Benares Schoolfund Foundation

Newsletter 2009
Varanasi, december 2008 It is with great pleasure that we present to you our
new project:
Bells, drums, horns blowing: the deafening sounds of the
evening prayer of Assi Ghat invade my room. The doors to Jeevan school and hostel
my balcony are wide open. It’s winter in Varanasi. People
(from the organisation Basic Human Needs,
bundle themselves up under warm hats and blankets. To me
www.basichumanneeds.net)
it feels like summer.
My balcony is right above the street where beggars spend
most of their day, asking passers-by for food or a paisa, Since December 2008, our foundation helps pay for
grateful for a coin or a handful of rice. As I oblige them every the costs of hostel and schooling for streetchildren,
now and then, they greet me politely, their palms pressed who are accommodated by Basic Human Needs.
together, ‘namaste’.

Basic Human Needs began helping the streetchildren

Sometimes I indulge the youngest ones, of Varanasi in 2004. In September 2005, they founded
dropping a toffee, an unimaginable luxury, into a hand-held
their own small school: Jeevan ka School, School of
cup.
lLfe, made out of no more than a corrugated roof on
___________________________________________
top of bamboo poles. Shortly after that a hostel
followed - an actual house, completely bare inside, just
Our secretary visited Varanasi for one month. This
like the little school. Everything takes place on the
time, she travelled alone. At her hotel they are used to
floor. They only use a couple of mats to sit on during
her visitors' comings and goings after all these years.
the school day; mats also serve as a dining area and
She met many people, amongst whom many of her
as beds. At the children’s homes, the situation is not
students. Countless conversations were held and new
much different.
acquaintances were gained.
In this newsletter, she reports her travels.

An overview of our projects:

1. Ashray Social Centre

2. Little Stars School (43 students) Their parents move to the city during the winter as
3. 40 individual students seasonal workers. The whole family literally lives on
4. Jeevan School (new) the street, on a plastic board, carrying with them no
more possessions than a few pots and pans and a
Surendra Srivastava and Manish Bhatia, two couple of rags.
staffmembers of the Ashray Social Centre, are
responsible for all that involves the education and Basic Human Needs focuses a lot on food and health:
wellbeing of our 40 individual students. They also breakfast at the Jeevan School consists of fruit. At
oversee our dal project, which provides a fixed amount lunchtime, the children receive another nutritious meal.
of protein-rich dal (lentils) per month for each family
member of our 40 students. This arrangement has also
been made for the families of the 43 children at the
Little Stars School, whose tuition is funded by the
Benares Schoolfund Foundation. Finally, they select
new students on our behalf, according to set criteria.
They receive only small payment for these tasks.
The classes taught here are beginner’s Hindi, English,
Shachi Prakash, director of the Ashray Social Centre,
music and yoga. After one year, the children will have
always gives them her full support.
built a foundation of education; with their personal
___________________________________________
and parents’ permission, they can move to the hostel.
Here they are well cared for, and it is from here that
they can transfer to private schools. As such, their
schooling is not interrupted by their parents’ leaving
during summer to return to their villages.
Jeevan is an exceptionally generous enterprise. The
manager, Sheelu, keeps the organisation running
smoothly. He diligently teaches the children discipline;
after school they help clean up and cook. They also do
their own laundry.
Marien and I have known Sheelu since 1996. We met
him as a young teacher at the time when we periodically
taught for three months at the Deva Public School.
Talking with Sheelu
In the meantime, Sheelu has got his degree in law and is
now studying to become a judge. He adores children and
does not plan on giving up his position once he becomes
a judge. He is a most extraordinary man, who also
functions as a judiciary advisor to the Ashray Trust, one
of our partners.
I attended the open house day at the Jeevan School. It
really moved me to see these homeless children play
the tabla and dance so beautifully, all with such dedication.
Many of their parents attended the open house day,
maybe too because of the good meal served to all of them, start chopping up vegetables; the remainder of the
which is not so common for those poor people.
______________________________________________ have the meal served and ready for 100 people.
Ashray Social Centre
(of the Ashray Trust, www.ashray.org)
The Benares Schoolfund Foundation provides financial
support for the Ashray Social Centre, to purchase books,
uniforms and other basic equipment for their Ashray
School. The foundation also helps pay for the costs of
evening classes, which offer the children tutoring and
homework assistance.
The Ashray Social Centre is situated in the middle of the
Nagwa slums. It contains the Ashray School, along with it
a small health clinic.
This school is by no means luxurious. Due to lack of
chairs or tables, the children sit on the floor and have to
use their schoolbags as writing desks. However, the
school offers a good education, which is what matters.
The children’s lunches consist of an egg and a piece of
fruit, along with a spoonful of delicious ‘Chayunprash’-
syrup, which, apparently, contains all the vitamins,
minerals and ayurvedian spices to help prevent illness.
The Ashray School offers schooling up to grade 5. After
that, the children must transfer to a different school to
continue their education. As such, our co-operators,
Surendra Srivastava and Manish Bhatia, have taken on
the task of selecting pupils in the fifth grade whom they
consider to be eligible for further financial aid by our
foundation.
The evening classes are as well attended as ever,
especially by our individually sponsored students. Here,
the children requiring homework assistance are given the
extra help they need. It also provides the obligatory extra
schooling for the older students.
A few days before I returned to the Netherlands, I offered
a field trip, on behalf of the foundation, to all the children
and staff at Ashray. This delightful surprise would not
have been possible without a generous donation from one
of our sponsors, who suggested it to be spent on
‘something fun’. We all took the bus to Sarnath, quite an
unforgettable event. Many of the children had never gone
beyond their own slum, let alone travelled by bus.
At the end of the day, we held a grand picnic, which, in
India, always comprises a warm meal. Indians seem not
to fret over preparing such a feat. At 6am, they get up to
morning is spent baking and cooking, and at 3pm they
The Dutch napkins seemed to delight everyone as well.
Little Stars School (www.littlestarsschool.org)
The foundation supports the school by covering the costs
of tuition for 43 students. We also provide two teachers’
salaries, school and accommodation fees for four orphan
girls, along with an extra sum for the school’s general
requirements.
The weeks before, a real artist had visited the school to
teach them. The drawings wonderfully demonstrated all
that the children had learned.
The artworks were for sale, so I bought Rukmani’s (to my
left in the picture):

