| planetWHYKids
one of a kind
 a planetWHY child learns, to express his opinions and defend them with confidence...
to stand without fear for what is just and to ask with conviction for it's rights... he discovers his
country with pride and learns above all to be a true and honest Indian.
we invite you to meet the
planetWHYKids!
Sanju
the desire to learn!
as students and teachers were settling down for a secondary class in the park, a
little fellow came by and started pulling at the saree of one of teachers to get her attention.
when she looked down she saw a smiling face looking at her and wanting to say something.
that is how sanju entered planetWHY.
as he kept on tugging at her saree, she realised he wanted to
take her somewhere. she followed him and he guided her to his home where he picked up a copy book and
indicated he also wanted to *sit* in the class. never mind if he was 3 and the rest of the students in their teens. Sanju is 3, he is speech impaired and
is now in our early education programme. but his desire to learn is such that he often sneaks into
bigger classes and sits down to listen and imbibe almost intuitively the knowledge that is being
shared. his dad is a bus driver and his mother a simple housewife and sanju has 3 siblings.
sanju understands everything though he cannot speak. he is bright, aware and loves the company of people.
sanju has a long way
to go, but we know he will go far in life, for sanju is fired by the desire to learn.
Anita
a spirited young girl!
Meet Anita.
She is a bright, beautiful, vivacious young girl of 16. She is intelligent and good in her studies.
She is in class X. A happy young girl one would think. Well far from that.
Anita is the eldest of 5 children. Her father is an abusive alcoholic who fritters away the little he earns as a junk dealer. Mine, her mom now works for projectWHY, but spent long years being abused by her husband. And those were anita's growing years.
Every evening, she dreaded her father's homecoming, praying silently that he would just not come, as it happened some days. But when he came home, it was always a horror tale. He used to beat them all, and most of all her mother as she ran helter skelter trying to shield her children. Often he would throw the cooked food into the drain and those nights everyone slept hungry.
There were even days when Anita had to call in the neighbours and take a bleeding mother to the hospital. There was no money for books or any thing else.
She thoughts things could not get worse, but they did. As she grew into her tens there were nights when her father tried to assault her, those were the worse nights as her mother fought him hard and often got badly hurt. One night he even attacked her with a knife.
That is the time when we started our centre and Anita was one of our first students.
very soon, we sensed that something was amiss. Anita was a good and attentive student but somehow we could sense a sadness in her.
One day her mother came in tears, asking for help and the whole story unfolded.
Today Mina works for us and is the one who looks after all hospital cases. She is slowly getting empowered.
She does not have to depend on her erratic husband for food or school fees and books.
Anita has started to smile, and trusts life again.
she is determined to complete her studies, then wants to do a computer course and study to be a Chartered Accountant. She wants to make up for lost years and we are determined to see that she does.
And believe it or not, this spirited young woman loves to play football and learn karate.
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