School for Abandoned Girls in India

There are 11 million abandoned children in India, 90% of them are girls.

Where a dowry is an expected part of a marriage, many parents just cannot cope with this financial burden and so some children are, to all intents and purposes, abandoned.

St Andrews Rotaract Club have been supporting one school in India which takes in and educates up to 60, such girls.

With help from the Rotary Club, they have been able to support Rotaract students spending 4 weeks each year, helping out in the school and particularly with the teaching of English.

Shagun Dhanania and Lyndsey Sutherland spent 4 weeks this summer in the school and provided a perfect illustration at a lunchtime meeting of Rotary, as to how much is achieved, by helping these very receptive girls.

With each day starting at 4am and school by 5 am, lessons in the usual subjects are interspersed with music and yoga. The girls also clean and tidy their rooms and cook for pupils and teachers alike.

Shagun is a Hindi speaker, which is essential for one of the team but Lyndsey recalled how the girls learned English to the point of being able to have interesting and fun conversations, remarkably quickly.

Videos of the girls singing and doing the “Dashing White Sergeant” illustrated how enjoyable it was for the girls and how rewarding the experience for Shagun and Lyndsey.

Both clubs are planning to provide this valuable help again next year and indeed Shagun and Lyndsey as President and Vice President of Rotaract are hoping to raise funding for other aspects of the school over the course of the University year.

Alan Constable in his VOT, expressed his admiration for Shagun and Lyndsey for committing themselves to this project and for giving members such an interesting and enjoyable account of their experience.

.Their life changing experience will be useful on their CVs for ever.