The school is in state of complete renovation. During my

visit, they were building a new sanitary compartment, for
the girls who reside at the hostel (the school takes care of
23 orphan girls). At present, they are renewing the
sleeping quarters. Naturally, these are indispensable
facilities.

The exhibition – as well as the school – received loads of

attention from the local media. It was lovely to see how
the children presented the artworks to the general public,
proudly pointing out their own pieces.

Further plans include an annex on a recently bought patch

of land nearby. This will allow the school to extend up to
grade 10. These plans were previously mentioned in last
year’s newsletter. Only a ten-grade school can qualify its
students for professional education.

Hundreds of children had come to the event, not wanting

to miss a thing.

The Little Stars School, furthermore, ensures regular

refresher courses for its teachers. They are well qualified
and incredibly dedicated.
The higher grades will be housed in
the new building. Other essentials for a ten-grade school
Our 43 pupils enjoy going to class and are doing very
will be added, such as a computer room, a chemistry and
well. I had the pleasure of meeting them again this year,
physics lab, and a library.
including their parents.
Furnishing these extra rooms has been made possible by
The foundation is extremely pleased about its
a donation from the Rotary Rossendaal Donkenland, which
collaboration with principal Asha Pandey. Upon an
was also aided by the proceeds of a benefit concert on
invitation from friends, Asha came to visit the Netherlands
March 6, 2009, held by young musicians under the
this past January. There she had the opportunity to visit
direction of our president, Marien. Together with a sum
schools and talk to sponsors.
we had previously received, we can expand the library
She was definitely not impressed by the cold weather.
to a fully functioning facility.
‘How do you survive?’ she exclaimed, chilled to the bone,
as we showed her the water works in Zeeland.
The school pays great focus on cultural education, too:
it offers various classes such as music (tabla and sitar),
dance, art and drama.

