of access to health care, good sanitation and clean water… and more. A studyCitation of poverty in Kolkata’s slums showed households with children suffered significantly higher levels of deprivation than those without children. Child poverty in Kolkata is multi-dimensional, and a real challenge.
How is Global Care tackling child poverty in Kolkata?
Helping children access education is by far the most effective way of reducing poverty. So education is at the heart of our work in India, as elsewhere.
Kolkata’s Pavement Club was established to give slum children the chance of schooling – and healthy meals too. It’s informal, but it works. Initially, classes were delivered quite literally on the pavement with just a handful of children. But now the Pavement Club operates from our partners’ Ripon Street headquarters and the Vijayan Pavamani Centre at Creek Row. Today over 350 children are receiving a good standard of education from 25 teachers.
The children learn reading, writing and maths, health and hygiene. They enjoy songs and stories, dancing, drama and art. They have a wash and breakfast on arrival, and lunch before they go home.
In the afternoons, the Pavement Club team are out on the streets, running ‘outreach’ projects in several more of Kolkata’s slum communities. They encourage children and parents to join in simple games and singing, developing relationships with the aim of encouraging families to access education and participate in community development
What can you do to help?
Why not sponsor a child at the Pavement Club? Our partners have seen the significance of sponsorship for many children over the years. Sponsorship enables education, ultimately releasing whole families from the poverty cycle. £25 a month gives a child all they need to enable them to learn and succeed.
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