Shankar wants to be An Artist…

Shankar Kumar (13) is a semi orphan child at Lord Buddha Home for Children run by NBJK with support from Stichting Kinderhulp Bodhgaya, the Netherlands at village- Silounja near Bodhgaya. He was born on 01 June 2001 at village- Bhurkunda, block-Barachatti, district-Gaya (Bihar) as a son of Gita Devi and late Shiva Bhuian. Shankar belongs to most exploited caste called Mushar under scheduled caste category. His father was an agriculture laborer and the whole family was dependent upon his meager earning. One day some criminals have killed Shankar’s father and her mentally imbalanced mother started begging. She was unable to take care of Shankar and his two siblings. Asha Devi, the grandmother of Shankar and some sympathetic villagers have approached LBHC to enroll this boy at the home. After ascertaining truthfulness of the case, LBHC management committee has introduced Shankar in November 2007. Currently he studies in class VIII at Manav Bharti National School, Gaya with good result. He likes cricket, drawing and music. Shankar wants to be an artist.

To know more about LBHC, click here.

A new life to Asha Lata post cataract blindness surgery

Asha Lata lives in Kumharpara area of Dumka District, Jharkhand. Dumka is one of the most backward districts of Jharkhand. Asha Lata belongs to a poor family. She is 70 years old and lost his husband 5 years back. She has 2 daughters and 1 son. Both her daughters are married and her son has migrated to other city to earn livelihood. She is currently living with her daughter-in-law, who is a homemaker.

Because of cataract blindness, Asha Lata was not able to see. There was a constant clash between her and her daughter-in-law as Asha Lata used to be dependent on her daughter-in-law for all her needs. Due to poverty, she was not able to visit eye hospital for check-up and was forced to live a miserable life.

She was identified by a field worker during home visits and was brought to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Eye Hospital, Dumka. She underwent a detailed check-up by ophthalmologist and optometrist. As she belongs to a poor community, her eyesight restoration cataract surgery was sponsored by TOMS through NNNVMA. She got a vision of 6/18 post surgery.

She is now very happy as she is able to see properly again. Asha Lata says that now she has good terms with her daughter-in-law as she can now do things on her own without the support of others. She is also contributing to the household works and could go out without anybody’s assistance. She thanks the LNJP eye hospital and TOMS to make her see this beautiful world again.

Know more about our eye care programme.

A happy life to Jay after he lost his family

Jay Kumar is 10 years old. Jay was 5 when he lost his father and looses her mother. Jay’s father, Late Raushan Yadav was an agriculture labour and used to consume alcohol a lot. One day while he was going to town with his bicycle after consuming alcohol, he met with an accident with truck and expired. Hearing the news of her husband’s death, Jay’s mother, Rubi Devi, lost her mental balance and become mentally ill. Jay was left alone at the house and nobody was there to care for him. There was risk of his survival.

Someone told his grandfather about Lord Buddha Home for Children (LBHC). LBHC is a home for homeless/orphan children situated Bodhgaya, Bihar. It was started with the kind support of Stichting Kinderhulp Bodhgaya, Netherlands. There are 6 houses at LBHC. There is a mother at each house and 10 orphan/homeless children lives per house. Children are getting motherly care, good education at English medium school and health facilities at LBHC.

Jay’s Grandfather approached LBHC and narrated the need for a home to Jay. After verifying the situation, Jay joined LBHC family on 11^th July, 2009.

Jay is very happy living with other 56 brothers/sisters like him at LBHC. Currently he is studying in class III at Pre Manav Bharti National School. He is very good at studies and scored 88.8%  in his last final exam. He likes playing cricket and watching television. He is also learning music and computer at LBHC. He has dream for becoming an engineer.

Learn more about home for homeless/orphan children.

Your continues support will help in children like Jay achieve their dream.

Kajri Masomot gets her eyesight and dignity back

62 years old, Kajri Masomot is resident of Ganjawar village of Ramgarh Block of Dumka District, Jharkhand. His husband ha Hemlal Manjhi expired few years back and Kajri is now living with her 2 Sons and 2 Daughters. They live in kuccha house (house made of mud) and belong to Below Poverty Line.

Making Bamboo baskets is their profession and earns about Rs. 30- Rs. 50 ($0.5 – $1) every day. Many times they face the issue of food security at their home. Kajri had cataract blindness for past 1 year. She was not able to walk alone and do her daily living activities. She was not able to make bamboo crafts, thus their family income had suffered. She had to be dependent on others for all her need.

