Could you find room in your heart to help a child like Sanchana escape a life of poverty? Give a child hope for the future.

Sanchana’s Story

Sanchana belongs to the Arunthathiyar Dalit cast in the city of Chennai, India. This caste lives on the fringe of society in India. This group is the most oppressed among the

Sanchana just finished her 2nd year at the Franciscan Nesakkaram preschool and plans to attend R.C.M Primary school for 1st grade.

Dalits, who are also known as “Untouchables.”

The children live in miserable conditions. Their parents work at scavengers, beggars, or as day laborers, if they can find work.

Often the young children accompany their parents as they scavenge or beg for money. They hope to earn enough to survive another day. Sometimes, they go without anything to eat for days and are often malnourished and vulnerable to infections and disease.

Public school is available for these children, but few have gone. They are forced to choose between going to school or helping their parents by begging.

Without an education, they are trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty. Most are illiterate, and many suffer from impaired, psychological and social development. They will live out there, entire lives in dire poverty and despair.

We Can Make A Difference

Father Anthony Puspharaj, OFM, and other missionary friars, in Chennai, India, operate a preschool for the younger Dalit children and need our help. The preschool educates 3-to-5-year-old children like Sanchana.

She is 5 years old and has spent most of her life before preschool accompanying her mother to beg on the streets. But now she is finishing her 2nd year at the Franciscan Nesakkaram preschool and plans to attend R.C.M primary school for 1st grade.

Sanchana school and has not missed a day! She has 49 classmates, a professional teacher, and an assistant teacher. The children are learning the basics of Tamil, the local language, and English. They have free time with play materials and learning aids that foster their early cognitive and social development.

There is also a part-time cook, who prepares a healthy noon meal. The children are fed beans, eggs, green peas, and local vegetables every school day.

After spending two years at the preschool, Sanchana has learned the basic alphabet of Tamil and English. She has also learned her numbers and how to conduct herself in the classroom.

She wants to do well in school and become a nurse to help people. She said, “if I did not attend the Nesakkaram preschool, I would be begging or picking up rags in the streets.”

Will You Help the Children?

I am writing today to ask you to help Fr. Anthony give young children like Sanchana, a chance to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Please help provide these children with an early learning experience so they develop a passion for school and the skills to be successful!

It will cost only $8,563 to educate all the children and Nesakkaram preschool for one year. Every $20 you share with Fr. Anthony will feed and educate a preschool child for a full month!

But this is not all Fr. Anthony is doing to help the poor slum children of Chennai! He and our other missionary friars have established 17 remedial education centers spread out through the poorest slums in the city of Chennai.

These centers serve 661 disadvantaged grade-school children by helping them overcome their educational deficits. The children work with professional teachers and tutors in safe, caring learning environments after school!

The goal of this program is to supplement the public-school experience by helping these kids understand and keep up with their homework. This will help children like Sanchana develop confidence and increase their desire to stay in school so hopefully they will not drop out. Each child is also supplied with a good school backpack, notebooks, and other school materials, their families cannot afford.

The cost to operate the remedial education centers and help children born into extreme poverty have success in school is only $23,383! That is only $35 to help a student succeed in school for the year.

Please consider helping Fr. Anthony give these children hope for the future by preparing them to continue their education and succeed in school! Your gift to help educate a child reflects your loving heart and your commitment to helping the poor.

You have a special place in the prayers of all our fryers, because you support our gospel work around the world. Please help Fr. Anthony give the Arunthathiyar Dalit children an education and the dream of a better tomorrow!

Please Donate – Select [24A5IS] Give A Child Hope for the Future – Dalit Children in Chennai India

With a grateful heart,

Br. Anthony Brophy, OFM

Executive Director

P.S. thank you for your wonderful generosity. Your donation today will give a child living in dire poverty the opportunity to attend school. It will also give that child hope and the chance for a better tomorrow.