Reb's Travels: Samarpan School

We went to the Samarpan school on Monday. We also came here on my first visit. In the time since, the school has grown. There are now 525 students, maxed and kids are being turned away most days, breaks the principal's heart. This is incredible, because when they started, they had to go door to door to try to find parents who would agree to let their kids be educated. The kids wanted school, but they were needed for work. The trade for this area is rag-picking. Sorting through all the piles of trash and collecting anything that can be recycled or reused. They then bag everything and are paid a few rupees by a middle-man who then sells the bags to recycling centers.

The school has now been able to acquire a few rooms next door, and they have opened a child care center for mothers, most of whom have older kids in the school. If the school hadn't found a way to care for the younger children, the older sisters would have had to stay home while the mothers worked. The parents are given all the meals the children get, as well as training for a trade other than rag picking. The women are mostly learning to sew and they gave us beautiful scarves that they had made. They agree to spend two hours working at least for each day they have a child in care. The women usually spend longer because they also get food and they are starting to be able to do work fine enough to sell it and start make a living. It's an amazing process.