Thirteen year old, Appalaraju, is the oldest son of a village mason, Abbulu. He is studying in the 7th grade at Sarada Vidyalayam. His father works as a mason in the town near his village, Kothuru and earns about $4 per day. He doesn’t have a steady work and struggles to support his wife, mother and two children with his earnings.

Under such circumstances, education is never a priority for parents believe that sending their children to work would ensure a supplementary income and because of this, many boys and girls in the rural areas become child laborers, working and supporting their families.

Sarada Vidyalayam helps such children complete their education without any financial burden on their parents. The school maintains a very strict curriculum and provides quality education and imparts good discipline and values to groom them as good citizens.

Your generous donation, Laurent, will enable Sankurathri Foundation to provide a set of two uniforms to Appalaraju, which will last him an entire year.

Thank you, Laurent, for this gift!

Ten year old Lalitha is the oldest of three children. She lives with her parents and a younger sister and a brother, in the village of Kothuru, in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Her father works as a Mason and earns barely $5 per day.

Under such circumstances education is never a priority for them and they believe that by sending the child to work instead of school, they can supplement the family income. For this reason, many boys and girls in rural areas become child laborers and work to support their families.

Sarada Vidyalayam, helps such children complete their education without any financial burden on their parents. The school provides them their basic necessities of tuition fees, study materials, uniform and meals with the help of donors.

The school also maintains a very strict curriculum and provides quality education, imparting good discipline and values to groom them as good citizens.

Lalitha is studying in the 5^th grade at Sarada vidyalayam. Your generous donation, Laurent, enabled Sankurathri Foundation to provide a set of two uniforms for Lalitha, with which she can now look pretty and clean, as she attends school.

Thank you, Laurent, for your kind gesture!

Sixty-eight year old, Appayamma, is an old widow, living with her son’s family in the village of Biccavolu, in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Her son is a washer man by profession and earns up to $100 per month. Up to last year she was able to manage her own chores at home and also help her daughter-in-law with domestic work. But slowly her vision started diminishing and she found it difficult to manage her own personal chores at home, and was very depressed.

She attended the eye screening camp at Biccavolu, organized by Sankurathri Foundation and after a thorough eye examination, was found to have developed a cataract problem and needed to undergo cataract surgery. But knowing her poor financial condition, she was operated free of charge because neither she nor her son could afford to pay for surgery.

Post surgery, she required corrective spectacles to see better. Your generous donation, Gomathy, enabled Sankurathri Foundation to provide her a pair of glasses, with which she can now see very clearly.

Thank you so much, Gomathy, for this kind gesture!

Varalakshmi is the second child of a village mason, Mr. Veerraju. She is studying in grade 3 at Sarada Vidyalayam, the school run by Sankurathri Foundation near Kakinada town in Andhra Pradesh, India. Varalakshmi’s father barely earns enough to support the needs of the family. The children were malnourished and on a hungry stomach, Varalakshmi could not concentrate on her studies when she started schooling.

Your donations have made it possible for Sankurathri Foundation to provide a nutritious lunch comprising of rice, lentils, leafy vegetables and clarified butter to Varalakshmi. She will also be given a glass of milk in the afternoon. With these two food supplements, she will become healthy and active and will also be able to perform well in her studies.

Thank you Laurent (x3), UBS (x3), Trevor, Benjamin (x2) and Debra (x3) for your support and for coming together to provide a year of lunches for little Varalakshmi.

Fifty-eight year old Simhachalam, lives with his wife in the village of Pithapuram, in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Together, they run a small tea-shop to earn a living and barely manage to earn about $2-3, after a full day’s work. They managed their basic needs with this meager sum and had no savings to fall back on, in case of an emergency.

For the last three months, Simhachalam noticed that his vision was diminishing and he could not even differentiate between one and two rupee coins.  They slowly started earning even lesser than usual and he could do nothing to revive his business. He knew if he stopped working, there would be much strain on his wife and he decided to get his eyes examined.

At the same time, Sankurathri Foundation was organizing a free eye-camp, in his village and he made the most of it and went for a complete eye check-up. It was here that he was diagnosed with a problem of refractive error and was advised to buy glasses for better vision. He confessed that he did not have much money left to buy a pair of glasses.

Your generous donation, Laurent, enabled Sankurathri Foundation to provide him a pair of glasses with which he can now see clearly.

He is very excited and is keen on reviving his business. Your support, Laurent, comes as a big relief to Simhachalam and he can’t thank you enough for this gesture!

Sixty-seven year old, Venkanna, lives with his wife Papamma in the village of Samalkot, in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Venkanna and Papamma, have two sons and one daughter.

About 15 days back while he was  returning home from work, Venkanna collided with a two-wheeler and fractured his right hand, in the accident. He also broke his glasses, when he fell down and was having trouble, finding his way around.

His wife, who works as a house maid, took good care of her husband and nursed him back to good health. But his vision had diminished further because of not wearing glasses for a while. She decided to get Venkanna’s eyes examined and accompanied him to the hospital run by Sankurathri Foundation.

After a complete eye examination, Venkanna was advised to resume wearing corrective glasses. After his accident, they had depleted whatever little they had of their savings for medicines and could not afford to buy glasses.

Your generous donation, Laurent, enabled Sankurathri Foundation to provide him a pair of glasses, with which he can now resume work and also do his personal chores himself.