During my stay I attended an art

exhibition, made by the students. Their artworks were
displayed on Assi Ghat, which is the most highly-visited
place in the area. ______________________________________________
Special thanks to Hieroglief printing-office in Roosendaal
Ashray Social Centre in today's India
"Showing they are loved"
India can launch a rocket to the moon, while in
Nagwa people starve.
Shachi Prakash, director of the Ashray Social Centre,
and her staffmembers Surendra Srivastava and
Manish Bhatia talk about their inspiration and
dreams.
Shachi Prakash Surendra Srivastava Manish Bhatia
Surendra: " A poor country like India does not need
rockets to be sent to the moon. The rich are becoming
richer & the poor are becoming poorer. There are many
programmes implemented by the government to improve
status of the poor people, but still in India we are unable
to get rid of this disease called corruption."
Shachi: " Nowhere do we see this gap between rich and
poor growing more than in Nagwa. Since the financial
crunch this summer food prices have soared.
I have no comprehension of spending so much on
outdated space programs when people still do not have
clean water to drink & the cost of health care for
preventable diseases of children beyond their reach."
Manish: " Main cause is education. Poor people do not
afford the higher education expenses so they don't get
better jobs and stay in their misery. For me the school is
the main part of Ashray."
Surendra: " We have no hopes that the residents above
the age group of 20 years of age will ever change
themselves, but we certainly hope that the education
programme which we are running very particularly will
definitely change the thinking of the new generation.
When this new generation becomes adult they will be
educated & will do with self respect their duty towards
their families & their nation. Instead of begging they will
earn their livelyhood by hard work."
Shachi: " One of the most important things in Ashray is
passing on compassion & understanding to those who
suffer. That means something unseen: tending the filthy
wounds of a boy who is being a paraplegic, no one will
clean him, or just sitting & chatting with the old women,
giving them a hug & a laugh. Showing they are loved."
School attendance and extra tuition
Manish: " In India school attendance is less in poor areas.
Because the parents are not educated, they give no
importance to education."
Surendra: " Low attendance is a social problem. The
children of middle & upper class families do not miss their
classes except when they are in fever. I don't remember
that I missed school one day; the same with my kids. The
reason of low attendance in poor families as per my
opinion is the general atomosphere of their houses. Most
of the fathers in these families get home drunk & they
fight with their spouses & children till late in the night,
which results in children not going to school next
morning."
Shachi: " A child may have a part time job that helps the
family income or if the parent is sick, may have to fill in for
the parent."
Surendra: " Teachers in most of the schools do not teach
properly in the class. They have made a rule that unless a
student askes extra tuition from them they will not pass
their class. Tuition has become an extra earning for the
teachers."
Manish: " In school’s classes there are often 50-60
students in one class, so the teacher cannot pay
attention to each student. That makes extra tuition
necessary."
Shachi: " There is a shortage of good private schools
everywhere in the country. The competition is fierce
from 9th standard onwards. It is normal practice for
parents to send their children to coaching academies.
When it comes to High School & Intermediate (school
leaving) exams they are competing on a national level ,
& children must achieve very high marks indeed if they
wish to continue their studies in university, where the
places are so few. The places are given on entrance
exam marks only.
Ashray gives poor children free tuition, and this is an
essential responsibility."
Plans and ideals
Surendra: " By profession I am an accountant. I was
simply maintaining books of accounts of richer people &
earning my livelyhood on remuneration given by them.
But right from my childhood - I was an emotional boy -
I was always wanting to help the needy. I wanted job
satisfaction, I wanted to do something which would
benefit the society. I found it in 2003 when I got an
offer from Shachi ji to work for Ashray. This work
appeared to me as a mission rather than a job, so I
gladly accepted it.
Shachi: " As a nurse I've always the desire to help
those less privileged than myself. I knew Father Francis
already for years; so when people from my home town
Droitwich, UK, asked me to suggest something for their
millennium project, I suggested Francis' social work -
and they gave us the funds to build the house ‘Ashray’!"
Manish: " I wanted to educate the people of Nagwa. For
them Ashray means now: free primary education,
medical checkup and treatment, free coaching for
higher classes and computer education.
Shachi: " The name ‘Ashray' was carefully chosen ,
meaning shelter, home, sanctuary, safety in Hindi. Over
the years , to the people we serve it has become to
mean just that!
I have so many dreams for Ashray! I want a bigger
health clinic, with space to keep patients overnight. I
want a kitchen to cook a hot nourishing meal for all the
schoolchildren daily. I really dream big—I want a large
building , to be used as a boarding school especially for
girls , this school to be a vocational training school for
young women; I want a large computer center and art
classes with lots of music & dance !
Manish: " I would like to open a school up to grade
12th."
Surendra: " We all want Ashray to become an example
for other organizations."
Benares Schoolfund Foundation Newsletter 2 00 9
___ __ __ ___ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ ___ __ __ ___ __ __ ___ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ ___ __ __

Our 40 individual students Surendra and Manish take great care in upholding the
quality of education. The Blue Bells School, attended
The Benares Schoolfund Foundation pays for the tuition by six of our students, does not quite meet up to their
of 40 individual students, attending various schools. In standards. They plan, therefore, to transfer its
addition, each student’s family member receives a set students to the Glorious Academy this coming school
amount of protein-rich lentils (dal) per month. year. Manish, Surendra ánd the children speak very
highly of this school, not to mention of the other
The children are cared for by the Ashray Social Centre schools, too.
staffmembers, mentioned above.
Also at the students’ gathering, Krystina, the nurse at
the Ashray clinic, taught students and parents basic
It remains extremely important to provide sponsoring
general healthcare. This made the long wait a bit more
for individual students. For this, a thorough selection
bearable for the children. Afterwards, they all received
and proper guidance are essential. Surendra and Manish
a Davitamon-pen, which I had brought along all the
put a lot of effort into carrying out these tasks, and do
way from a drugstore in Wouw.
so with great skill. Director Shachi Prakash advises them
in this.
On my journey home I had with me a stack of pictures
Our work would not be possible without their support.
and reports, which were all sent to our Dutch
In this newsletter, they talk about their work, their
sponsors.
inspiration and about education in India. Each year it
___________________________________________
becomes clearer that things are run quite differently in
India than in Holland.
Financial overview 2008
Surendra, Manish, Shachi and I made house visits to
INCOME
seven new students and their parents. This also gave
School sponsors 21.000
the parents the opportunity to meet a face behind the
Funds and foundations 2.500
Benares Schoolfund Foundation.
Donations (incidental) 15.700
From reserve funds 1.500
Interest 925
_____
Total income 41.625

