Dear friends,

The 2009-2010 school year has been one of the most exciting at Shanti Bhavan. We look back at the wonderful events that took place and the bright future ahead.

  • In June, we celebrate our first graduation ever of our oldest class of students. Learn about their needs for college study and help us meet them.
  • Our Dollars For Scholars contest is going strong and the field is wide open for anyone to win a free plane ticket to India. For more details on the contest, please visit our Dollars For Scholars contest page.
  • On April 1st, please join us for The NYU Catherine B. Reynolds Speaker Series for a lecture by founder Dr. Abraham George.

In this newsletter, we feature the powerful story of 12th grader Sheeba who explains what it means to grow up in poverty. Thanks to Shanti Bhavan, her life has been transformed and she will soon be applying to college to pursue her dreams. Throughout this newsletter students share their fond memories from the school.

In this newsletter:

Support the college study of Shanti Bhavan graduates

It is an exciting time for Shanti Bhavan. Our 12th grade children are going off to colleges in their chosen fields including engineering, business, environmental studies, law, hotel management and liberal arts.

Rarely do students from these backgrounds graduate from high school, let alone attend college. By doing so they are making history and are able to one day change the world in their own way.

The parents of our children are poor and mostly illiterate. They are not in a position to financially support college tuition and expenses nor do they have the background to advise and help their own children. It is up to us to take on that responsibility and we cannot stop until the job is done. That is why we are working to identify good colleges in India which they can attend.

All of this is only possible with your financial support.  The cost of supporting each graduate for the first year of college is $2,000 (Rs. 90,000). We need your contribution to make the college education of all 15 graduates this year possible.

You may choose to offer a scholarship to one child or donate smaller amounts for specific items. This is a major financial commitment and an opportunity to change the lives of 15 bright students. Help us make their dreams come true by contributing whatever you can.

Please follow the donation link here.  In the designation please specify “College Fund.”

Thank you for your support.

Finding My Grace

By Sheeba J., 12th Grade

“ No……!”, I screamed but it was too late.  She had already forced the heated knife on to my hand. Aunty Nazia had asked me to get her a cigarette packet from the shop for her husband who had just come home.  I hurried down the road to the shop only to find that the shopkeeper had none left.  I went back as fast as I could to tell Aunty Nazia the news. This made her enraged and so she dragged me all the way back to the shop. This time, the shopkeeper gave her what she wanted.  I felt betrayed.  Aunty Nazia thought I purposely lied to make her walk all the way to the shop.  She began to hit me with her purse full of coins.  She hit me so hard that my face began to bleed.  She threw me on to the cement floor when we reached home but it did not stop there.  She went into the kitchen and began to heat a knife in the fire. She placed the hot knife on my hand to teach me a lesson.

Aunty Nazia was not related to me at all.  She had bought me from an old lady when I was two, probably to keep me as a maid.  It became really hard for me to live in that house but I had no choice.  I was told that I had lost both my parents so I had nowhere to go.  When I was four, I ran away from Aunty Nazia’s house because another Aunty Naseema promised to give me a better and happier life.

Unfortunately it was just the beginning of a whole new life which was much more harsh and cruel.  Aunty Naseema cared a lot for me but her husband Shiek was just the opposite.  He was tall, dark and scary looking.  He did not want to accept me into the family because he considered me a huge burden.  Aunty Naseema wanted me to stay but not her husband, and because of it they had many fights.  They kept hitting and screaming at each other which were extremely frightening for me.

At one point, Aunty Naseema was so fed up that she decided to kill herself, along with her two children and me.  She took us to a huge well which was covered with grilled shutters. We were all about to jump through the open space in the well when luckily some neighbors found out and asked for the shutters to be closed.  Aunty Naseema was too depressed to stop there.  She took me back home and poured kerosene on me to burn me alive, but for that moment I guess her love for me was greater than her despair.  She promised me that day that no matter what she had to go through, she would protect me and keep me safe.

Aunty Naseema did not usually leave me alone with her husband.  But sometimes she had to leave me at home with her husband and her two kids to do other things.  It was in those occasions when Shiek took full advantage of my naiveté.  It was also the only time when he was really fatherly towards me and it made me feel happy.  I thought that he was accepting me into the family. But, during those short absences of his wife, he used to sexually abuse me.  I was only four.  He gave me a rupee or so and told me not to tell my Aunty. It took a long time before I understood what he was making me do was not right.  Apart from that, he used to give me a big glass of beer to drink.  I had to gulp it down or else he said he would kill me.

