Bridging Borders for Good - An Indian’s Diwali Gift from Zurich to Maharashtra

A fundraising initiative by Manleen Dugal, Zurich, Switzerland.

During the Indian festival of Diwali, Indians in all parts of the world light traditional oil lamps that signify lightness over darkness, the victory of good over evil, and spreading joy, hope, and positivity in communities. However, for me, the true meaning of Diwali is authentically manifested in doing what we can to illuminate the lives of those in greater need, especially children. In fact, the true triumph of light overcoming darkness is when we cast a compassionate light on the grave social inequities found in the world today and resolve to do something about it – where especially disturbing is the acute child poverty crisis faced by the world today.

As per the UN, 333.3 million children worldwide live in extreme poverty (less than $2.15 a day) and 566 million people across 110 developing countries are multi-dimensionally poor (that is, they experience several deprivations such as the right to food, lack of education, access to basic healthcare etc). In my home country of India, one of the fastest growing in the world, despite several programs/initiatives by state and non-state actors, we have only managed to reduce extreme child poverty from 11.7 percent in 2017 (53.3 million) to 11.5 % (52.2 million) in 2022.

Education has been recognised as THE most powerful tool to empower those born into poverty to break out of its cycle. As the distinguished Indian economist Amartya Sen has said, education is fundamental for empowering children with the choice to expand human freedoms and capabilities.

Today, 58 million primary school age children still do not have the opportunity to learn how to simply read and write – a privilege many of us take much for granted. Enshrined in the Constitution of India is the right to education as a fundamental right. However, despite the Right to Education Act that guarantees free & compulsory education to children aged 6-12, per the 2014 statistics of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), 32 million Indian children in this age group have not had access to education, majority of them being from the rural and marginalized sections of the country.

Per the UNICEF, out of every 100 students in India, 29 per cent of girls and boys drop out of school before completing the full cycle of elementary education. This is despite laws, implementing regulations and initiatives such as the mid-day meal programs to enhance enrollment/attendance rates. Several factors contribute to creating an enabling environment for successful education of poor children –ensuring adequate nutrition (a hungry child cannot learn well), essential school supplies, a positive atmosphere without discrimination, healthcare, community support etc.

In doing my small bit this Diwali, I championed the cause of the Giving for Good Foundation, whose larger vision of “Empowering strength and resilience through education” and their 4Es model (Education, Empowerment, Employability, and the Environment for the holistic development of communities) resonated deeply with me. In just 3 days of Diwali, I raised, with the help of a generous community of friends here in Switzerland, INR 72,000 for their project “School supplies for every child” that provides essential study materials to children of farmers, daily wage earners and orphans studying in government schools across rural pockets of Maharashtra. This was achieved by spreading the word via WhatsApp to friends and various social & business WhatsApp groups, simply by taking a few moments in between our regular busy schedules.

We hope that this contribution and project adds to the motivation of its recipients to attend school, study harder and make a better life for themselves.

And I also hope that with this small effort, we have fostered a spirit of hope in more kids – a hope to be able to access a greater future for themselves, one that should be the right of every child on this planet. And I hope our small initiative inspires those in a position to give, to give more - with the belief that every small effort can make a big difference.

It was particularly heartening to receive prompt, efficient & transparent information of the project from one of the co-founders of the GfG as well as one of the program managers on the ground in Pune. This went a long way in building trust and fortifying our decision to work with GfG.