Waiting six Years before going to the Doctor again - Our school Children

Today I would like to introduce you to two children who will soon start learning in our school. They are called Naresh and Lalita and are seven and five years old. They are the younger two of three siblings living in one of the poorest areas of Vrindavan.

The children’s father is a mason. He tries hard every day getting work not only for one day on a site but a contract for a project which will take longer, ten days, twenty days or even more. He anyway will get money per day – but in this way, he will at least be sure that he will get this money for sure for those ten or twenty days in a row. Otherwise, it is up to him to go to the market place in time each day, find a contractor to employ him and then work hard enough to convince the contractor to employ him again.

In this way, he earns approximately 120 US-Dollar in a month. On days when he doesn’t get work, he goes to help his parents on their field with watering or harvesting the wheat. It is a family-owned field, so everyone works there: his father, his brother and he himself. The wheat is split in the same way and thus never enough to sell – but most of the years it is enough for his family’s home use. They also have a cow that gives milk for the kids to drink and to use in cooking as well as cow dung which they use for making fire to cook on.

Naresh’s elder brother is ten years old and goes to a cheap private school. Naresh himself has started learning at that school but when the family heard of our school, they decided to try and get a spot for both younger children. By sending them to our free school, their education is more secure: if the family father doesn’t find a place to work for a longer time, they may not starve but it can get difficult to pay the school fees for three children!

While both children are jolly and looking forward to going to our school, we noticed that during our conversation, one of Lalita’s eyes wandered off to the side. She sometimes seemed to focus with one eye, sometimes with both and at other times with the other eye. The mother told us that she scratched herself in her eye when she was two months old and that doctors had told them to wait until she was six or seven years and would be able to tell whether she could see on both eyes or not. We asked whether they knew it now, after all the girl was big enough, but the mother denied, saying that she didn’t tell. Hearing this all, we told her that she had to take the girl to the eye doctor once more to check whether something could be done and of course we would help them afford the treatment if there were any problems.

If you would like to support children like Naresh and Lalita, we will be very thankful about a child sponsorship, a donation for a food for a day or a contribution of any amount!