When I was nine, one day I got the shock of my life.  Aunty Naseema and Salma (my Uncle’s sister’s daughter) passed away on the same day.  God knows how it happened.  I was totally shattered.  She was my only protector at home and now she was gone.  I was extremely frightened.  How I wished to die!  For me, it was like my life was over. But no. By some magical piece of luck, I had Shanti Bhavan. I started there when I was nearly five years old.  It was the only place I had in this world and I felt safe. Shanti Bhavan is a blessing in disguise.  All my life I wanted a family and a home, and I found it in Shanti Bhavan.  It took care of me when I was confused and sad. It has embraced me with so much love that it doesn’t give place for loneliness or sorrow.  It has also taught me to stand on my own two feet and be independent.  Shanti Bhavan is everything for me.

Shanti Bhavan taught me how to be a strong, independent woman. It gave me the courage to find myself. I have learned so much here and not just in my studies. I learned to value myself. I learned there was a place for me in the world. I found friends who loved me, and teachers who inspired me. Now I am getting ready to go off to college and I am excited for my future.
What would my life be if I hadn’t come to Shanti Bhavan?  I would have been a prostitute, earning money for my uncle in the cheapest way.  My life would have been completely insane and terrifying.  Thank God I have Shanti Bhavan in my life.

Fight Like A Girl! Benefit Concert in New York City

On January 17th, Shanti Bhavan/ASTEP volunteer Michelle Miller, with the generous underwriting of the Mezzalingua family, produced an event in honor of an extraordinary friend and advocate for women, Laurie Mezzalingua, benefitting the exceptional children of Shanti Bhavan. Click here to view a photo gallery of the event.

The event, Fight Like A Girl!, included a concert at the Triad Theater with performances based on tunes Laurie loved and reflected her diversity, humor and joy for living well. The incredible female vocalists with the support of a band of stellar musicians made for an evening of emotional and engaging performances that captured the memory of Laurie and her courageous fight against metastatic breast cancer as well as the spirit of the brave girls of Shanti Bhavan.

After the show the 100+ patrons and many Shanti Bhavan volunteers convened for a party at Citrus Bar and Grille where they ate, drank and danced the night away to tunes spun by DJ Sean Mahoney. One of the highlights of the evening was a raffle that included white gold and diamond earrings generously donated by Stacey Huber of Donald Huber Jewelery.

Performers and donors were treated to t-shirts designed by Michelle. They served not just as a tribute to her friend and the children of Shanti Bhavan but as a symbol of the connective thread between women everywhere as they fight disease and injustice with grace, transparency and tenacity.

All members of the cast which included: Michelle Miller, who was also the emcee, Patricia Noonan, Lauren McLaughlin, Stephanie Martinez, Sheri Sanders and Shelbi Thureau as well as the band: Irene Wong, Jamario Stills and Jeff Fowler generously donated their time and talents to provide a moving and meaningful tribute. Satya Jewelery generously provided 4 silver and garnet necklaces for Laurie’s three sisters, Karen, Kristen and Tracey and mother, Kathy as a symbol of the life she led and as a thank you for their support, input and generosity.

Students Recall International Soccer Tournament at Shanti Bhavan

January 26, 2010

Paths swept, beehives removed, frangipani made to bloom, dolphin pool filled, a huge white lunch tent for the visitors erected off the dining hall – everywhere one looked, it was clear something momentous was about to take place.

But the focus of the event was the soccer field, where the German and Indian visitors would play their annual tournament. Seeing the vivid orange grounds, the three pairs of new bright blue goal posts, the green, red, blue and yellow shirts of the student soccer players, and the huge gold-fringed canopies for the spectators, I was reminded of pictures of the fabulous 19th century durbars that showed the world India’s genius for visual spectacle.

Behind The Scenes

For weeks before the big day, the performing artists of the school were in a frenzy. Every night, the grounds would ring with the sounds of dancers and instrumentalists rehearsing; the lovely voices of the choir and the hordes of little children performing “Peter Pan in India” with directors Mauricio and Maura shouting urgently, “We believe in fairies!” to awaken Tinkerbell from her slumbers.

Elsewhere, the cheerleaders practiced their acrobatics, while red, green and white pompoms were being turned out by the dozen in a wildly impromptu pom-pom factory in the children’s library. Who can forget the frantic costume-making the night before, the last-minute checking of the sound-system, or the hurried installation of a green canopy over the courtyard to shade the visiting audience? Nobody slept much on Saturday night.

- Caroline Seebohm, author and volunteer

SAP, Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, Continental and members of IGCC arrive at Shanti Bhavan for their annual soccer picnic

The day was melting with heat. Every sound seemed magnified by the excitement in the air. The fields swarmed with German and Indian players representing different companies belonging to the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce. Stalls were set up selling items from beer to hot dogs for the guests. It was a day when Shanti Bhavan learned the visual definition of “crowd.”
The Shanti Bhavan students were split into four teams and we played against each other. With the heat, the perspiration and dust everywhere, time seemed to stand still.

The break for lunch turned out to be one of the most celebrated events of the day. We were offered chicken and expensive rice that gave most of the children a stomach ache from eating so much. In the afternoon, the visiting teams played off against each other. The match for the trophy was between Bosch and SAP, ending in a dramatic shoot-out leaving SAP victorious. This was the highlight of the day.

