SAVING THE LIVES OF LITTLE GIRLS AND MY LAST DAY IN MUMBAI

So I'm heading to the airport after an incredible week here in Mumbai. The people at Mahindra were really amazing. I look forward to seeing them again soon. It's going to be quite a year ahead of us as StrawberryFrog prepares to help launch India's first premium brand into the USA, in this case a portfolio of amazing new automobiles.

One thing I want to leave everyone with is the Mahindra Foundation's incredible work in funding Nanhi Kali, the organization whose mission it is progress the lives of Indian girl children, to keep them in school, and fight against the age old practice of marrying off girls as young as 10. This social initiative is incredibly inspiring to me personally. For $65 you can sponsor a girl for one year to help pay her living costs so that she can attend school. You get a photo of the girl and a report card from school. I'm sponsoring 5.

Sponsoring one girl costs less than a year's subscription to the Economist. And you get a tax deduction in the USA through their US foundation to boot.

American residents click here to make a donation.

Please also join the Facebook group here.

Here is how Nanhi Kali describes their mission:

In many parts of India, the arrival of a baby girl calls for mourning rather than celebration. Abandoning them at birth or marrying them off as children is a common practice. Looked upon as huge economic burdens, it is hardly surprising that many Indian families don't see the point in investing in their education.

Government of India statistics reveal that only three out of ten girls who enter Std. I complete Std. X. While enrolment rates of girls are improving marginally in India, dropout levels remain alarmingly high. At primary school level, over 45% of girls dropout of school and this increases to over 73% by the time the child has reached Std. X. Research has shown that reasons for this dropout may be as minor as the girl child not being able to afford a dress/uniform to go to school and could include more complex factors like girls taking on the responsibility of household chores at a very young age as a result of gender stereotyping.

Successful education of the girl child has been repeatedly acknowledged as an effective mechanism to break this inter generational cycle of poverty, myths, social norms and social evils. Research conducted in developing countries has shown that a literate female population is linked to reduction in population growth rates. On the other hand illiteracy, breeds ignorance and fear and only increases her vulnerability to be exposed to lifelong abuse and exploitation.

In many parts of the developing world the rights and lives of girls are going backwards not forwards, here is one of those very rare positive stories where ground has been taken, but risks being lost without donations and support, and awareness. For a society that has many challenges this is a truly great story and one that I am sure you will want to pass on to your friends on the blogosphere.

Please pass this on throughout the social media and blogosphere.

See the Nanhi Kali site here:

Comments

[Kavita Shah]

Hi Scott,
This is a great post!! I met up with the NanhiKali/ Mahindra folks in Mumbai this week and that's how I got directed to your blog and the Facebook group. We are trying to promote the NK website and this wonderful cause in the US and I would love to get your feedback or ideas! How has your experience with NK been so far?
-Kavita

[Kavita Shah]

Hi Scott,

Great post! I joined your Facebook group and it indeed is very inspiring and encouraging for Indians. I hope we can all work towards making a big difference in the life of these underpriveleged NanhiKali's.

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Mumbai. I met with Gauri and the rest of the Mahindra team during my visit to Mumbai and it was great! I would love to get in touch with you to see what ideas/suggestions you may have for promoting this cause in the US.

Regards,
-Kavita

[Gaurav Mehta]

Hi Scott,

We 5 friends in Boston who have been supporting this cause for a few years but decided to promote NanhiKali in a big way since the start of this year. As a starting step we created a Facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8993284626 and forcing our close buddies first to sponsor a girl. We are in the process of organizing a fund-raiser whose proceeds will go to the organization. Please let us know if you have ideas/suggestions for the fund-raiser or anything in general for this purpose.

Feel free to join the group on FB.

[Gaurav Mehta]

Hey Scott,

We are a bunch of 5 friends from Boston who have decided to spread a word and raise money for the NanhiKali organization.

Just like you we have a NanhiKali group on Facebook itself http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8993284626 and this group has grown to over 350 people in just 2 months time.

We are planning to have some kind of Fund Raiser as well in summer. Please let me know if you have ideas and how we can champion this cause to people in the States.

[Dennis]

love this idea. My only question is how do you check into their financials to make sure it's all going to help? I only give to organizations where I can look at their record (some charities are not good at using the money or may even funnel money so it's good to be prudent).

I can't find them on Charity nav or Give.org...

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=naandi&Submit2=GO&bay=search.results

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=nanhi&Submit2=GO&bay=search.results

I'd love to help though.

[Sally Hogshead]

Scott, what an incredibly powerful post. Thank you for reminding us that some forms of social media are more important than others.

Sally Hogshead