KISES is appealing for students all over the world to share their passion for education with hundreds of under-privileged children in India.
“Universities, schools and colleges are all in full swing following the start of the new global academic year, but the slum children of India have never even seen the inside of a classroom,” says KISES UK volunteer Jem King.
“I have come across many wonderful examples of schoolchildren in the UK, Europe and America raising money for the benefit of kids they have never met, living in crippling poverty on the other side of the world.
“Even small fundraising events like car washes, bake sales and sponsored swims can make such a huge difference to children less fortunate who are forced into street begging, rag-picking and worse by circumstances beyond their control.
“And I know there are student groups, such as university and college Asian societies, who are prepared to give up their time to support worthy causes such as KISES’ humanisation programme in the slums and dumps of Andhra Pradesh.
“I have seen first-hand how our KISES mobile schools, feeding programmes and health camps can bring about life-changing results to outcast members of society, but without continuous funding these volunteer-based programmes will be lost.
“KISES is a small NGO run by a husband and wife team which has been fighting for the most marginalised members of Indian society for two decades, beginning with a rehabilitation programme for thousands of people whose lives were devastated by a killer tsunami.
“The monsoon floods in Kerala in recent weeks have served as a reminder of that time when KISES led the emergency response after lives were lost, children orphaned and homes destroyed by natural disaster.
“KISES founder Mr Shoury Babu Rebba and his life partner Mrs Rajani Suram worked tirelessly at the forefront of relief operations to rebuild lives and livelihoods, reconstruct homes, repair and replace fishing boats and nets, distribute livestock and construct toilets.
“I are aware that the public often respond generously to such natural calamities, but the shocking poverty witnessed in places like Vijayawada city is an ongoing crisis which never makes the headlines in our newspapers nor onto our television screens.
“I have witnessed for myself how families can fall prey to evil people traffickers and even slavery; destitute children are pressed into manual labour from an early age, cruelly denied healthcare, education and their childhood.”
Overlooked, or simply shunned by wider society, the poorest people from sprawling Dalit and tribal communities do not have a voice. KISES is willing to stand up for them and champion their cause, but fundraising partners are needed to prevent humanisation programmes from falling by the wayside.
“Education is the key component in these KISES projects aimed at increasing literacy, providing healthcare and nutrition, empowering women,and training the poorest sections of society to help themselves and stand on their own two feet,” says Jem.
“Vocational training, mobile classrooms, health camps, food programmes – they all cost money, so we are appealing for sponsors, donors and fundraisers, whether they be companies, foundations, college and university groups, or simply individuals with a strong sense of social responsibility, to stand up and be counted by helping us to fund our mission in Vijayawada and beyond.”
Please contact KISES UK fundraising manager Meriel Woodward at kises_uk@yahoo.co.uk, communications officer Jem King at jemking@hotmail.co.uk, or Mrs Rajani Suram in India via the KISES India website to get involved.
FOOTNOTE: KISES needs approximately £1,000 per month to supply free daily nutritious meals to the children in its three slum schools in Vijayawada. As well as helping them grow and learn, this prevents them from begging for food and also acts as an incentive to their parents, often illiterate themselves, to send them to school.