Seven months ago, one would have been hardpressed to distinguish these 30 kids from the hundreds of street-children in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara. Now, one would be hardpressed to tell them apart from their well-bred, wealthy classmates in some of Ahmedabad’s best schools.A miracle? Yes. One wrought entirely by the hand of man, at the Visamo Kids Foundation, a foster home for children belonging to BPL (below poverty line) families. Says Manjula Shroff, a trustee of Calorex Foundation, which funds Visamo along with Smile Foundation, ‘‘When we were planning to start an education-related project, I studied various proposals, and realised that though there were NGOs and municipal schools working for the education of underprivileged children, the results were unsatisfactory because of the absence of a proper environment. Visamo (which, in Gujarati, means ‘to rest’) aims at providing both education and an encouraging environment.’’Since this was no ordinary project, work began by networking with grassroot-level NGOs, who helped pinpoint children most likely to benefit from the programme. ‘‘Educating them wasn’t the only motive, we wanted to provide the children an opportunity,’’ says Bela Mehta, administrator at Visamo.Accordingly, they conducted psychological tests on 700-odd recommended children, from whom 18 were selected. Then came the interviews of their parents. ‘‘We had to make it clear to them that we would take care of the child’s basic needs — food, clothing, education — for the next 12 years at least, for which duration they would have to stay away from home,’’ says Shroff.The 18 children, mostly in the five-to-seven age group and hailing from Surat, Vadodara, Dhrangadhra and Himmatnagar, besides Ahmedabad, were directly admitted to seven schools across the city. Delhi Public School, Eklavya, Tulip, Anand Niketan, H B Kapadia, A1 and and L J School have all agreed to waive fees and reserve seats for students sent by Visamo.‘‘The next batch of children, who arrived in December, are now being trained at the Visamo Kids Kindergarten. They are not familiar with English at all, so the specially designed syllabus helps form a base for further studies,’’ says Mehta.Besides familiarising them with English — and initiating them into the fine art of brushing teeth! — the foundation takes care to ensure the children do not lose touch with their respective roots. Special peer-group visits every Thursday keep them in touch with their old friends while Sunday phone conversations with their parents are mandatory. Besides, parents drop by once a month, and the children are sent home for three days during the Diwali holidays and for three weeks during the summer holidays. ‘‘They spend the rest of the holidays brushing up their knowledge of the languages and computers,’’ says Mehta.For all the effort, Shroff tries to keep her head on her shoulders. ‘‘Most of the children now want to become doctors. But that may not be possible — a few may become professionals, but others might go in for vocational courses. All we want them to have are proper career options and access to good jobs,’’ says Shroff.But Visamo encourages them to dream, not just the children, but their parents as well. ‘‘We want her to become an engineer,’’ says Panitaben, a daily wage-earner whose daughter Pinal is a first standard student at A1 School. ‘‘We are so glad she came here.’’Pinal, after a tough time initially, too has adjusted well. ‘‘We are like other children now. I don’t have to do housework any more,’’ says the young girl.‘‘What is important is that all these children have a fire in them, they are eager to prove something. Never do we have to ask them to study or take care of their things. Most of them are doing well in school, while some are still struggling,’’ says Bhavana Patil, the supervisor.The Visamo Foundation claims to have spent Rs 80 lakh till date on the children. In addition to investments of Rs 2 crore on infrastructure, they foresee an annual expense of Rs 80 lakh. ‘‘We are planning to get in touch with corporates and other funding bodies for support. We are constructing a building on two acres of land at Bopal (an Ahmedabad suburb). Once we have the facilities, we plan to house 300 gifted children from across the country,’’ says Shroff.
