Bihar, India
People First educates the poorest of the poor children in the villages of Bihar by creating and operating schools in areas where children did not have access to education. People First works closely with parents and community and now educates nearly 1,000 children each year through their network of village schools.
People First imparts basic computer training to the students and runs a vocational training college to teach driving, carpentry and bricklaying skills to youth.Their Gaya Rescue Center project educates and rehabilitates lost and abandoned children who live on the Gaya Railway Station platforms.
It is championed by One World Board.
Website: http://www.peoplefirstindia.net/
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One World and People First: Entwining Histories
The story of Patricia Savitri Burbank, her encounter with People First
and the founding of One World Children's Fund
In the winter of 1999, Patricia Burbank and her husband Michael Kilgroe got off the night train from Calcutta in Gaya, at 4:00 AM. They were California pilgrims, therapists and teachers, and glad to be so close to their destination.
Gaya is a remote, impoverished, and dusty city, sprawling across the middle of Bihar, India’s poorest state. It’s where you get off the train on your way to Bodh Gaya, some 8 miles away, the holiest site in the Buddhist world. Nearly 2,500 years ago Prince Siddhartha sat under a giant Bodhi tree and became the peaceful, knowing, generous and loving Buddha, the source of one of the world’s great religions. Millions get off the train at Gaya every year on their way to Bodh Gaya.
Getting off the train on the dimly lit platform, not knowing the language, Patricia and Michael went over to the taxi stand only to learn they’d have to wait until dawn. The taxis to Bodh Gaya were not running. Too dangerous. Too many bandits at night. “Don’t even leave the platform.”
As they waited, forms rose up from the platform like small ghosts. One by one, they were surrounded by little children in rags. They were orphans with no one to care for them, no food, no money, barely surviving on scraps they could beg from strangers or by selling water on trains. It was cold, the middle of winter in the north of India and some of the children slept on the bare concrete train platform without a blanket.
It was one of those moments that change everything. It would change Patricia and Michael’s lives, and the lives of tens of thousands of children around the world. With any luck, it will change the lives of millions of children in the future. Patricia said. “We have to do something for these children. We have to!" ...READ THE FULL ARTICLE (download PDF)
More Links:
People First 2010 Summer Newsletter (PDF)
Quilting Project for People First
People First Photo Album
