Over 15 years ago two former teachers at AES started the Reach Out club to assist the families of the Vivekanand jhuggi colony next to the school campus. The program grew over the years, offering the children a chance to come onto the AES campus for an hour each week to play games, providing them with school uniforms and basic school supplies and arranging for health care for the mothers and their children through a concerned physician.

This year about 100 high school students and a dedicated group of teachers have joined the program. They organize and supervise activities for 300-350 jhuggi children and mothers every Thursday afternoon. The children range in age from infants to 17-year-olds. They are met at Gate 2 with a warm smile, a box of juice and cookies. From there they can go to a medical station, a hair washing station, or to stations for arts and crafts, field games, card games, tricycles and stuffed animals for the younger children, computer instruction and games, and tutoring in school subjects.

However, Reach Out goes beyond these weekly activities. We believe the most important factor in improving the quality of life for the underprivileged is education. Each year Reach Out provides two school uniforms each for about 220 children. These are mandatory for their admission to school. The uniforms are given to the students contingent on their attending school at least 75% of the time. The local school principals have been very cooperative in providing us with attendance records. Making the uniforms involves over 2000 meters of cloth and a month’s work for six tailors. These tailors are themselves jhuggi residents, so the money paid for making the uniforms goes into the jhuggi economy.

In addition to the school uniforms, Reach Out also provides some school supplies to the children, pays a doctor to provide a clinic each Thursday with subsidized prescriptions, and provides the children and mothers with juice and cookies each week. When resources have permitted we have helped high school graduates pursue higher education by providing grants and loans. Last year we were also able to provide typhoid shots to over 460 jhuggi residents. Total expenses for 2003-2004 came to over Rs 245,000, which is typical for the past few years.

It has long been the policy of Reach Out to keep our students focused on their interaction with the jhuggi children. As a result, we have avoided involving them in fundraising and have relied on donations from the community. The donations have come from a variety of sources, and last year we received over Rs 176,000. The donors include the International Food Fair, the American Women’s Association, and the PSA. Many others - faculty, students, and parents – have contributed to the cause. In addition, Mrs. Priya Ahuja has very generously donated most of the uniform cloth for the past several years, for which we are very grateful.

With continued community involvement, we can work to improve the lives of our neighbors and help our children to see the benefits of helping others. If you would like to learn more about Reach Out, or would like to make a contribution, please contact Sangeeta Kala (SKala@aes.ac.in ) or John McCandless (JMcCandless@aes.ac.in ).