NBJK is running Loknayak Jaiprakash Eye Hospital to provide the poor and marginalised high quality eye services at affordable/free of cost. To reach remote areas, eye screening camps are organised regularly in remote villages. Kajri Masomot visited the eye screening camp organised near her village, where she was diagnosed with cataract. Her vision was RE- HM and LE- 1/2 meters.

She was provided transport to visit the eye hospital where she was thoroughly diagnosed and operated with IOL technique. She now has a vision of 6/16 and she could see properly with spectacles and do all her works without the support of any other family members. She has even resumed bamboo craft making and contributing toward her family income. She is very happy and living a life with dignity.

NBJK, through Loknayak Jaiprakash Eye Hospital is providing subsidised/free cataract surgeries to over 2000 poor cataract blinds every year. Learn more about eye care programme here.

Empowered to stop her and her friend’s early marriage- Child Reporters (NBJK)

Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra (NBJK) has been working at the grassroots in Jharkhand and Bihar states of India for past 43 years. NBJK tried to find the causes of child marriage in Jharkhand and found that unawareness about the rights and dropout of girls from schools are most common factor for child marriages in India. With the kind support of UNICEF, Jharkhand NBJK started “Child Reporters Programme” from July 2010 in 100 schools of 5 blocks of Ranchi, Jharkhand. Among the 4 rights identified at United Nations Child Rights Convention held at Geneva, 1989, the programme focuses on “Right to Participation”.

Soni Kumari is one of the students of class X at Madhya Vidyalaya, Bhonda, Ratu. She is 16 years old.  She belongs to Schedule Tribe community and lost her father in her early childhood. She is youngest and has 2 sisters and 2 brothers. Her mother looks after all of them by working as a daily wage labourer. They are living Below Poverty Line and her brother is also working at daily wage labourer to contribute to the family income.

NBJK’s coordinators met Soni in the year 2010 during school visit under “Child Reporters Programme”. Soni was in class VI that time and was a very bright girl. She liked to study and despite no support from the family she took admission in government school near her village. Soni along with all her class mates were made aware about the child rights. Since the areas are remote, even teachers are not aware of the child rights. Teacher’s orientation was done through regular meetings. To increase the confidence, Soni was given training on report writing skills. She was encouraged to write articles about her village, about her views on social issues and with the support of a local newspaper; these articles were published in the newspaper. She used to become very happy to see her article being published in newspaper, one of the most effective ways to raise voices. Many exposer visits to other schools and interaction with other students were organised to have clear understanding and to get different perspective on several issues. Meetings with people’s representatives, government officials and regular interaction with media personnel further build the confidence.

All these activities helped in empowerment of Soni. One day, when she was still in class VIII and 14 years old, her mother was trying to fix marriage of her elder sister. When the male person visited her house to see her elder sister, he instead proposed Soni for marriage. Soni was shocked, as she did not even imagined it. She knew it’s her right to study and it was not appropriate age to marry. She protested but her mother dint listened to her and fixed the marriage. Being from a very poor family, her mother was happy that at least one of her daughter is getting married and now she does not have to look after her.

But with regular training on Child Rights and interaction with government officials, people’s representatives and media personnel, Soni had enough confidence and courage to go against her family wish. She firmly protested against her marriage and even threatened to go to police or run away from house.

Watching Soni determination, her mother was forced to cancel her marriage. Currently Soni is very happy. She is studying in class X and has a dream of becoming a nurse. She says, she will only marry once she is ready and starts earning.

Soni is among many other girls who have successfully stopped their or their friend’s marriage and have encouraged many others to continue their schools.

Currently, 443 girls are getting good education and have avoided early marriage through girl’s sponsorship programme. know more about girl’s sponsorship programme here.

Rozgar- A road to success

I am Sitara Bano. I am resident of Pesragarh of Giridih block, Giridih district. My father Abid Ansari is involved in Tailoring work in Delhi. I am preceded by 2 younger brothers. Both are doing their primary education. My mother is a house wife. My father is lone bread earner of our family. We face lot of problems in daily routine. So I dropped my studies due to low income. I wanted to continue my study from my own earning. I came to know about RTC. I enrolled myself in 3^rd Batch of Bed Side Patient Attendant trade in RTC and completed training. After completion of training I got job offer to work as a Patient Attendant in Jeevan Shree Hospital at Ramgarh. I eagerly joined the institution. I am earning Rs.3500/- month but I am satisfied because something is better than nothing. I am happy today because I can support my family as well as I am preparing for BA Part – I examination.