Sponsor a Child's School Education

We have seen economic migration across India as growing cities attract labour. Dehradun was declared the acting capital of the newly created state of Uttarakhand in 2000. Overnight it became a destination for migrant labour due to infrastructure building activities. As there was no affordable housing, labourers camped under bridges, on riverbeds, in marketplaces. Shelters were cobbled together with plastic sheeting and broken bits of wood. There was no electricity, sanitation or running water.

That was 19 years ago. Nothing has changed since. There is still no affordable housing and migrant laborers still squat in the riverbeds without any rights or amenities. Children of these labourers seldom go to school as little importance is placed on deferred earning or understanding of other work options available based on an education. There is little or no supervision at home, as often economic necessity means both parents have to work. Children are left to fend for themselves. Children either have to work to sustain meagre livelihoods or beg for food. Alcoholism and physical abuse are highly prevalent. There is no medical attention, malnutrition is rampant and this leads to stunting, our experience has shown us that poverty breeds poverty.

Aasraa Trust focuses on providing quality education to these underprivileged children from the streets and slums of Dehradun; they are homeless or have run away from home, they have no protection of adults and are at the highest risk. They often run away from abuse and distrust authority. These children literally have nowhere to go and are the most difficult to reach. We aim to empower them with education, hygiene practice, nutritional support and additional support to work towards building a skill set, so that they can compete with the world outside on an equal standing.

How can we expect a child to study when he/she is sick or hungry or worried about where he/she will get their next meal from? We believe that the outside intervention required to break through this poverty trap is education combined with healthcare, nutrition and a safe environment. Presently we are catering to varied needs of more than 3350 children. We admit and further support formal school education of children, providing them books and notebooks, uniforms, nutritional support, transportation back and forth (school and home), basic medical support and even after-school remedial support to bridge the learning gap in a child's education.

A combination of the above mentioned support allows for the child to focus on doing what is actually good for them.

Aasraa Trust started in 2009 with 35 children on the streets of Dehradun and since then we have increased our reach and even the variety of projects being run by us that cater to different needs of under-served children. Aasraa firmly believes that "no child is unreachable or unteachable" and perfectly reflecting this philosophy we are currently catering to the educational, nutritional and healthcare needs of more than 3350 children from the streets and slums.

Through this platform we aim to support the formal school education, transportation (back and forth to school and home), books and stationery, uniforms, basic medical and other smaller needs of 201 slum and street children of Dehradun. We firmly believe that all of the above components combined allow a child to focus on education and work towards building a brighter future.