#Nutrition #PleaseDonate

Our village school kids are getting a stand-fan and lunch, next weekend. To sit in the day-long classes, without a fan has gotten impossible to my belief, even though the kids never complained. And lunch? They are happy to get a whole-some lunch atleast once in a month [Because, we don't have 30 members who are willing to contribute Rs. 300 each, per month. We have only 1 member, so far].  I continue to pay for the fan and the lunch, for the next weekend, just as I've been doing in many more ways. 

An experience:

Nutrition is not a health-issue. 
It is an issue of Dignity, Self-Esteem, and Confidence. How? Read below:

There is a family of two, in the village. Father has abandoned the family. Mother works as house-maid in nearby town, and struggles to raise one son, who is enrolled in the village school and reads in Class VIII. The mother is unable to cook during the day. So, the son gets to eat only the dinner meal.

Now, we, the volunteers of The Green Corner, conduct classes on Saturdays and Sundays, in batches. On both the days, during lunch break, we ask the children to go home, eat, and come back for classes. They do comply with our instructions. One boy, last week, wrote a Letter to Dip (Secretary), who also conducts the overall execution of the weekend classes. In the letter, he wrote about how grateful he is, to get such a nice opportunity of learning, and he also expressed his grief about not being able to tell the fact that even though he goes back home (for lunch break), he spends idle time and comes back, without eating. He could not say this earlier because he felt shy of letting know of the poverty he lives through, every day. In the letter, he also mentioned about his medical condition that he suffers from, about which nothing could be done as his mom earns enough to provide only for the dinner food. Dip (who, almost cried, while narrating this whole incident to me, saying : Reshma di, your heart will break into pieces when you come back to Kolkata and read this letter), took action. He took the boy to a doctor (who prescribed medicines), and now the boy is under medication. [His medical condition: Watery eyes and headache, almost everyday].

The fact that the boy wrote a letter and the honesty with which he expressed his thoughts are clear indication that Nutrition is the most basic attribute to any "development": be it building self-confidence, self-esteem, courage, sense of dignity, and the power to dream.

I personally appeal to all of you once again, to please start contributing Rs. 300 per month. Till now, we have only 1 member who has deposited the amount in the bank account that I had provided over email. Let us all come together, and do this much for the children of our Nation.

Jai Hind.

Mishti.