What do you want to be when you grow up? Like many kids, the students at the Shanti Bhavan school in Baliganapalli, a small village in southern India, have no difficulty answering this question. "An astronaut!" screams 9-year-old Naceraj. Shashi, 10, wants to be a professional athlete. Nikhil, a fourth grader, wants to be an engineer.
A few years ago, no one would have bothered to ask these kids about their hopes and dreams. They are members of India's poorest class, called untouchables.
Most Indians are Hindus. The Hindu faith teaches that people are born into distinct social classes, called castes (kasts). The lowest class is the untouchable caste. Traditionally, jobs are determined by caste. Untouchables have the worst jobs. Modern laws ban discrimination against untouchables, but in many parts of India, families from this caste still suffer.
Breaking the Cycle
Eight years ago, Abraham George, a New Jersey businessman, bought a
barren plot of land in Baliganapalli. George wanted to help the poorest
people in India, the country where he was born. He invested $15 million
and turned the dry land into a world-class boarding school called Shanti
Bhavan, which means "home of peace."
George built modern classrooms and playgrounds and hired teachers. The children at the school live in cheerful rooms and have clean clothes, nutritious meals and quality health care. Best of all, Shanti Bhavan is free.
"We want them to grow up to be healthy, happy and productive human beings," says George. "Just because their parents work as ragpickers doesn't mean the children can't be tomorrow's leaders."
By the time they are in fourth grade, students at the school are fluent in three languages. "I've never seen kids who love learning so much," says Lindsay Oishi, a teacher from Hawaii. "Their enthusiasm is contagious."
Karthika, 12, has been at Shanti Bhavan for six years. She visits her mother twice a year. Karthika's home is a small shack. There is no running water. But she is not ashamed of her family. "Yes, it feels different when I go home, but I teach my mother the alphabet and the things I have learned about the world," she says. "Once I'm old enough, I'll be able to help my whole family so they don't have to live like this."