Prayaas...An Endeavour!

Prayaas, An Endeavour.... A Humble Beginning

We all came to NTPC FARAKKA buzzing with high hope and enthusiasm from different parts of India for our own reasons. Some of us are from small cities, villages where people take great pride in producing engineers, doctors etc. Getting a job in a reputed organization is what we seek out after getting our degrees. Lest we forget we have a much larger role to play in our society.  

Whoever comes to Farakka for the first time, is sure to get disheartened to see the blatant absence of traffic sense, the pitiable condition of roads, dearth of recreational facilities, lack of educational facilities etc. here in lieu of organizations like NTPC Ltd. & Ambuja Cements build a long way back here. 

Most of us blame society, government, and we blame everybody else but ourselves out of frustration. We give out to the world what we have in our heart, based on what we have learned from our life experience. We need to let go of our personal discontent and preferences, and connect with other people before we can ever hope for any change. I have not the slightest doubt that with all your help we can bring a steady change into this place in a more better and positive way. With this belief, we started out a platform PRAYAAS, An Endeavour on social media on 4th January,2014 , where we all can come together and share our views and ideas in whichever way possible to make a positive contribution towards improvement of living standards of underprivileged around us. And who does not yearn a better future for India and for our little home, called Farakka, consequently we received an overwhelming number of responses and help from people from various walks of life.

And so We begin…

We had to start our campaign with something that will mobilize people further. So, we distributed some blankets to the homeless and needy around Farakka to protect them from the shivering cold. However we had a different vision from day-1, our effort won’t be limited to occasional charities, but long term sustainability. 

Then the question of resources pops up, what can we do to achieve sustainable development for our nearby communities?? Of course in our position we can offer little monetary help to needy people around us, but what effect it has on long term basis. Yes we can spend our little donation in a more intelligent manner after doing some research and using little creativity, but we need to assist them in such a way that in future they will be able to help themselves. There’s a popular saying, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him today. Teach a man to fish; and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.”

And we believe that the only way to free people from poverty, exploitation, disease is education. Education provides the highest return of any social investment. Without education you didn’t even know your basic human rights, let alone how to fight for them. When we look upon to UK, USA and other developed countries, we learn that the only way to bring out the best in people is to get educated. We don’t need corroboration as the literacy rates in UK and US are close to 99%, whereas in India it’s 74% even less than the world average of 84%. And every year India’s education system gets a shock from the findings of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) that kids are not learning enough in school and the quality of education in schools especially in villages is not up to the mark.

So we shifted our focus towards providing free education for children in nearby villages. We conducted a survey to make us acquainted with the educational facilities received and quality of education of children in these areas. When we conducted surveys in nearby Mashi colony, Chowkigram and Bindugram, we found that the quality of education is very poor in schools due to very low teacher/student ratio, though the kind of enthusiasm to learn we’ve seen in kids is phenomenal. Also   there were so many high school dropouts as most of them believe that they should start making money at a young age to be able to support their low income families resulting more unemployment and child labour. Whatever the reason, without access to an education, these children remain voiceless and the cycle of poverty continues. Surprisingly even in today’s world girls in these villages are getting married in their teenage without their consent. 

Somehow we made a bond with the children and people of Bindugram seeing their enthusiasm for learning even in married people. We had an enrollment of about 120 students starting from 4 years to 15 years. Now with the help of few volunteers, we share our knowledge with these young kids of Bindugram, 4-5 days a week. Believe me it has made a big impact in our life too. These little children’s innocence and playful nature stays with us all day and brings a smile to our face every time we think of them. We organize drawing and physical training classes and have loads of fun with them.     

The Real Task….Just Begins

Staying motivated is a challenge we've taken. It is up to us to create the best possible world for ourselves. There is so much we can do by helping our community, the environment. Together we can bring a change to this place, however small it may be. We are living in an era of connectivity and access to information, yet the world clamors for positive social change.  

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

With these lines from Robert Frost we hope that the burden of being human is felt and the responsibility of bringing a change ,no matter even if its a small one, is seen. Yes, nothing comes easy and bringing a change into the society that comes with challenges needs a lot of perseverance. Lets come together in this venture and use our time, talent, creativity and potential in creating a better world around us. Don’t miss a lifetime chance to make a real difference in people’s lives.