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The places I've been, and the things I've seen as an Asha volunteer... I
would love to describe all of the amazing things I've witnessed that
have been made possible by Asha for Education, but there is insufficient
space on this page to do them justice.
I'll use the space that I do have, though, to describe a site visit to an Asha-endowed rural school outside of Chennai,
the SEED project
It was a seemingly nondescript location as we approached, where at first it was hard to tell if we would find a small factory, a farm hut, or an empty field. What was there, though, was a safe haven for children of broken families.
Children of criminals and prostitutes who had been removed from society, who had left their infants and toddlers to struggle and fend for themselves.
Instead, they were being given an education in a safe, tranquil environment. And they were happy.
Several of the small children ran over to me, asked me my name,
asked to have their picture taken with me, and then grabbed my hands and dragged me off to show them all of the things they were learning, full of smiles.
They took me to their computer lab, where they had three old, carefully maintained and functional PCs under protective plastic, and showed me the notebooks
they were keeping with notes from all of their computer lessons.
They showed me their classrooms, the artwork they had produced in art class (rather impressive,
some of it), and where they kept their books and pens. So high on life, so eager to learn... to think about this opportunity that these kids had been given, and to
see them taking full advantage of it was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
I have bad knees and I doubt I could survive a full or even a half marathon, so I'm devoting all of my energy to cycling.
This year I am training for the annual MS ride, 175 miles on the weekend of September 10th.
For this ride, in addition to collecting pledges for Asha, I am also collecting pledges for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
More information about the ride and the donation page for MS can be found here:
MS Bike Ride
Countless hours of training and over 9 hours of a highly intense cycling through Missouri countryside will undoubtedly be worth it knowing that the lives of children half way around the world are being transforming in amazing ways.
So, please, make at least a small donation, or pledge per mile (just remember that there will be 175 of them), and remember that Asha has no administrative overhead: 100% of the money you donate will get channeled to one of our outstanding projects.
Thank you!
Alternatively, mail cheques payable to: "Asha for Education"
with "Derek Shaffer - Team Asha St. Louis 2011" printed in the memo to:
Asha for Education, St. Louis Chapter
P.O Box 11025,
Clayton MO 63105
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