Several years ago, a fund was established to finance an annual scholarship for the education of a young student in Nepal.  For many years, the club sent a young boy, Berat, to school by paying for his tuition, housing and school uniform.  He has recently graduated from school.

Two new students in India have now been granted annual support.  The older of the two girls is 7 year old Manimegalai.  Both of her parents died of AIDS.  She is not infected. She lived on the street with her grandmother before coming to live at a girl’s shelter called Paadhai.

The younger girl is Abirami who is 5 and a half. She comes from a broken home where her father was an alcoholic. Her mother who is a sweeper, separated from her Abirami’s father but was unable to care properly for Abirami who was left for long periods of time unsupervised on the streets. She also now lives full time at Paadhai.

Paadhai is a street shelter that is well known to Dr. Jim and has received support from StreetKeepers International.  It is well managed and does wonderful work on a shoe string budget.  The Rotary Club of Guelph-Trillium will be providing tuition, school uniforms, books and school supplies for both girls.