Voice of Slum

OUR MISSION: To present slum children with opportunities and help the children break barriers to make sure that they reach their full potential thro Read moreugh education. OUR VISION:   To transform a generation of slum children through education by making them a part of the mainstream society. THE ORIGIN:  Both Dev and Chandni were passionate about serving the slum kids. They met and came up with the plan to start an NGO focused on helping slum kids enter mainstream society. They somehow managed to open an NGO but couldn’t go far without funding. Thanks to the active support of the mentors they connected to on social media, they were able to launch and sustain their initiative. Their mission is to get slum kids into education, train slum teenagers on vocational skills and help them fit in the mainstream society. Chandni Khan was born in a slum , a place several kids take birth and die in oblivion. But she refused to lay back and make her peace with her grim destiny as she climbed out of the darkness and is now  extending her hand to pull others out of it too.  Chandni recalls, “From the age of five, I used to travel along with my father to perform street magic shows and dance, even late at night”.  Things further deteriorated for her when her father passed away and the onus of earning for the family fell upon her shoulders.  “At the age of eight, I had shifted to rag-picking. Verbal abuses and dog bites became a part of my daily routine and in the end, I ended up in jail over false accusations of stealing. I kept changing my job, from selling flowers to corn, I was doing it all. During one of these monotonous days, I got lucky and met a few NGO volunteers who were educating children from the slums. It was then I discovered my purpose,” she narrates her story. Chandni, who is now 22 years old, was 10 when she got enrolled in an open school and began her education.  She is in class 11 now. Soon after beginning her studies she realized its importance and started inspiring communities to send their kids to study. She worked intensively with the NGO and helped them impact as many kids as possible.  Her contribution was duly recognized as she was appointed District Secretary and then got promoted to the post of National Secretary. She also started working for a newspaper for the slum kids called Balaknama, became a reporter for it and then, later on, became the editor. She collected stories of street children addressing issues like sexual abuse, child labor, police brutality, etc. and also narrated stories of hope and happiness.  But she later left Balaknama as they did not look after under-aged kids and  Chandni felt that there was a lot to be done in that area. That is when she conceived ‘Voice of Slum’. Chandni started the NGO Voice of Slum (VoS) in Noida in 2015.  She wanted to prepare the slum children for a world of intimidation, mistrust and very high expectations.  Chandni says, “Firstly we connect with them through basic plays, so that we spark interest and connect with them mentally, so they start listening to us.  Then we slowly and gradually start providing them basic education” .   To begin with,  VoS takes a child under their wing and provides free education for 1.5 years.  These ‘tuition classes’ are to prepare the child for mainstream education. After 1.5 years of taking VoS classes, the child is enrolled in a school. Depending upon the timings of the school, VoS takes additional classes in the morning or evening to ensure that the kids are up-to-date and their education is progressing well. Through educational, vocational activities,  the NGO can ensure that young children don’t get into drugs or stealing but rather prepare themselves for a better, mainstream and respectable future.   This will not only help these street kids to enter into mainstream society but also dramatically decrease the abuse of these young kids.  They will know their rights, they will know what’s right from wrong, and they will eventually help and nurture the other kids who face the same challenges.  Chandni has been felicitated with many awards for her work with the slum children and her work has been recognized by many organizations. V oice of Slum now works for the basic needs of these underprivileged children  and organizes various activities for the same.  They work towards  health and nutrition, education, and shelter  for these kids.  “Today, we have trained about 300 students. Of these, at least 50 have secured formal education opportunities, 50 others have secured jobs, and we have rescued five girls from deplorable conditions,” says Chandni.  She dreams that each and every kid in the slums of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh gets a proper education. The Need:  Chandni and her team are struggling to pay the expenses of running rented premises to provide the best quality education to the slum children.  They need funds to provide  food, stationery and also pay the fees for the slum kids enrolled in schools .  They also need to pay the salaries of 8 teachers. Your support will help Chandni and ‘Voice of Slum’ to get more children out of the slums and give them a better life. The breakup of funds required monthly: Salary for 8 teachers: 120000 Two women support staff for taking care of children's lunch and cleaning: 10000 1 community mobilizer - 11000 (For taking care of children's attendance and communication with parents) Rent of the building premises: 30000 100 children's lunch every day (10 rupees per child per day): 30000 Stationery: 20000  Mainstream school fee for 100 students: 65000 Total amount - 286000 per month