- Prakash, 12th Grade

Two Haikus
The balls hit children
And both goals equally. But
SAP won painfully.

SB kids played hard.
But Green Team won the trophy,
Which broke instantly.

- Rajni, 12th Grade

“They like to dribble, dribble, they like to tackle, tackle, they like to move it, move it, they like to shoot it!”
The screams and shouts of the cheerleaders enlivened the spirits of the players. There were three games going on simultaneously on three separate fields, teams from various companies playing each other. The SAP team seemed to be rocking the most.

It was a long and tiring day. As the saying goes, “There’s an end to all happiness and fun.” Finally the day of the big event had also reached its end.

- Tara, 11th Grade

Being a cheerleader was a new experience. It was the first day of my life that I had I screamed and shouted so much. I never knew that I had so much energy! Cheering on the different teams whom we hardly knew made us show our best.

It was a day of transformation, a day in which the PT ground was divided into three soccer fields. It was a day to be remembered, a day which changed my view about the business world – that there could be friendliness and healthy competition between different companies.

- Amrutha, 11th Grade

Sunday was a fun day. I had so much fun performing for the Germans. I danced. I ate very tasty food. The boringest part was when I had to sleep. It was nice to see them play soccer. When Uncle Foster, the German guest who was talking in the mic, said “Come on, have a soft drink,” I ran.

- Shiney, 4th Grade

When the Germans guests were here, we did a performance for them called “Peter Pan in India.” In the skit, I was one of the dancers. I was a bit nervous. Our visitors sat outside the dining hall. Some of their children swam in the swimming pool. In the PT time I went for painting. I enjoyed that Sunday.

- Saranya, 4th Grade

The Germans were here at Shanti Bhavan! My friends and I performed a folk tale, called “Peter Pan in India.” We wore costumes. In the afternoon, I went to watch the soccer match. I was excited when Poovalsan shot the ball in the goal post. I wanted to play in the soccer match. Maura and Mauricio helped some children who were interested in art. I painted a two-headed monster.

- John Joseph, 4th Grade

Some German guests came here to play a soccer match. It was very good fun. Our school won the match. I loved it, but I was so sad for the German players – they lost.

- Hassain, 4th Grade

Shanti Bhavan featured at Hall of Flags

Dr. George was invited to speak at the Hall of Flags, Commerce Building in Washington, DC, on November 23, 2009, at the luncheon reception given in honor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his recent visit to the United States.

The event organized by the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) was attended by many American and Indian business leaders, including Mr. Ratan Tata from the Tata Group and Mr. Mukesh Ambani from Reliance Industries, to highlight the commercial and investment ties between the two nations.

While it was strictly a business luncheon, USIBC was kind enough to ask two non-profit organizations – Shanti Bhavan and Operation Smile – to be represented so that they could make the audience aware of the important social work being carried out by these organizations in India. Mr. Ron Somers, president of USIBC, requested businesses to extend their social responsibility to the two organizations.

Special Thanks from the Children

The children and staff of Shanti Bhavan wish to thank Friedrich Rahn, Deputy Consul General of Germany; Hubert Reilard, Chairman, German Business Group; Clas Neuman, Global Head of SAP Labs; Arno Roehringer, CEO of Mercedes Benz Research and Development India Pvt. Ltd.; Audrey D’Souza, Director, Indo German Chamber of Commerce; Fritz Bickel, Director, Dr. Fritsch India; Chris Pohl, Director, GVCM Trading Pvt. Ltd; Uwe Sperber, Director, AMODA Environmental Solutions; Eshan Shariff, General Manager of Prion PLM & IT Services India Pvt. Ltd; Chris Frimm, Managing Director of Prion PLM; Gerd Hoefner, Vice President of Siemens Information Systems; Harald Kniele, former Chairman and Managing Director, Festo Controls; Markus Hildenbrand, General Manager, Robert Bosch Automotive Electronics; Brooks Entwistle, Managing Director & CEO of Goldman Sachs India; VS. Gopinath, Chairman & CEO, AT&T Asia Pacific; John Alexander, Senior VP Business Development of JM Baxi; Francis Joseph, Executive Head of Strategy of Ryan International; Sudha Singh, Principal of Ryan -Greater Noida School; Vijay Talwar, CEO of Clinton Foundation India; Aditi Mody, Country Director India, USIBC for their memorable visits to Shanti Bhavan. .Also special thanks to Sheela Rao and the Keertana Group for their successful fundraiser for Shanti Bhavan in Virginia, USA and to Drew Corrigan and the Maya Yoga studio for their monthly fundraisers for Shanti Bhavan.

Please assist our work for the children by making a contribution now. donate to Shanti Bhavan

Best regards,

The Shanti Bhavan Team