This comes as a big relief to both, Venkanna and his wife, who can also resume her work. Thanks to your support, together they can work and save up for themselves.

Thank you, Laurent , for your timely help and support!

Sixty-two year old, Pydaiah lives alone in the village of Biccavolu, in coastal Andhra Pradesh.

He has five children, all of whom are married and live separately with their families. Pydaiah, in spite of being an arthritis patient, is forced to work as a daily laborer to fulfill his basic needs. His total earnings per day is $4 which is only sufficient to pay for his meals and medicines.

Because of his poor vision, he got both his eyes operated two years ago and was wearing glasses, without which he can’t see things very clearly. About 10  days ago, when he was working in the fields, his glasses fell down and broke. This worried him because he knew he couldn’t afford to buy one immediately and his work would suffer. With no income, he would not be able to sustain himself and would be forced to turn to his children for help.

He finally decided to ask his children to buy him a new one, but none of them paid heed and had no time for him. In the meanwhile, worried that his number might increase, at his neighbor’s suggestion, Pydaiah went to the hospital run by Sankurathri Foundation for an eye-examination, where he was asked to wear corrective glasses. He confided in the Doctors about his poor economic condition and his lack of family support.

Your generous donation, Laurent, enabled Sankurathri Foundation to provide him a pair of glasses, with which he can now see clearly. He has resumed his work and is very happy that he did not have to plead to his children for help.

Thank you, Laurent for boosting Pydaiah’s confidence by providing a much-needed pair of glasses!

Sixty-five year old, Aaseervadam, is an old widow living with her son, in the village of Biccavolu, in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Her son, who is a daily wage laborer barely earns enough to support the most basic needs of his family. He earns only on the days that he finds work and is struggling to make ends meet.

Aaseervadam, who was quite independent herself, helped around the house with the chores and could also take care of her needs. A year back, she developed a cataract problem in both her eyes, rendering her almost blind.

Under such circumstances, she could not do her basic chores nor help around the house. She knew she would become a burden on her son’s family, if this continued but did not know what to do about it. Her condition depressed her a lot and she finally decided to confide in her son and ask him to accompany her, to the nearest hospital.

She knew this would involve medical and traveling expenses but had no choice, but to depend on her son. After a complete eye-examination, she was informed about her cataract with needed to be operated soon, for her vision to be restored. She confessed to the Doctors at Sankurathri, that she did not have any savings and could not burden her son further, as she knew he was in no position to pay for her surgery.

Your generous donation, Laurent, enabled Sankurathri Foundation to bear the cost of Aaseervadam’s cataract surgery and also cover the cost of her transportation and two post-surgery visits to the Doctor.

Thanks to your support, she can now see clearly and is very happy to be of help in the house. Your timely help not only bailed her out financially but also helped restore her dignity and self-confidence.

Thank you Laurent for helping Aaseervadam, restore her vision and enjoy the remaining years of her life!

Forty-seven year old, Akkamma, is a widow living with her daughter in the village of Kothuru, in coastal Andhra Pradesh. She lost her husband four years ago, to a fatal heart attack. Ever since, she has been bringing up her daughter single-handedly and has taken up tailoring, to earn a living.

She takes up small-time stitching and alteration work from her neighbors and works from home, so she can also take care of her daughter. With her meager income, she meets their basic needs and also pays for her daughter’s education. She is very keen on getting her daughter educated and ensure a bright future for her.

Sadly, for the last six months, she started noticing that her vision was diminishing and had become blurry. She had to strain her eyes to be able to see clearly or even work. Her work started suffering and fewer people called on her, for work.

At that time, when she heard about the free eye screening camp in her village, Kothuru that was being organized by Sankurathri Foundation, she decided to get a complete eye-examination done. She was diagnosed as having Cataract in both her eyes and was advised surgery. With her business having taken a hit, she knew she could not afford to pay for her surgery and had no relatives to borrow money from. She was very upset and uncertain about her daughter’s future, if she was not able to resume working and earning for the two of them.

Your generous donation, Kevin, enabled Sabkurathri to bear the cost of Akkamma’s surgery and also cover the cost for two post-surgery visits to the Hospital.

Thank you so much, Kevin for restoring Akkamma’s vision. She is very thankful to you, for your timely help and support!

Eight year old, Praveen, is the oldest of four children. The family lives in th village of Penumarthi, in coastal Andhra Pradesh. His father, Raghava, is an agricultural laborer and earns a meager sum of $100 a month,to support his family.

With this sum, he can’t afford to pay for the school fee or any other additional expenses of his children. Sankurathri Foundation provides free education to Praveen and he is currently studying in the 2^nd grade at Sarada Vidyalayam, a school run by Sankurathi.

Under such difficult circumstances, education is never a priority for parents and they believe that sending a child to school will at least ensure a supplementary income.

Thus there are many children in the rural areas who drop out of school and work to support their needs. Sarada Vidyalayam, helps children to complete their education without any financial burden to their parents.

The school maintains a very strict curriculum and provides quality education. By imparting discipline and values, they groom children to become responsible citizens.

Praveen  is a very active and bright student. He is a punctual and regular student. Your generous donations, Laurent (x4), UBS (x3) and Daniel (x5) will ensure that Praveen gets to attend another year of school at Sarada Vidyalayam.

Thank you all, for this very thoughtful gift of education for Praveen which comes as a big relief to his parents. Your support is much appreciated!