A 16-year-old girl involves people from Canada, Asia and Europe to make a difference in India

June 2013. My Chinese friend Sophy sends me a Facebook message asking whether I know any school that would need a donation of uniforms. Apparently, her Chinese friend in Canada is running an organization that raises funds to make uniforms for underprivileged children. Amidst many emails, my internship in Brussels, the reports of Baltic-Arab study visit that I organized in Spring, I reply to her: “Yes, indeed, I happen to know such a school.”

June 2012. Agnija goes to India. That brings me back to June, 2012. Delhi. Probably the worst month to be in India under that unbearable heat and relentless sweat. Yet, this is the time when I am hosted by an inspiring lady who tells me that she is living her dream: she has opened a school for street children in New Delhi. This is not an easy mission to carry though since she has to struggle with lots of financial constraints and management issues. However, she doesn’t even think of giving up. Together with her husband and her son they have chosen to live a modest life in their two bedroom apartment in Baljeet Nagar whereas her school nowadays brings education to more than 110 street children. Through her organization Wahoe Commune hosts volunteers from all over the world to keep her school and other projects running. I am so inspired by her experience that I write a short story about my visit.

Esther (first from the right) and her first donated uniforms to kids from Youmazhai school. China, 2012.

July 2012. Esther goes to China. Irrespective of my story in India, another story begins in China one month later. Esther Yishu Luo is a 13-year-old Chinese girl. Together with her family she has emigrated to Canada. That summer, however, she decides to go to Hunan province in China – her hometown – to teach English at a rural school named Youmazhai. Though she spends there only a few days, she builds close relationships with 21 children who are seven and ten years old. Apart from teaching English, she helps them set up their first electric light, as well as donates stationaries and a set of uniform for each bought from her parents’ money. “When I saw these children wearing uniforms, they looked as if they were a powerful group of youth,” Esther says. After a few months when she is already back in Canada, Esther receives a photo of the school. She is speechless. Her small action has urged the principal to hire people and renovate it: the porous roof has been fixed, plastic windows replaced with brand new glass windows, a new basketball court built in front of the school. “I was surprised at the power of a high school student, and this entire experience inspired me to create the Uniform Dream Society,” Esther recalls.

January 2014. I am in India again, and all of a sudden get a message from my Chinese friend Sophy. She wishes me a happy New Year and tells that the money for the uniforms has been raised, and soon they are going to be dispatched to India. I suddenly remember the amazing project and the contacts of Sonu that I passed to Sophy half a year ago. This is when Sophy introduces me to Esther, a 16 year-old-girl and the president of the Uniform Dream Society. Uniforms for kids in Baljeet Nagar, New Delhi is their first project. I am curious to hear how they managed to raise the money. “In various ways,” Esther tells me, “but the most common ones were school fund raisers and sponsorships.” At school, their three club coordinators organized fund raisers such as pizza sales, phone-case sales, and many other sales. However, that didn’t bring a lot of profit, and they needed sponsorships too. They talked to many companies and entrepreneurs, and some of them were willing to support the project. That’s how approximately 3200 dollars were raised. Then the money was sent to a factory in China where uniforms were made. Each set of a uniform included a t-shirt, a short, a jacket and a track pant.

February 2014. Having learnt that I am in India, Esther asks whether I would still be there in March to take photos of the kids receiving their uniforms. Unfortunately, I can’t stay longer than February, but I promise her that an Indian friend of mine would do it. This seems like the easiest job ever to take photos of happy kids in their new uniforms. No such luck. At this point, the problems only began.

March 2014. Because uniforms were addressed to Sonu and not to her NGO, they have gained a commercial and not a charitable purpose. This is a serious mistake, for which Sonu is asked to pay 20’000 Indian rupees for the customs clearance and 42’000 Indian rupees for duty and ware house charges (in total 1054 USD). Moreover, when my friend Naveen (who was supposed to take photos of the happy children) finds out the situation, the uniforms from Delhi airport have already been transported to Mumbai. Naveen starts calling his friends and friends of friends to find out what can be done to prove that uniforms are sent as a charity and whether it’s possible to waive the charges. Since uniforms are in Mumbai, we also involve Oksana, another friend of mine living there. We ask her to call and double check all the details with Mumbai airport. The idea of not paying anything and having uniforms being returned to China pops in the minds, however after some time we learn that it is not possible. We have to pay, otherwise uniforms will be auctioned. It takes time again to figure out what exactly we have to pay for and whether we would receive receipts for each payment. Finally, a letter from Esther is sent to prove that the organization is non-profit, and we manage to waive some of the extra charges. Other than that, the initially requested 62’000 Indian rupees are being transferred from the Uniform Dream Society to India.

May 2014. Because of many obstacles with communication and transportation, it takes ten months to finish the entire project which involves around 80 people from China, India, Canada, and Latvia. Among them are members of Uniform Dream Society, people from the factory in China, many sponsors, courier in India and individuals like Sophy, Oksana, Naveen and myself who happened to be in the right time, place and position to help. Despite not knowing each other, despite time zones and daily jobs, we joined our hands and dealt with the challenge. I woke up and got updates about India side from Naveen and Oksana who were about to have lunch, then I told that to Esther. We were thinking what to do next before she soon had to go to bed. Then Naveen and Oksana kept calling other Indian contacts to confirm the details. At some point there was a situation that Naveen was in Dubai out of reach, I was in Georgia, the man who provided us with his bank details wouldn’t give them to Oksana as he had already given them to Naveen. Yet, we had to manage. Endless discussions, emails, phone-calls, struggling, doubting and double-checking until 18th of May when the uniforms finally reached Sonu. A day later, they were distributed to the children. And only then my friend Naveen got to take the photos.

“Now they will feel that they are going to school. Before, they might have had a feeling that this was an educational centre,” says Sonu’s husband who is a great support to his wife. Sonu agrees that uniforms will be much appreciated as children come from poor families and some of them went to school with torn clothes, some didn’t have pullovers or sweaters. “Until now, people donated us old clothes, but of course uniform is the best idea because all children will become equal at school, and there won’t be any partiality.”

Esther adds that it’s not only about the uniform itself. “We provide a connection for the children to the outside world. By wearing uniforms, children feel equal to each other and some might feel less discriminated,” says Esther, herself being a 10th grade student at Prince of Wales Secondary School in Vancouver, Canada. Though she too has to go to school, Uniform Dream Society is already raising funds for the next uniform project – 75 children from Guizhou, China – who will also be given a chance to feel that they are actually going to school.

Kids from a slam school in Baljeet Nagar, New Delhi receiving their uniforms donated by Uniform Dream Society. Photo by Naveen.

Kids from a slam school in Baljeet Nagar, New Delhi wearing their new uniforms donated by Uniform Dream Society. Photo by Naveen.