Bhargavi is a little girl I met in the Pallamalli village in India. She is 10 years old and she’s in 5th grade. She goes to the Vidyaniketan High School, which is a school with 3 campuses- Upper, Middle, and Lower School- with classes from Kindergarten to High School. In school she studies: Telugu, English, Hindi, Math, Science/EVS Studies, Computers, and General Knowledge. She told me that her favorite subject is English, but her highest marks are in Hindi with all A+’s. Bargavi seems to have a gift with languages since she speaks Telugu and English at the CCDC program, and possibly Hindi at home. She is very smart and has all A’s and B’s on her report card.
Bhargavi at school
Bhargavi has a brother named Bhanuteja who is 4 years old and also in the CCDC program. In her free time, she likes to play games with her friends, read books, and write. She also helps her parents out with the sweeping and she cooks with her mother. She dreams of someday becoming a doctor.
Bhargavi with her CCDC friends
Before Bhargavi was part of the CCDC program, she went to a government school, but now she can afford to go to a private school with CCDC’s help. Private schools in India give the children an opportunity to learn English, which gives them a better opportunity of getting a good job someday.
Children that are sponsored by the CCDC program are taken from poor communities that usually wouldn’t be able to send their children to school otherwise. The program provides their family with money for the child’s education and a meal each day, which usually consists of a hard-boiled egg, milk, and sometimes biscuits. When I asked Bhargavi what she would like to say to sponsors back in America who are able to provide her with an education and a future, she said, “Thank you for helping me!” in perfect English.
Bhargavi has been in the CCDC program for 4 years. If she didn’t have CCDC in her life, she would still be going to a government school, and her parents may have only been able to afford to send either her or her brother to school. This is the difficult decision that parents are faced with in India. Bhargavi is lucky that she and her brother Bhanuteja are both able to be a part of CCDC. Because of this program, they are both given an opportunity to pursue their education and make their future brighter than that of their parents.
