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Penny Harvest Seattle
OUR ORGANIZATION’S STORY Raj and Kate Mishra, Founders
 As a child, I grew up in a small village in the northern state of Bihar, India. My family, like most families in the area, supported themselves through farming. I worked on the farm before and after school. When I started high school, my father died in an accident. My family did not have enough money to buy food, so I was forced to leave school because my family could not pay for it. I had to go to work in the big city of New Delhi to earn money for my family. I was lucky to become a successful businessman and be able to support my family in the village. My wife, Kate, and I now live here in the United States. Now I want to share my good fortune by giving young children in Bihar the chance to finish school that I never had. That’s why Kate and I founded Deoki Nanda Education Trust (DNET) to raise money for the education of children in Bihar. It takes just a few dollars to change the life of one student by sending them to school.
WHERE WE WORK We help children in Bihar, a state in the country India. Bihar is one of India’s poorest states.
WHO WE HELP Very few families have homes that have electricity or running water. Most families work on farms. There are not enough jobs. Most people don’t have a good education. So many families live in poverty.
 Public schools do exist in rural areas where most families are farmers. But many children cannot go to school because they are needed to work on the farm or in factories to help their families earn money. Sometimes these children get sick and injured from working so they cannot play or study. They do not learn how to read, write and do simple math, so it becomes impossible for them to find better jobs when they grow up where they can earn more money.
Some children are really upset by the unfair conditions they grow up in and don’t have a basic education to help them out of it. Because of this, they turn to lives of crime and violence.
Some people believe that it is not as important to send girls to school because they are needed for work at home. It is common for girls to get married very young. Families have to pay a lot of money and provide lots of gifts for their daughters to get married. This is called a dowry. Parents would rather save money for their daughter’s dowry rather than use it to send her to school. Some people also believe that some children don’t deserve to go to school because they believe in a caste system. A caste system is a belief that people are born into different ranks. That means that some people believe born into lower castes or ranks means you shouldn’t have as many opportunities.
OUR UNIQUE SOLUTION We interview children in rural areas who are eager to go to school. When we select a student, we provide everything he/she needs to succeed: money for school, test fees, books and supplies; lantern and oil so students can study after dark and soap so they can be clean and ready to go to school; and, money for the family to buy food so they don’t need children to work in hard jobs instead of concentrating on school.
We teach families and the community the benefits of a basic education for their children so they don’t make their children work instead of going to school. If even one of these children gets to go to school, they can get a higher paying job and help their families more. Sending one person to school affects many people. As more students are able to go to school through our scholarship, other families will see how important education is.
We try to balance the reasons girls are not allowed to go to school by making sure we pay attention to all the girls that are interested in applying for a scholarship.
HOW GOING TO SCHOOL HAS CHANGED SOMEONE’S LIFE DNET’s first scholarship was awarded to Manish Kumar Singh. Manish is a second grade student. His older brother used to earn money for the family by working and not going to school. His brother recently died. As a result, Manish’s family has no way to earn money to have enough food every day. A DNET scholarship will now provide Manish and his family with everything they need to comfortably send him to school. This includes money for school fees, books, test fees, soap, a reading lantern and extra food for the whole family. If Manish does well in school this year, he will automatically receive a scholarship next year. DNET will support his entire education till he goes to college.
HOW YOU CAN HELP WITH YOUR PENNY HARVEST FUNDS • $4 will pay the tuition and exam fees for an elementary school student
• $7 will provide soap so the student can go to school feeling clean • $15 will buy a set of books and school supplies for an elementary school student • $30 will provide a lantern and oil for one year so the student can study after dark • $59 will provide rice and flour for one student for one year so they don’t have to work to earn money for the family’s food • $115 will cover all of the costs listed above to allow one elementary school student to go to school and be supported by his/her family HOW YOU CAN PARTNER WITH US • We are interested in having American students act as pen pals to students that receive scholarships in India.
• We want to help educate you about the reasons children can’t go to school in rural India so you can spread awareness in your school and community • We can help you organize fundraisers in your school to get more people’s help • Anything else you suggest! CONTACT US Name: Kate Mishra
Title: President Address: 5740 N Carlin Springs Road Arlington, VA 22203 Email: kate@dnetindia.org Learn more about us Learn more about us at our website: www.dnetindia.org |
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