The Shekhwara Village School (formerly known and founded as the Kirwin James International School) is doing great!
As the Fall season is upon us here in the United States, it is always a healthy mental exercise to be reminded of how much we have to be thankful for. It is also important to recall how our good deeds have helped others. I call that having a “Good Harvest” as in the adage “you reap what you sow.”
Even small things done with love can make a huge impact in another person’s life: a few words of support to a friend, a smile of encouragement to a young student, a small online donation to a cause you feel is worthy, or a forgiveness of a small debt. Each small deed, each good act that helps another, adds up to a Good Harvest.
Below are a few examples of our donor’s Good Harvest this Fall with their support of KIRF’s “Shekhwara India Project.” The Shekhwara India Project helps support the educational and health care programs that are free for local families in need at the Shekhwara Village School in rural Bihar near Bodhgaya. The school was founded in 2009 as the Kirwin James International School.
We are grateful to each donor of KIRF’s ongoing “Shekhwara India Project.”
The Shekhwara India Project is currently helping provide a high quality academic education for nearly a 100 rural kids who live in villages without electricity or indoor plumbing near Bodhgaya, India. Without donors support of the Shekhwara Village School these kids would not have access to a superior Indian-standards based academic education. They especially would not be getting it (as well as their textbooks, educational supplies, sports equipment and school uniforms) for free.
Please read on for a brief report from the school’s on-site administrator in India:
“Our School is running very well.
The big festival season is over now.
About 90 to 95 students are coming everyday.
They are coming to the school regularly and studying very hard and carefully. They are all local rural village students who understand the importance of education.
Many have gone to the local government school as well as our KIRF school. Some younger students said that our school education is better.
Each of our four teachers work very hard and enjoy teaching our students carefully and heartily.Snacks – Students get snacks everyday in lunch time. Some of them experience food insecurity regularly so the food is received with gratitude.
Sweaters – Winter session is started here. We distributed the donated sweaters to 95 students. They are very happy to get their new sweaters.
They give thanks to all of the donors who are continuing their generous support of our school.
We all are very grateful to all of you.”And, he wrote in an earlier report:
“Our sewing center is running very well. About 25 to 30 girls come every day.
Some new girls are also coming after the Fall admission in their sewing class.
Some older girls have since been married and they are no longer coming. Their lives are with their husband’s families. But they are still sewing at their in-laws and are earning money according to their families’ reports.
Thanking You,
Taj”**
In addition, the local wells funded by KIRF, a crucial source of water for many of the local families in nearby villages, are being maintained regularly and are in working order per our last “well report”.
The school’s KIRF Sewing Centre vocational training program for young and married women is going strong with the new sewing machines purchased this year, supplies, and an excellent new sewing instructor.
Local families are still able to get health assessments and basic care on the weekend’s at the school’s on-site Kirwin International Health Clinic.
From all of us here and in rural Bihar, India…
Thank you and Namaste!
Angela R. Kirwin
Co-Founder
Kirwin International Relief Foundation
Scroll down to see more recent photos taken at the Shekhwara Village School:
**We received the above school report from the administrator of the Shekhwara Village School on November 13, 2014. It was edited for brevity by KIRF’s Co-Founder, Angela R. Kirwin.
