Creating a new future

Rani is an Indus Academy mentor in our Khamman school. She has been a part of the Edu@BoP program since we started the first school in rural Andhra Pradesh in June, 2008 and was one of the first recruits to be taken on through our mentor certification program.

Rani is one of four daughters. Both her parents were coolies (daily wage workers) and hence could not afford to continue their children's education beyond a certain point. But Rani was determined to fight the odds against her and decided at an early age to get a basic formal education and realize her dream of having a self-sufficient life without depending on her parents. In fact she wanted to support them when she would grow up.

Despite there not being any electricity in the village Rani grew up in, she did not let this deter her from her goal of studies. When they finally did get electricity, Rani and her sister would share the space under one light bulb to study. Subsistence was a major problem during Rani's childhood. She recalls the day thy even ran out of rice.

And ofcourse, the agony of knowing that her elder sister would regularly suffer beatings at the hands of her husband, was enough to shatter Rani's hope of a better happier life. At one point, both she and her sister even contemplated suicide.

Rani has a come a long way since her childhood days. She is now a proud mentor to several underprivileged children like her. And she takes great satisfaction in the fact that she now has the opportunity to help her parents, in return for the sacrifices they made for her upbringing. "I feel free... like a burden has been lifted, I am happy", she says. Armed with a new ambition, Rani has resolved to help those who are suffering and have suffered like her.