EXPENSES
Little Stars School 9.800
Tuition of individually sponsored students 7.130
Ashray Social Centre:
- for benefit of our students
It was really informative to see the homes of the (counseling, meals, health care, tutoring
children. Even in the smallest and poorest of and homework aid) 6.950
circumstances we were received with great hospitality. - for benefit of the Ashray school
(books, uniforms and 2 computers) 4.360
As for the rest of the students and parents, we met each Jeevan School 1.500
other again at a special, annual gathering in the Ashray Divya Jyoti for the disabled 1.000
Social Centre. Once again it became clear just how well
Surendra, Manish and Shachi know the children’s Administration costs
families, their income, their problems and their current (newsletter, postage, bank costs,
situation. Chamber of Commerce) 730
______
After the gathering, I met with our Indian colleagues to Total expenses 31.470
discuss each child individually.
NB 2008’s high income can be justified by a few large
donations. !2.500 will be spent on books, !4.500 on our new
project, the Jeevan School (!1.500 each year, for 3 years).
Finally, we will increase our buffer by !2.500, to compensate
our higher expenses.

The foundation had built up a buffer of !25.000 in the past to

guarantee, in case of losing sponsors, a continuous education
Puja Rajan Kiran for the children at all times.

Most of them are doing well, both in and outside of Charity organisations are advised to keep a buffer that is
school. Almost all of them attend the evening classes at one-and-a-half times their year’s turnover. As of April
the Ashray Social Centre. Sometimes the children’s 2009, we will increase our buffer by !2.500.
schoolwork and physical health require extra care. If
necessary, they receive tutoring or are sent to see a
doctor or psychologist.
 How can you help our foundation?

- As a school sponsor: for !23/month (or !275/year)

you can provide education, books, a uniform, a good
meal, homework aid and tutoring for one child.
Furthermore, your money helps purchase teaching
equipment for the Little Stars School, and helps pay the
salary of two teachers.

- As a (permanent) donor: all donations, whether

one-off or a fixed amount per year, will benefit the
children and their education.
Your donations are tax-deductable.
Benares Schoolfund Foundation has been classified by
the Inland Revenue as an Institution Aiming for General
Welfare (Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling).
In case of donation by notarial deed, the costs are at the
foundation’s expense.
Through the courtesy of Notariaat Leijser of Rotterdam, these
Budget for 2009 costs are reduced to the minimum.
The secretariat could provide the necessary papers (licence for
INCOME donation).
School sponsors 21.000
Funds and foundations 2.500 We kindly request new donors to give their address and
contact information to our secretariat.
Donations (incidental) 2.120
From reserve funds 2.935
Interest 1.025
______
Total income 29.580

EXPENSES
Little Stars School:
a. 43 students 4.800
b. salary 2 teachers 1.400
c. other schooling equipment 1.000
d. support hostel 2.800

Tuition of our individually sponsored

students 7.130
Ashray Social Centre:
a. administration and counsellng students 750
b. homework aid and tutoring 2.300
c. meals 3.500
d. health care 400
Support Ashray school 2.500

Jeevan School 1.500

Unforeseen costs
Administration costs for foundation
750
Their futu re depends on your help !
(postage, bank costs, Chamber of Commerce,
newsletter) 750
______ Board
Marien van Staalen, chairman
Total expenses 29.580 Conny van Staalen-van Leeuwen, secretary/treasurer
Jacques Baartmans
Joep Baartmans-van den Boogaart
Jantine Unger
Alet Meurs
Theo van Pinxteren

On behalf of the children of Nagwa, our sincere Benares Schoolfund Foundation

thanks go to all our sponsors and donors who
helped contribute this past year.
Lenaertsstraat 6 4724 AM Wouw tel. +31 (0)165 301422
Chamber of Commerce: 20110334 Rabobank: 19 43 91 353
IBAN nr. NL97 RABO 0194 3913 53 BIC RABONL2U
e-mail: benares.school@xs4all.nl
www.benaresschool.nl