Soap, blankets, toothpaste & toothbrushes, rice, a thermos, headsets for learning, winter jackets or a visit to the dentist. These are the Advent calendar wishes of the street children from Sunshine Project India. We are happy to support these children’s wishes.
The wishes of the 270 Sunshine Kids are financed by the so-called “Christmas Ornament Donation Campaign” in which we are participating this year. This year, due to the pandemic, we are not throwing a big Christmas party. Instead, we are donating the amount and the sum for our employee Christmas presents to the Sunshine Project India in the name of our entire team.
Our employee Yvonne Blank has been involved with the Sunshine Project for over ten years. She has already been able to visit the children on site in New Delhi several times. Mrs. Blank is always fascinated and moved by the children and enjoys telling about her first visit to the Sunshine Project, where she asked a girl of about 5 years what she would like to be when she grows up. The five-year-old answered immediately and with a serious face: “I want to be a lawyer or a doctor one day, that I can help my family later.” “This answer touched me,” said Yvonne Blank, “I might have gotten “model” or “influencer” as an answer from a girl of the same age at our school.”
The Sunshine Project is an institution financed by donations and voluntary work that helps street children to find a better life. The children all live with their parents in slums in New Delhi. Their parents are among the poorest of the poor and usually send the children to beg on the streets. Some children have even been mutilated to attract more sympathy when begging.
The Sunshine Project takes the children off the streets. They are provided with everything they need to live. The parents no longer have any running costs for their children. They only have to provide them with a place to sleep. The children can wash themselves in the premises of the Sunshine Project, they get fresh clothes, medical care, warm meals, the possibility to educate themselves and simply a place where they can be a child. The ultimate goal of the project is to send all children to school to give them the opportunity for a better life outside of poverty.
In doing so, the initiators repeatedly encounter major barriers in the Indian bureaucracy, because none of the children has a birth certificate or any other identification document, for example. Often the parents do not even know the date of birth of their own children. But with a lot of commitment, passion and of course regular financial support through sponsorships and one-time donations, especially from Germany, the impossible is made possible again and again. Many of the older children have now even graduated from universities or completed an apprenticeship and are now able to take care of their families financially. The children are often among the best in their schools and universities. This is because these children have understood that only education can pave the way to a better and, above all, self-determined life for them.
The pandemic exacerbated the situation for the children and their families. During the lockdown, “education” had to be put on hold and for those responsible there was only one goal: to keep all the children and their families alive. This has been achieved through food donations and donated vaccination doses, as well as hygiene items. Currently, the children can learn and go to school together again. Financially, however, the worthwhile work of the project was set back by years due to the pandemic.
Therefore, we support the children of Sunshine Project India with our donation this year.
You can find more information about the Sunshine Kids and their touching story at:
