our mission statement–beleiving that all people should be afforded the opportunity to a life that includes dignity and the provision of basic needs.

2005 classes in tents                2006 New School        

ARRIVAL IN INDIA ON WINGS OF  HOPE– hi i am zubeda ishaq president of ASIAN WOMEN AND CHILDRENS FOUNDATION based in eugene oregon. We work in Bangalore India educating and empowering young girls of the slums of india, at a school called Najmussahar girls high school.

Our Board consists of Zubeda B.Ishaq President, Michael Augden treasurer/Secretary, Anni O’shea, Director, Chrisstie Brunson, Director, Ellen Brunson, Director, Jackie Vanrysselburgh, Director, Maureen Key, Director.

The new school year of  june 2006  started with my arrival at the school with funds from our supporters, and start the long awaited move— the girls out of tents into a new rented premises. There was a great deal of excitement and zeal settling the new airy spacious classrooms, having bathrooms with running water. Just all the luxuries which poor students of india do not get.

All 200 girls were provided with fees, books, uniforms shoes as we do every year. The parents or g.parents of these slum children do not have these basic needs. morning milk is given just as soon as the girls come into the school. all health progrms of dental work and eye camps are done and materials and medicene provided. First three months are focused on getting these girls to get healthy so then they are able to perform at their studies.

The new year also started with the  previous years, 10th class girls provision of college fees, books and bus  fare to reach the college. In the past years these girls had nothing to look forward to but a marriage at the age of 15 and 16. With continious counselling of the parents and with financial support provided the girls are safely going to colleges. We extend 4 years of college funding to see that they succesfully graduate. This will enable them to find better jobs and hope to live lives with dignity

ARRIVAL OF GUESTS FROM SOUTH EUGENE INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL.  WHO HAVE ADOPTED OUR SCHOOL AS THEIR SISTER SCHOOL, on the 21st of june 3 teachers and 20 students arrived to live at our school and interact with these poor girls. we served them vegetarian meals they in turn had very exciting learning, teaching interaction with our girls. The love, respect, compassion and kindness that was extended to by the visiting  girls and teachers, was life changing exprience for our girls. They bloomed with self esteem and confidence. You will see all the photos and testimonies of what this program has done. Children helping children are very successful programs.

SELF SUFFICIENCY PROGRAM– One very successful program was applying HENNA, which the girls of our school are very good at. We advertised in the local papers and the overhelming response from the community was very encouraging. These girls go to apply henna at weddings and other functions and earn easily 3 to 4 thousand indian rupees per girl. Each time 6 to 7 girls go out to these functions. This is a lot of money for these poor girls, but their talent when recognized and with our supervsion has brought them the wages they should get and not be exploited. The mothers or grand mothers come to take the earned money and it has made their lives easier. The girls are very happy, very confident with the power of their earnings. This program is very very successful. We have sent some of these girls to professional henna schools. Once they complete these courses they are able to earn like 500 dollars a month!! This has brought a message to  these poor people that education and trained talent can definitely change their lives.

As the year ended  in March 2006, and the 10th class was preparing for their final exams.  With the extensive coaching and teaching— they did very well and out of the 42 who appeared 39 passed out with flying colors. Hopefully they will all go to college. A whole year of college expense for a girl is $60/- only.  With your support we are continuing our programs to transform the lives of these girls who will have a voice one day. Empowering them with education and health, will hopefully help them to get out of this poverty that is lurking in the slums of india.

FUTURE PROJECTS  Building a new school, to house more girls with a larger space. Raise funds to employ more teachers. We have 200 girls to take care, but just 60 sponsorships in hand, so we need more girls to be sponsored to run the school better.

For the  year 2007 -2008 three students from the South Eugene International school have volunteered to come to our school for a full year and to teach and live at the school. This volunteer work will greatly help expand the school’s classes and english programs.

I had a full 10 months of work at the school.  My rewards are enormous -  contact with beautiful 200 young girls with such scant material, no goodies and such brilliant smiles. I want to share with you their warmth, gratitude and hope for a better future, and most of all their growing faith in the goodness of people so far away in America who actually care about them.

 India has 900,000 state schools,where teachers may or may not come.  students learn next to nothing. And yet all these students pass every year so that the schools are not embarrassed nor the state governments. they show the statistics as high literacy in India. There are state run schools without water, bathrooms, no doors or windows and abusive teachers or no teachers. This is a common problem. The government pays for schools, clinics and vaccinations, but someone pockets the money and no education or health care materializes

Then there is the toll of malnutrition. India has more malnutritioned children than any country in the world and one of highest rates of malnutrition, 30 to 47 per cent, depending on who does the estimating. These malnutritioned children suffer permanent losses in IQ and cognition, and are easy prey for diseases. There is some evidence that widespread malnutrition lowers economic growth in affected countries. So in the middle of this century Ind ia will still be held back by its failure to educate, feed and vaccinate its children todate. This failure will haunt india for many decades to come.

So there is a lot of sickness in all the states, even if they are up and coming cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. India is not taking care of its untapped resource: its rural and poor population. Here is where our foundation ASIAN WOMEN AND CHILDRENS CENTERS COMES IN RUNNING A SCHOOL FOR THE SLUM GIRLS IN BANGALORE INDIA.

NAJMUS SAHAR GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL one of the state run school with 200 young,very poor malnutritioned girls, was adopted by AWCC in the year 2003. With the financial support taken from here and basic programs of nutrition, medical support these girls lives have transformed into healthy happy young sucessful women to face and have access to ongoing education into colleges. 

TESTIMONIES

 Jackie Van-Reisylberg

 In June and July, 2006, 18 students and three of the Eugene
International High School and three teachers went to Bangalore and
visited Southern India.  Our objective was a community service project at
ZubedaIshaq’s, najmussahar girls high School in Bangalore.We would spend 12 days with Zubeda’s students, working with her 200
girls.

What we all took away from the experience was a first hand appreciation
of what her very very poor girls endure in their meager lives and, by
contrast, gain from Zubeda’s dedication and love.

We got to know girls who, without Zubeda, would have no chance at
schools other than broken structures with abusive teachers, schools
whichare nonetheless considered schools by the Indian government.  These
girlswould then, after three years, be married off at 15 or 16 to then, with
a child every year, continue the cycle of poverty and abuse.

Those of us lucky enough to know Zubeda and her work and to participate
with her in some capacity have t the vision and mission of empowering
these beautiful, enthusiastic bright girls by providing them with a
healthy loving school environment where they receive nutrition, medical
care, books, school fees, uniforms, shoes—all those things they need
tobe successful students, but cannot otherwise afford.

Zubeda’s goal does not end with a girl’s high school diploma.  Her
diploma is but a beginning.She recognizes the rich opportunities now available in modern Bangalore, and India. She wants her students to be part of the new economicopportunities open to women.  Her ongoing educational goal takes hergirls totwo years of university in order to keep them away from early marriage. Of course the result is manifold:  the girls are kept out of the early marriage market and they are provided with the additional education to qualify them for the many jobs now available.  This education gives these girls empowerment and freedom!

If, after two years, a girl shows Zubeda good grades and the desire,
she makes sure that her student finishes the university.  Zubeda’s
girlsare being provided love, support and the opportunity to realize a
potential traditionally denied to so many for so long.

-Jackie

 Jenifer Diallo

 I am an experienced traveler myself, but this was a new destination for me – India. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the journey. I had entertained young Peace Corps volunteers at my home in Africa, but never traveled with a large group of high school students. I had been to so many places in the world, but never India. And I had never really thought I would go there. I had dreams of other places in my head. But here I was tagging along for the experience and the joy of traveling with my friend. I was looking forward to exploring a place that I knew so little about. And I was looking forward to seeing my new friend, Zubeda, at home in India and meeting the girls she had told us so much about.

We would spend 30 days with 19 students in India, including our first stop, two weeks at the Najmus Sahar Girls High School in Bangalore, where our American students would do some community service activities.  There we spent time getting to know the schoolgirls, who ranged in age from 13 to 17. This high school is unusual for India. It provides an education for disadvantaged Muslim girls who would otherwise not continue their education. Although the high school is called an “English School”, many of the girls come into the 8^th class without speaking English. They may have done their primary education in Urdu or Kannada, and now must learn a new language to continue their studies. Zubeda, the director of the school is a dynamic woman from Bangalore who returned home after years of living in Oregon, to “do something” to help girls in India. It’s amazing to see how tirelessly she works, despite severe arthritis that requires her to walk with a cane or support. Her main goal is to support the girls’ material needs, so that the girls’ education is permitted by their families and allowed to continue as long as the girl wants to go to school. Not only their school fees are paid, but also medical and dental care, uniforms and books, and even sweaters for their mothers! If a girl wants to continue to college and university, Zubeda makes that happen, as well. While we were there, a girl came to tell her that she wanted to continue her education, but her father and brother told her that she had to get married. Zubeda called on the father and brother and convinced them to allow the girl to go to college! Watching this story unfold was an enlightening experience for our students; most of them don’t really question whether or not they will be able to go to college.

One of the most poignant events on our trip was when we went to visit the girls’ homes. We divided into small groups of about 6 students from Eugene and 3-4 students from the school in Bangalore and traveled by foot, local city bus, and auto-rickshaw into the winding alleys and paths of the Muslim quarter to small houses and even smaller apartments where the girls lived with their families or relatives who had taken them in. The first home my group visited was an apartment no bigger than my bathroom, where a family of four lived. The parents slept on a twin bed and the two teenage children slept on a thin mat on the cement floor beside the bed in a space not wide enough for even one person. During the day, the bed was covered with the family’s belongings and household goods, and every inch of the wall was covered with hanging clothes or kitchen gear. It was hard to imagine where it all went when they cleared it off to sleep. When we arrived, the mother cleared the bed and put everything out on the open air landing, then invited all 10 of us to sit in the little room while she sent someone to find some CocaCola to offer us. We sat squished together in the room, uncomfortable in the small space and the ethical dilemma in which we were caught – feeling guilty about the money spent on the Coke, yet wanting to be polite and accept her hospitality. When the soda arrived, we insisted on sharing one or two, and chatted with the mother through her daughter’s translation before continuing to the next home visit. We were quiet now, as we walked for what seemed like forever, to the next house. We followed the girl whose house we were going to next, barely keeping up with her excited pace. The narrow path wound in and out through the quarter for so long and was so convoluted that we felt like we were in a maze. We managed to get around the cows we encountered and to cross the boards across open sewers, and finally arrived at the next apartment. This time, there was no one home, but the girl ran ahead of us and called out to a neighbor who opened the door for us. At first we were confused and thought this was the girl’s mother. Then we came to understand that Resma’s mother was at work as a maid in someone’s home and the neighbor was just standing in as an adult for Resma, helping to provide the hospitality. As we asked confused questions and tried to figure the story out, Resma had run to the back of the apartment and made arrangements for the ubiquitous serving of CocaCola. By this time, we had finally understood that Resma’s father had died and the mother worked day and night to support her two kids, Resma and a younger brother. We felt even more horrible drinking their Coca Cola, but Resma’s eyes were shining with pride at receiving us in her home; having the American visitors come to HER house. We couldn’t refuse her sweet gesture and wanted to honor it by accepting her offer of Coke. By now, the reality of the desperate poverty of the girl’s lives had sunk in, and we were humbled by the simple circumstances of their lives and yet the kind hospitality that was offered at each home. Everywhere we went, neighbors would come running with chairs for the visitors, curious and interested in what brings us to the girls’ homes, wondering what we thought of India, of the war, whether we really hate Muslims in America, and on and on with questions and conversations punctuated by offers of soft drinks.

After two weeks at the school, we had settled into a comfortable rhythm – leisurely breakfasts of Chai and Idli, spending time on projects or practicing English with the girls, helping Zubeda with tasks around the school. In the afternoon, the Indian girls would return to their classes and we would be off to round up enough “auto-rickshaws” to take all 21 of us to our destination. We hadn’t expected to love Bangalore so much. It is a very big city and the High-Tech capital of India where all the call centers are supposedly located.

It was hard to say goodbye to our friends in Bangalore, but we were excited to continue on the rest of our journey. Hearing the stories of the school girls who would be getting married so young was discouraging for our girls, while visiting their homes in the poor neighborhoods around the school gave them a new perspective on what a teenager “needs” to have in the world.

For me, this trip was, most of all, a reminder that the whole world is not operating at the breakneck speed that we so seem to cherish here in the U.S.A..

-Jennifer

Students

Corina Allender, Junior, South Eugene High School

Traveling to India last summer, to the Najmus-sahar girls school, I learned about the power of connection. Through dance, song, and art we were able to forge freindships, despite our foreign cultures. Soon our differences faded away though, as our similarities became more apparent. I realized that although we may live across an ocean, we are all connected. My experience at the school taught me that with a little nurturing, that “connection” can grow into something more.

Sarah Fischer, Junior, Sheldon High School

Going to the school in Bangalore was an eye opening experience. From the comforts of home we often hear of children in far off lands unable to get an eduction due to extreme poverty. Being able to experience the school first hand showed just how much of a difference a few dollars donation can make. These bright, capable, energetic girls now have a place to learn and grow that they would never be able to experience otherwise. They take not one moment for granted and are truly appreciative of the opportunities made available to them.