Why provide help

To understand why your support is so crucial we need to look at the current situation in India. The largest number of people suffering from hunger live in India, with over 200 million. Apart from booming cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and touristic hotspots, most of India consists of rural areas which struggle with poor education, unemployment and lack of infrastructure, such as electricity and running water.  As a result of malnutrition or lack of medical treatment, many people are crippled and unable to support themselves.

Disadvantaged rural population

More than 60% of the Indian population still makes a living through the agriculture industry, although it is no longer a significant economic factor. The land is exhausted and poisoned by pesticides. Many farmers fell into debt due to exorbitant interest rates for allegedly better seeds from the West. Unfortunately these seeds easily fall victim to the aggravating monsoon or droughts and farmers lose their whole crop. This has led to a series of farmer suicides which alerted the Indian public. But due to lack of education, they have no alternatives or prospect of any regular income.

Governmental measures

There are well-meant government nutrition, employment and training programmes, but they often fail in practice. People are skeptical about politicians because of corruption. In reality only few measures reach those in need. These people themselves are sadly too ignorant to demand their rights. Many are even illiterate. In some areas this kind of destitution is leading to massive alcohol and drug problems, which contribute to an even worse situation within families.

Social discrimination

For centuries certain prejudices shape the common thinking such as the caste system and the disregard for women. If a child from a lower caste manages to attend school at all, teachers and even other children from higher caste can still disadvantage them which causes these children from lower caste to avoid school.
The differences in caste system are so deeply embedded in the people that sometimes government food rations which are meant for the poor are preferably fed to the cattle by the persons in charge in order to avoid dealing with the poor and ‘untouchables’. Girls are often aborted because at time of their wedding the demanded dowries are too high and not affordable. If they are allowed to grow up, a prevailing attitude is that an education for girls is considered not worth while.

Helping people to help themselves

As long as this condition persists, compassion and solidarity across continents are required. We want to tackle the very root of these problems. Since they are all connected, we decided to focus on education,  healthcare, and women empowerment.

These three areas influence each other: Disease without treatment leads to long-term drop-out at work and at school. The result is a lack of income, which leads to hunger and malnutrition. School attendance prevented by illness or discrimination in the case of girls, for example, has an impact on career opportunities and thus on the basic living conditions.

Lack of education favors old thinking patterns and behaviors. This hampers social changes such as equal rights for women, which also barrs the opportunity to acquire an additional income. It is statistically proven that in countries where women have access to education, poverty is much lower.

So it is possible to improve the lives of the poor with targeted measures and make the world a little bit better day by day.