Compassion Beyond Borders educates more girls in India than in any other country due to its immense population of 1,370 million people, its extensive poverty (40%), the oppression of its caste system that still dominates the rural culture, its gender discrimination that is one of the worst in the world, and the brutal oppression of its indigenous peoples.
After-school centers supporting 50 villages
CBB partners with Just Organization for Natural Growth (JONG) in Tamil Nadu to educate tribal and Dalit (“untouchable”) girls in villages so remote that CBB’s founder was the first foreigner to visit them.
Only a generation ago female infanticide was common in these remote communities. Some of the girls receiving CBB’s scholarships wouldn’t even be alive but for the progress that has been made. In supporting the schooling of 485 of these girls, CBB affirms the value of a girl’s life and her importance to her community.
JONG administers 26 education centers where village children receive three hours of tutoring and enrichment activities after school. School uniforms and textbooks are free to students in India, but they must supply their own notebooks that may cost from $2 for the first grade to $30 for the 12th grade. CBB buys these notebooks for the girls and has purchased 100 bicycles for them to travel three to five miles each way to their middle school. CBB also funds teacher salaries for the after-school centers.
After CBB began supporting these girls’ education, their school enrollment increased 24% in one year. The district Chief Education Officer commented recently that “Twelve years back no girl or her parent could dream of studying beyond fifth grade. But now girl children go to high school and some to university education because of the program of Compassion Beyond Borders.”
One girl’s story: Mahalaksmi
Mahalaksmi is the daughter of a young widow who lost her husband in an accident when she was three years old. Mahalakshmi’s mother is an uneducated agricultural casual laborer. When she went to the field to work, Mahalaksmi was kept at home to take care of her younger sister.
Compassion Beyond Borders’ India project director helped Mahalakshmi’s mother admit her younger sister to a government crèche. Then he arranged for Mahalaksmi to be admitted to school to begin her education.
When Mahalaksmi came home from school, her mother could not help her with her homework. The After-school Program teacher funded by CBB spoke to Mahalakshmi’s mother about the program and admitted her. Mahalaksmi now studies well and scores good marks in her lessons. She is especially developing her skills in drawing and elocution in her after-school program.
Scholarships in 40 villages
CBB partners with Just Organization for Natural Growth (JONG) in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu to educate tribal and Dalit (“untouchable”) girls in villages so remote that Compassion Beyond Borders’ Executive Director was the first foreigner to visit them.
Only a generation ago female infanticide was common in these remote communities. Some of the girls receiving CBB’s scholarships wouldn’t even be alive but for the progress that has been made. In supporting the schooling of 485 of these girls, CBB affirms the value of a girl’s life and her importance to her community.
JONG administers 25 education centers where village children receive three hours of tutoring after school by local women with a high school education. The tutors are now being paid for the first time–a monthly salary of $15 coming from CBB’s grant
School uniforms and textbooks are free to students in India, but they must supply their own notebooks that may cost from $2 for the first grade to $30 for the 12th grade. CBB buys these notebooks for the girls and has purchased 100 bicycles for them to travel three to five miles each way to their middle school.
After CBB began supporting these girls’ education, their school enrollment increased 24% in one year. The district Chief Education Officer commented recently that “Twelve years back no girl or her parent could dream of studying beyond fifth grade. But now girl children go to high school and some to university education because of the program of COMPASSION BEYOND BORDERS.”
A project director's story
The project Estudia con Amor (Study with Love), was named by its director, Sandra Alonzo, a skilled but low income Mayan mother who herself received scholarships for her daughters.
Sandra’s family home had no running water and no sanitation facilities. Yet, she knew of families poorer than hers. Her family has enough food to eat, she says, but others do not, and it is the daughters of these even poorer families for whom she arranges CBB scholarships.
Sandra’s husband, Carlos, provides for his family with three part-time jobs. Through her work with CBB Sandra says she has learned that “the impossible doesn’t exist”.
