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Ascensions Community Services in the United States
Children of the Sacadas
Off the Streets and Into School
Healthy Little Mouths
Mina in India
Genet in Ethiopia
Cynthia in Paraguay
Clarence in the United States
Elvia in the Dominican Republic
Felipe in Paraguay
Shanthi in India
Abdul in Senegal
Shanthi Rural Institute for Development Education (RIDE)
Kanchipuram, India At thirteen, Shanthi is learning to read and write, has established friendships, and is preparing to enter public school and pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. But less than a year ago, she was facing a narrow and dismal future. Like many school-age children in Kanchipuram, Shanthi worked full-time in one of the city's silk looms. She had no chance to attend school, to socialize with other children, or to learn other skills. The owners of the silk looms readily loan impoverished families large sums of money in exchange for enlisting their children as low-wage laborers. Parents are rarely able to repay the original loans and often seek to borrow additional money from the loom owners, effectively bonding their children into labor far into the future. Since 1984, the Rural Institute for Development Education (RIDE) has been a leading advocate for the eradication of child labor in Kanchipuram and other cities in the state of Tamil Nadu. RIDE has directly secured the release of more than two thousand children from the looms and has assisted in the release of many more. Shanthi is a student in one of RIDE's ten Bridge School Centers, which provide children with an educational, social, and emotional transition from the silk looms and other types of child labor to public schools. They offer remedial education to help children like Shanthi catch up with other students and acquire productive learning habits. In addition, they provide health care, vocational skills training, recreation, rehabilitation, and counseling. By working with children, their parents, and their communities, RIDE hopes to achieve its goal of declaring the Kanchipuram district free of child labor. Click on the links at the top to read other success stories, or click here to read more about GFC’s Grantmaking Program.
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