Equip Low Income Parents. Empower the Future of India

Story
Updates (2)

Story of Geeta didi: The fight to fulfill aspirations

This is Geeta didi. She is 32 years old. She has trouble breathing and has fought through Tuberculosis, twice. She hasn't been to school herself. But she wants to send her three daughters to school so they may fulfill their innate potential. Here's why:

"Have you ever had trouble reading the name of a medicine given to your child by a doctor? Or had trouble reading a text message sent by your father, brother or your husband?" asks Geeta didi.

"I have trouble doing this every day. My father had drinking problems because of which I couldn't study. I want Jayshree, my daughter, to be independent and live on her own terms. And that's why I send her to school every day." says Geeta didi.

Jayshree - the future of India

One would assume with such fierce support from her mother, Jayshree would do well in school. But Jayshree, a student of 3rd grade is one of the 97% students in her class who cannot read simple sentences.

To complicate the matter further, she, like 72% of students Meraki works with, is Anemic. She gets tired very quickly and is unable to concentrate in class. Thus, falling far behind with each passing class.

The Unsettling Truth

Jayshree will struggle to fulfill her innate potential; if the status quo persists.

In fact - 2 out 3 children you will see on the street today, in India, will not fulfill their potential. The status quo manifests itself in the same news, year on year, in India:

1 in 2 children can't read a 2nd grade text when in 5th grade - thus drastically limiting their career options
2 out of 3 children in India have anemia - which consequently hinders their growth and development

Read more about their struggle here.

Shared Burden of Disadvantaged Families:

Like Jayshree, children at risk of the poorest outcomes in learning, health and behavior experience a pile up, a cumulative burden, of poverty, neglect, abuse and healthcare issues. This burden becomes insurmountable for parents, like Geeta didi, from low socio-economic, educational background. Therefore, there's a need to build individual capacities of families and communities to cope with these issues for the sake of their future and children.

Here's where Meraki comes in.

Meraki aims to equip parents to transform their children's lives. It aims to solve for the intergenerational burden that disadvantaged families carry.

Read more about how we intend to do this here.

Who are we?

In late 2015, Ghazal and Seemant re-connected over their collective experience of teaching under-privileged children at Teach For India. While they reminisced about their struggles of teaching students considerably below grade level and tough school administrators a constant dread still nagged them: students across India were not learning and their parents were still not getting the support they deserved.

This was crucial as children spend more time at home than at school, without any guidance. The entire developmental process, by not educating, enabling or empowering parents was sidelining the most powerful ally in the future of India. Thus Meraki came to fruition.

Over the period of last eight months, Meraki, has worked with over 200 parents in urban slums of Delhi NCR. Over the next one year, Meraki will work with 1000 families to ensure that their children are put on a different life path.

Through Meraki we want to restore the belief of parents that no matter where they come from and how much they earn, their hopes and aspirations for their children are worthy of being pursued.

How Can You Help?

You can help in multiple ways, two of them are outlined below.

1. Funds: No amount is too small. It is your intent and the action attached to it that matters. We have, in order to help you make informed decision and to select a cause, shared with you the breakdown of the costs. In case of any questions/queries please reach out to us here. We promise to come back to you within 24 hours.

a) Help Parents in helping their children read:

To empower a child to read at grade level this year, donate 650 Rs.

To empower 10 children to read at grade level this year, donate 6500 Rs.

To empower 100 children to read at grade level this year, donate 65,000 Rs.

b) Help Parents keep their children healthy:

To keep a child healthy for 1 year, donate 500 Rs.

To keep 10 children healthy for 1 year, donate 5000 Rs

To keep 100 children healthy for 1 year, donate 50000 Rs

c) Help Parents never depend on Meraki or your donations again:

To empower one parent, donate 650 Rs.

To empower 10 parents, donate 6500 Rs.

To empower 100 parents, donate 65000 Rs.

2. Skill and Time: If you or your organization, would like to support us with your skills and time please drop us a note here.

If you believe in what we do, please share this story with your friends and relatives. This is as much an awareness campaign as it is a fund raiser.

Ask for an update

23rd August 2017

Hi,

We have some great news to share with you. Thanks to your contribution we will be able to support a 1000 families in some of the most at-risk urban slums in South Central Delhi, in partnership with the Government. Given the complexity of the lives these families live in, we have been actively getting more partners on board to enable an intervention that improves their lives not just in the short term but also in the longer term. In lieu of that, we are proud to announce that Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, IIM Bangalore; Teach for India; Ek Step (Nandan Nilekani’s backed social venture) and Pratham are some of the key partners that are supporting us to overcome this unique challenge.

Our efforts have also been recognised in the national media and here are a few links where Meraki has been covered:

1. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/eight-startups-picked-for-iimb-non-profit-incubator/articleshow/60164139.cms

2. https://thelogicalindian.com/my-social-responsibility/meraki/

3. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/iim-b-centre-to-mentor-social-non-profit-ventures/article19542252.ece

More importantly, we also wanted to share that donations on our Milaap page are still live. Further, we have been selected by Milaap as one of the very few campaigns where for every Rs 100 we raise, Milaap will contribute an additional Rs 20. Therefore, please do spread the word in your network.

We will be sharing periodic updates with you about Meraki, its work and its stories, regularly starting from September ‘17.

Thank you for all your support!

Best regards,

Ghazal and Seemant