Nisha was barely three when an accident claimed her parents? lives. All she could understand was that her parents would never come back again and that she and her sister Poonam, five then, will be staying with their grandparents henceforth. For their grandparents providing bread and butter was a formidable enough task, education for their granddaughters was not on their priority list. Thanks to Save the Children India, Nisha and Poonam were enrolled in a balwadi. Today, they are pursuing elementary level in Bombay Municipal Corporation school.
Save The Children India (STCI), an NGO, has its own set of challenges to meet. While they have ideals, vision and a goal, funds are always a problem. That?s a gap that the corporates like Lanxess step in to fill. Lanxess recently donated money to STCI and also adopted five pre-school centres. ?Procuring funds from the government is difficult?very difficult. We have big dreams, but shallow pockets. Resources are very important. How else do we proceed,? says Subadra Anand, CEO, STCI acknowledging the aid Lanxess India, an enterprise in speciality chemicals with sales of 6.61 billion euros, has offered. Presently SCTI is running 150 balwadis in Mumbai.
Recently, the children of STCI also joined Lanxess employees for a tree plantation drive. ?We are trying to give a human face to social and environmental issues. We believe that it is important to empower future generations of the nation to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development. Partnering with STCI is a step towards creating a society, where people enjoy a safer and more prosperous future,? says DG Talekar, director, Lanxess India. Talekar believes that it?s important for corporates to go beyond statutory compliances and put something back into society, an attempt that?s directly beneficial to its local community. ?Quality primary education can be a firm foundation for the bright future of children. We have thus taken up this issue at the corporate level,? he adds.
Lanxess has also joined hands with Bombay Teen Challenge, an NGO working with drug-addicted youth, women trapped in prostitution, the at-risk daughters of prostitutes and street children, who are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, especially beggar children. ?Not many corporates have extended aid to us. We primarily rely on individual contributions and Church donations,? says Sandesh Wamankadam, project in-charge at Bombay Teen Challenge. 13-year-old Azad knows what a penny is worth. He was rescued from the streets of Mumbai by Bombay Teen Challenge four years ago. He had escaped the beatings of his parents in Bhopal only to fall in the trap of drug addiction. A student of class five now, he looks forward to a bright future now. That?s the cause to be for Lanxess which takes care of the tuition fees for 76 children like Azad. So, will others join the bandwagon?
