The Power of Education

This photo essay was submitted by photographer Amiran White.







I first visited Shanti Bhavan in the south of India at the end of 2008 and have made several trips back. Shanti Bhavan, which means ‘Haven of Peace,’ is a residential school in south India. The free school offers the best education possible to children from India's lowest caste, the dalits, enabling the students to dream of becoming doctors and astronauts rather than the rag-picker and cleaner jobs they would have been destined for.



The project began with one man, Dr. Abraham George, and his belief that education can change people’s lives more than anything else. Through his dedication and that of the teachers, they have kept the doors open for 10 years, but recent financial difficulties have halted the intake of any more students.

I was taken with the children’s openness and conviction that anything is possible. They aspire to give back to their communities. It’s a brilliant model for how we can help from the ground up, a model that could be taken not just throughout India but to any country, giving everyone the power of education — something that can be given and never taken away.

A DAY IN SERAMPORE

Tamrah Schaller O’Neil can be contacted directly regarding Pathways to Children.



Our day starts at 5:15 a.m. when we head over to “Mother House” to go to mass. We leave our shoes at the door. The nuns sit on the floor in prayer or reading their bible while we wait for the priests to enter and lead 6 a.m. mass. A crow outside the open window interrupts my thoughts with its relentless call. During the homily, horns drown out the voice of the priest from time to time. It is a good sermon nonetheless. We head back to the hotel for breakfast in the traffic which is packed with trucks, buses, rickshaws, mini-taxi’s called autos, bikes, dogs, goats and many pedestrians.

Wall of manureAfter breakfast we drive to a small village called Serampore. I try not to pay attention to passing cars because our life seems to be in jeopardy every few minutes. I have prayed a lot while in Kolkata. We arrive safely, and walk to the school we are going to visit. We pass a home where one wall is made of manure patties – probably very insulating and free but it doesn’t have a great perfume.

We enter the school and are greeted with flowers from the children. This is a Calcutta Mercy Hospital-sponsored school called “Monimala: childcare and non-formal education and counseling center for underprivileged children.” It has three classrooms for sixty or so students ages 2-17. They teach English and Bengali and also teach the older students vocational skills such as sewing, knitting and computers. We are entertained by children’s songs and clapping.

Child Addiction

This post was submitted by photographer Nathan Golden



Street children living at the Howrah Railway Station near Kolkata, India, take care of themselves and each other in an otherwise uncaring environment. I was moved by their ability to generate a community and to survive. They represent tremendous potential that is wasted and in danger of being lost altogether.

Restoring Sight

This post was submitted by photographer Kaushal Parikh




Cataracts are the most common cause of partial and complete blindness in India. Few facilities in rural areas have the means to complete the simple surgery it takes to remove cataracts.



Every year a charitable organization called iCare organizes a cataract eye camp at the Baba Amtes ashram in the small town of Anandwan. At the camp, two renowned cataract surgeons from Mumbai spend a week operating on more than one thousand villagers, including lepers and children.