My first meeting with my new friend

Today I started out with reading my blog from last week to see where I needed to pick-up.
Only then I realized that the link to the You Tube video was not working, so here it is again. Hopefully it will work this time.

                        
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyPhiAClack


                           
                                          Gopal on You Tube

So, being thrilled, as I was, I was anxious to here from Line. And I did. On the 18th of April she send me an e-mail. They finally new who the young man was, and indeed he was part of the Night School program.  Line told me, they would be taking it upon them to check if he would be interested in Second Chance School and we would take it from there. Of course that was not exactly what happened, but anyway...

                

Job, fooling around with a coolie basket on INA market

And again, I had to wait what was going to happen next. It was kinda weird to be often at the INA market, seeing my/our friend there and not being able to discuss this whole matter. But that is exactly what I did and looking backwards I think it was a good approach. Although we did not talk about the program, we did talk to him in general and for some reason he always spotted me, or any other member of my family upon arrival the market. And of course that meant that he always got the job. Meanwhile the other coolies hardly ever bother asking us if we need a coolie because they know their friend will step in soon :-)

On the Tuesday April 23, I was finally going to be properly introduced to our friend. I would be meeting up with Line and Ashish in front of the Dilli Haat around nine p.m. when the coolies are done with their work and come to school. Then we would pay a visit to INA Night School togheter. Ashish was going to make sure our friend was gonna be there and so he was. And now I'm happy to introduce to all of you, my friend Govind.

So this is Govind, here posing for a picture on the market with my son Job. Govind had a really bad start in life as a young kid. I don't know all the details yet, but I will probably learn more about him in time. Even as a kid in his village he rarely attended school for different reasons, mainly family matters. Govind came from a small village in Utar Pradesh to Delhi at the age of 12 and started working on the market. His father is an alcoholic who hardly ever worked throughout his life. And on the rare occasions he did, he spent his money afterwards on booze. I understood that there was also a lot of aggression going on at his home while growing up in the village. Govind being the only boy in the family could only do one thing, go to Delhi and work, as lots of young boys from Utar Pradesh do. At the moment Govind is 18 and a half, he has no dreams left, he has no future ahead, but he still has his pride, his hope and his lively spirit. I admire him for those facts.



That evening I had the chance to talk to Govind. I asked him how he would feel about attending Second Chance School, creating a better future for himself. He was very quiet, shy and nervously playing around with a cord on his arm. He told me he would have to talk to his parents, as he was providing for his family. His whole family, father, mother and three sisters relies on his income of approximately 7000-8000 INR a month. (that would be around 95 to 115 Euro's). At the end of this month his older sister marries and he could ask his parents, if they would allow him to go to school, during this visit to his hometown. But they would probably not let him do so.

That's when I asked him, what if we would take care of this monthly income, the cost for Second Chance School, school materials etc. and healthcare bills? If the money problem where to be solved, would he like to go trough the program and get of the market? His face lit up immediately and he answered with a big smile.
Yes, he would love to have an opportunity to make a difference. 
Ashish told Govind that he would need to be telling his parent,s that he would be able to get a much better job, with better wages after attending the Second Chance School and he promised to do so.

We talked for some time and then suddenly, he dropped his head again and mumbled something to Ashish in Hindi. Ashish smiled at me and translated Govind's question. What would I expect of Govind in return for all of this, what would he need to be doing for this? Nothing of course, I answered Ashish, my reward will be to see Govind get a grip on his life and future. Govind looked at me and I could almost feel his relief, it was a touching moment.

And that is where we are now. On the 24. of May Govind will go home and discuss the matter with his parents. I will be traveling to Germany and the Netherlands too, with my family around the end of May. After that, we will be making a holiday trip. When we come back around the end of June Govind can hopefully start his Second Chance life, by the grace of his parents. Before all of that, we will pay a visit to the Second Chance School to meet up with the other guys and here from them how they are all doing and what Second Chance School means to them.

Next time I will be writing about my visit to the Second Chance School. Hope you all will be reading my blog again. Who knows, maybe we could inspire more people to do the same thing? That would be just great. At the Night School I met Gopal, the boy in the You Tube video. Still on the market (a young man now working hard every single day. Still with hope in his eyes, that some day, something will change. Still with a big smile and a friendly word. I just wish I could help more of these young men. They are so eager and willing to learn that they really deserve a chance. And we can purchase a chance for them for about 3-4 Lakh a year (depending on whether the boys/young men are sending money home or not.)You can really change somebodies life for the better. That's one year 350-400 Euro's a month. Might seem a lot, but it buys them a new life,a future. I am convinced that it will pay back to society in the form of working, educated individuals who can take care of themselves and their families.

Bye for now

ps: I did find out that the names Govind and Gopal are linked ;-), coincidence  maybe so, but if I could inspire somebody to help him too, then that would be fantastic. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govinda)