Hello, my name is Bulbul and I have recently been employed by Open Hands Education as a Tuition Teacher. I am so happy to do this job. I am the first person in my family to pass 12th class in school. My father was a small farmer. My mother is a simple village woman who gave up school in year 8 to care for her 4 younger siblings while her mother worked. My father died of cancer. After me there are my brother and younger sister. I didn’t do that well in my 12th exams because my family didn’t have the money to buy books, but I passed, that was a miracle and now i am pursuing my college degree. My mother spends 5 hours a day cooking all the food from scratch, washing all the pots and plates in a bucket. She washes all our clothes by hand and has to scrub the floor on her hands and knees because of the pollution and dust that creep into our house from coal fires and diesel fumes. Now I’m enrolled to study social work. I’m happy with that. I dream of getting a well paid job so I can lift my family out of poverty.

At my age my mother was married and pregnant with me to a man who beat her. She had to cover her head when her in-laws came and had no say in family affairs. I am going to be independent. I teach children 3 hours a day with slum children as the tuition teacher. We have 65 children in the class. Some of those children don’t have proper clothes, live under black plastic and can’t read and write. In India we don’t have even basic things like quality education, health care, electricity and clean water. We fight like dogs for everything; people even have to hold onto the side of the bus from the outside to go to work. When they say we are the second fastest growing economy, I wonder who is growing. It’s certainly not the labourers who are paid $30 per month to build the glass skyscrapers that the ‘new India’ lives in. It’s not their children. My family left the village because there wasn’t enough land to support all of us, not enough water and my parents dreamed of a better education for us. I was lucky I met Open hands education and got good advice. Now I will help my people and my family and myself. I have hope for the future. I have education, independence and dignity that few girls in my slum have. Some of my school mates are already married. In the beginning they think it’s really exciting to get new saris and new jewellery and go somewhere else, but in the end it’s like a cage, because they are not financially independent, they depend on their husbands and in-laws and can’t leave the house without permission. So many times I see that after a few years and a few kids, a beautiful young girl who entered the house like a queen has become like a haggard slave. Her husband starts drinking because he can’t get a good paying job due to lack of quality education or laziness and then she has to go to work cleaning others pots because that’s all she was trained to do. I think it’s a sin to not make your daughter independent – to indenture her to others as a biological and emotional slave. After seeing all these problems with girls Open hands education has started sewing training centre for young girls who drop out school and can’t go to school. So this sewing training centre gives them opportunity to girls and women to become self independent so that they can help themselves if husband is drunker and can’t look after her and children. There are many girls from village and from other village and taking benefits of this program. I was also one of swing student and later i have been appointed as a Tuition Teacher and teaching children. Stories tell us of Princes on white horses who will rescue us, or of the faithful Indian wife who will follow her husband through fire to prove her devotion and meekness. But I live in the slum. I don’t see any princes on white horses. I realise I have to be my own prince. My father is a good man who works hard for us. Now my mother is really the boss of the family, but it took a long time for her to have independence. I don’t want that to happen to me. I will get a good job and have a love marriage – I will choose my husband and my life. Thanks to Open Hands Education.

Pushpa sadly lost her father whilst she was still in education and her mother kept working whilst looking after Devi and her brother. Pushpa was keen to secure a job of her own but because of her disability, finding work in her home town was difficult. She attended a Need Assessment camp local to her and it was there that she heard about the Vocational Training Programme conducted by Open Hands Education. Pushpa immediately enrolled sewing course and further developed her, already competent, computer skills. A bright, enthusiastic and active individual were already in her favour when applying and successfully securing her first role as an accountant with Shell. Pushpa is a valued member of the team and contributes not only to the success of the company but also to supporting her family. She has new found independence and growing in self esteem.

Rubbi completed her schoolings at the Goverment School. Rubbi enrolled 6 months vocational training course at open hands education and during that period, she was a regular participant to the class, always making herself busy and engaging with the material. This enthusiasm helped her to understand things faster and grow in confidence in her abilities. After successful completion of the training period, Rubbi was awarded a job opportunity in city where she now makes clothes for women, girls and Sales. Rubbi is very happy and is able to live an independent life of her own. This opportunity has given Rubbi the drive and spark to go on and achieve even more in life.

Reshmi sadly lost her father during her school years leaving her mother, a private school teacher, to not only have a career but also to look after the family on her own. Reshmi also has a younger brother who is studying at college. After her school Reshmi immediately joined the Vocational Training Course provided by the Open hands education. Reshmi had been taught in Hindi throughout her education so she she had a real desire to learn english. Such was her eagerness to learn, Reshmi used to carry around an English work book with her and surfed the internet for reading inspiration. Reshmi is a conciencious, hard working and punctual individual which paid dividends when she applied for her first job in wome tailoring shop in city. Now, earning a good salary, Reshmi has blossomed into a confident young woman who is able to be independent and wants to help to reduce her mother’s burden and help with the family.