Humanity – Thy name is Aashayein Foundation

This photo blog is part of Weekly Photo Challenge: Humanity.

Seeing a hand go up in despair, there were more hands ready to hold. I saw several times a hand dipped in warmth satiating a hungry stomach. Smiles have been shared with bountiful of joys – relieving of pain and sorrows, however momentarily it may be. I have come across many familiar faces who opened the doors of world – book – for these not-so-fortunate children who always wanted to study. These cute innocent faces are so unaware of the worldly materialism that a warm hug is just enough to win their sobbing hearts. I feel blessed to have often heard words like ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ from these little angels and fairies.

It is not that any of us ever aspired to be remembered as ‘good Samaritan’. But we definitely wanted to touch the right chords of life, known as Humanity. And that’s what few of us have always aspired to do in Aashayein Foundation – be closer to hearts and humanity.

Aashayein Foundation (AF) is a non-profit organization started in 2007, which aims to provide education to the underprivileged students. I have been running Hyderabad (India) chapter of the Foundation since its inception in 2008. There are a number of dedicated and passionate members, mostly youngsters their twenties or early thirties. Without them, the several stories of humanity in Aashayein Foundation would have been difficult to achieve.

Bacche Mann ke Sacche (BMKS) is the major project run in AF. In this project, we are currently sponsoring the education of 65 underprivileged students in Hyderabad and over 200 students in Bangalore (India). These students come from poor families, having constraints to fulfill the needs of their kid’s education. They are admitted in various government, government-aided and private schools of the city. During last few years, students have passed their school examinations with flying colors. They have now colors of education in their life. Some of them now dream to become doctor someday, some aspire to act, few wants to join police forces and serve the society, and some study to become scientist. Each of them is finding his / her sky. They all are enjoying the fresh air of education, and so many parents have a sense of pride in their hearts. This project would not have been conceived without our generous donors who have adopted the education of students. You can also be part of this project and hold a child’s hand in its journey towards stars.

All these years, we have run and celebrated the success of several projects, events, fund-raisers, and campaigns. They are all aimed to spread smile on every child’s face and for “nurturing hopes”, as we proudly call it.

This photo blog is dedicated to the efforts of all those hands and hearts, who have contributed – time, money, efforts and wishes – during our journey. Credit for some of these photos goes to other volunteers of AF as well – Rajesh, Animesh, Snehith, Phani, Srinath, Varun, Bharath, Rakesh. Let me know in case I missed anyone else.

During this journey of last 8 years, we have come across and visited more than 200 orphanages in Hyderabad where we served Sunday morning breakfast to the children, and spent productive time with them, creatively. These photos capture some of those memories.

Let me name few children’s homes and NGOs who are doing amazing work in Hyderabad. Sphoorti, Sadhana Welfare Home for Mentally challenged children, Serve The Needy (an NGO), Ashray Akruti, Aman Vedika, Aadarana Foundation, Care & Love Children’s Home, Amma Foundation, SriVidhya Center for Special Children, Vaidehi Home for Destitute Girls, Forum for Street Children, HCHW, Shanti Ashram for HIV Kids, GM Foundation Special School.

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