By Sachin, Laveena, Niraj, Rig, and Dr. Forsgren
This August, our CSR club at the American School of Bombay were able to visit not only one, but
two sites in one visit! It took place in Bandra east, where we visited 2 libraries not too far from
one another.
When we first arrived, as expected, the CSR group members were all shocked because of the
difference in their lifestyle, and the the lifestyle reflected by the area we were in. Tucked neatly
into the side of a building, as soon as we entered the library we were greeted by dozens of
smiling faces and a “Hello!” in unison. Immediately the trip became worth the time. When we
got the chance to sit down and hang around with the kids, they were excited to share the titles
of their favorite books and respond to questions about their future plans. Clearly they
understand the value of education to achieve their dreams. Pratham has established 20
“libraries” in this area according to representative Fazal Shaikh. Children can check out books
for two weeks at a time. Dr. Forsgren, our club mentor, was very impressed with how well one
of the young girls could read aloud her book. She was clearly proud of her abilities and
appreciated having an outsider support her understanding of the reading.
Laveena, an avid reader in our club was very impressed with what she saw. Seeing the children
in the library being so enthusiastic about reading was amazing, since she doesn’t see many
children being excited to read in my everyday life. It gave her a new perspective on how people
value things, as these children only have a chance to read at the libraries, and they love it, while
children in a more privileged situation often don’t take to reading since it is ‘old-fashioned’ or
‘boring’. After we concluded our visit to the first library, we said bye to our advanced readers
and moved on to the next site. This one was another secluded site that you wouldn’t expect to
be a fully functioning school. We climbed up a ladder and we walked in to our library/reading
camp. On the left hand side, we could see the kids who were in the reading camp - split up into
two sections. On one side, the kids were with the teacher and learning how to read words, and
on the other side, the kids were individually reading paragraphs and sentences on little cards
made by the teachers.
It was around this time when we met Faizan. Faizan caught our eye when we were talking to
the paragraph readers, he was quietly sitting and smiling and letting his peers go on about their
favorite books and hobbies and future plans. When asked what they wanted to be when they
grew up, most kids responded with “Spider-man” or “police officer,” but Faizan surprised us
when he said he wanted to be an engineer! Immediately we knew that he recognized the
importance of his education and that it was imperative that he finished it so he could achieve
his dreams and give his family a better life. We were so delighted to hear about his aspirations,
at just the early age of 9! Faizan was such an interesting kid - he seemed like a 27 year old in the
body of a child! We were so surprised by his maturity when he was making fun of one of hs
peers who wanted to get married as soon as he finishes school. Faizan seemed like a very smart
kid and we hope that he will accomplish his dreams and give his family a better life. He was our
first guest on our facebook/instragram page, Humans of Pratham (@humansofpratham). We
will be updating the page with stories every week, and we hope you get to be even more in
touch with not just the beneficiaries of Pratham, but the teachers, the people behind the
scenes, and even the donors.
Another highlight of the trip was our skype call with the students who run the Pratham Club at
the American School of the Hague - Victoria Puglia reached out to us and told us about all the
tireless campaigns they have started to raise funds for Pratham, which we hope to do similarly
at ASB in the near future. Victoria and her peers were super excited to see the impact they
were making in the lives of the future of India. The kids were just as excited to see them
virtually and gave the traditional “Hello!!” with big smiles and laughter and joy was returned
from the Hague. We were so happy to be able to connect the Netherlands to the projects in
India, because that is the founding idea of starting this CSR club. We want to be able to connect
the WORLD with what Pratham is doing, and we are doing it for people like YOU who are
reading this, so you can see how impactful and impressive the work Pratham is doing is.
This August, our CSR club at the American School of Bombay were able to visit not only one, but
two sites in one visit! It took place in Bandra east, where we visited 2 libraries not too far from
one another.
When we first arrived, as expected, the CSR group members were all shocked because of the
difference in their lifestyle, and the the lifestyle reflected by the area we were in. Tucked neatly
into the side of a building, as soon as we entered the library we were greeted by dozens of
smiling faces and a “Hello!” in unison. Immediately the trip became worth the time. When we
got the chance to sit down and hang around with the kids, they were excited to share the titles
of their favorite books and respond to questions about their future plans. Clearly they
understand the value of education to achieve their dreams. Pratham has established 20
“libraries” in this area according to representative Fazal Shaikh. Children can check out books
for two weeks at a time. Dr. Forsgren, our club mentor, was very impressed with how well one
of the young girls could read aloud her book. She was clearly proud of her abilities and
appreciated having an outsider support her understanding of the reading.
Laveena, an avid reader in our club was very impressed with what she saw. Seeing the children
in the library being so enthusiastic about reading was amazing, since she doesn’t see many
children being excited to read in my everyday life. It gave her a new perspective on how people
value things, as these children only have a chance to read at the libraries, and they love it, while
children in a more privileged situation often don’t take to reading since it is ‘old-fashioned’ or
‘boring’. After we concluded our visit to the first library, we said bye to our advanced readers
and moved on to the next site. This one was another secluded site that you wouldn’t expect to
be a fully functioning school. We climbed up a ladder and we walked in to our library/reading
camp. On the left hand side, we could see the kids who were in the reading camp - split up into
two sections. On one side, the kids were with the teacher and learning how to read words, and
on the other side, the kids were individually reading paragraphs and sentences on little cards
made by the teachers.
It was around this time when we met Faizan. Faizan caught our eye when we were talking to
the paragraph readers, he was quietly sitting and smiling and letting his peers go on about their
favorite books and hobbies and future plans. When asked what they wanted to be when they
grew up, most kids responded with “Spider-man” or “police officer,” but Faizan surprised us
when he said he wanted to be an engineer! Immediately we knew that he recognized the
importance of his education and that it was imperative that he finished it so he could achieve
his dreams and give his family a better life. We were so delighted to hear about his aspirations,
at just the early age of 9! Faizan was such an interesting kid - he seemed like a 27 year old in the
body of a child! We were so surprised by his maturity when he was making fun of one of hs
peers who wanted to get married as soon as he finishes school. Faizan seemed like a very smart
kid and we hope that he will accomplish his dreams and give his family a better life. He was our
first guest on our facebook/instragram page, Humans of Pratham (@humansofpratham). We
will be updating the page with stories every week, and we hope you get to be even more in
touch with not just the beneficiaries of Pratham, but the teachers, the people behind the
scenes, and even the donors.
the American School of the Hague - Victoria Puglia reached out to us and told us about all the
tireless campaigns they have started to raise funds for Pratham, which we hope to do similarly
at ASB in the near future. Victoria and her peers were super excited to see the impact they
were making in the lives of the future of India. The kids were just as excited to see them
virtually and gave the traditional “Hello!!” with big smiles and laughter and joy was returned
from the Hague. We were so happy to be able to connect the Netherlands to the projects in
India, because that is the founding idea of starting this CSR club. We want to be able to connect
the WORLD with what Pratham is doing, and we are doing it for people like YOU who are
reading this, so you can see how impactful and impressive the work Pratham is doing is.
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