Parva School is a free school located in a rubbish tip/slum in the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Learn More - http://parva.info
Parva School was founded by Shahadat Ali 5 years ago, at a time when the children in the slum survived by begging and rummaging through rubbish to find things to sell. He started by sitting under a tree with a handful of children and their mothers, teaching them how to read and write and do basic maths. The initiative was given a tremendous boost with the arrival of Lizzie Godfrey. She set up a sm
all cottage industry for the mothers making gift bags and cards which are sold in the UK/France. This gives them an income and frees up the children who can now go to school rather than work in the dump. Lizzie also started fundraising in the UK, providing the means to employ two teachers, bring in computers, basic healthcare and scholarships for some of the children with particular talents. The community was so encouraged by all this that they rallied to raise the money themselves to build a small brick building to house the school. Shahadat still devotes his life to educating the children for free. Parva means fulfillment and we want our children to live fulfilled lives! The school strives to help the children develop the self-esteem and self-worth that will empower them now and in the future. It cuts through discrimination and poverty to give them the opportunities that have been missing up until now. However, the school is a victim of its own success – there are now 85 children packed into the small brick building, and we don’t have enough resources to teach the children effectively and continue the community development initiatives, which also include reaching out to a new community even more deprived than the Parva kids. What we need most:
• Funds – we rely entirely on donations. At the moment, we specifically need money to fund an additional teacher at the school and to meet the ongoing basic hygiene and medical needs of the communities (e.g. water to fill up water tanks, antiseptic creams, disinfectant etc).
• Volunteers!!! We started a volunteer program in 2011 and are looking for people who can come for at least one month to contribute to the project:
- Teachers of English, Maths, Computers or Anything Else – sports, crafts etc.!
- Healthcare workers (nurse, first aid specialists etc.) to teach basic hygiene, take care of basic medical needs, do dressings etc. and negotiate with the authorities for more serious cases.
- Community development support - help develop the cottage industry, based around crafts, to give the women and girls and independent income. We will provide accommodation close to the school for a small fee and will make sure you are well taken care of during your stay.
