Visit from CDL - Letter From Aarohan

Dear Cathrine,

Hope everything is fine at your end. We appreciate your innovative ideas like school supply drive "Pencils to Pupils" to raise funds for Aarohan. The children were ecstatic to receive these gifts. We don't have enough words to thank CDL for this kind gesture.

It was a pleasure to have Mr and Mrs Andersen, Johna Tussar Andersen, last week at Aarohan. I hope their visit too was enjoyable and they carry pleasant memories of this trip. They will fill you with personal anecdotes of their visit, particularly to Jagdamba Camp which must have have been a new experience for them. Our children were extremely excited by their presence, especially Johna who spent some time observing our children, interacting with them as well as clicking their photographs. The credit goes to CDL for inculcating the feeling of helping children belonging to weaker sections.




Johna aptly validated this fact when we offered him ceramic bowls made by children of Aarohan. Graciously accepting it, he told us that he would sell those bowls and send the money collected to Aarohan. These kind-hearted and generous thoughts are enough to motivate us. If every educated person thinks and acts like this, the world would be a better place to live.

I am attaching a few photos of that visit for your perusal.

Thanks once again for all you are doing for us.

Yours Sincerely,
Rani Patel

A letter from Aarohan

On Wednesday this week, we received another letter from Aarohan and some more pictures including the above photo of children in front of the new Aarohan centre.

Rani Patel writes:

"I always look forward to mails from CDL as they are a great source of inspiration and a tremendous morale-booster. I don’t have words to thank you for the kind of support CDL is mobilising for Aarohan through various fund-raising initiatives. We, at Aaarohan, feel so blessed with this association.

The new academic session of the schools in Delhi starts in March and, accordingly, we absorb new students at our centre to foster an uninterrupted flow of learning. As per your request, we will definitely keep you updated about happenings at Aarohan from time-to-time. We have already asked our students to chip in about their impressions of our centre and how it has been instrumental in bringing a change in their lives.

As you know our main thrust is to send as many children to schools. Our target area is the nearby slum dwellings of Malviya Nagar. In 2005 when we started this work, hardly 20% of slum children were going to school. Today, I would like to share with great pride that it has multiplied to 80-85% with our sustainability rate hovering over 90%. Definitely, you would be curious about the rest of the 15% who are not attending. It can be attributed to the floating population which keeps migrating to Delhi off and on.

Now we are trying to develop centres in other needy areas. The establishment of Aarohan’s centre at Baripada, Orissa (a state in India) is a culmination of this thought. It’s one of the most backward areas where in order to access school, children have to trudge a few extra miles. The unrelenting summer heat makes this trek more arduous. Their ‘homes’ are small, dilapidated mud houses where’s there’s no provision of electricity and water. The parents of the children are engaged in crafting bamboo baskets through which they earn a paltry sum of less than 10 francs per month, which is not sufficient to buy enough food to fill their empty stomachs.

The centre is being run with a paltry amount of Rs 5000 (125 Swiss Francs). At present, there are 100 children enrolled with the said centre. In my next mail, I’ll be sending a detailed report about it"

The picture above shows the children in front of the new centre. This picure carries the caption "the children break into laughter at the mention of food"

Aarohan Story Competition

Following our recent initiatives on Pancake Day and World Water Day, to further raise "Aarohan awareness" among CDL students, the CDL Primary Charity Committee is, together with CDL Primary School, launching a story competition for grades 1-5.

The competition, which will be kicked off at the grade-wide assemblies, starting on April 26th, will ask the students to either draw or write their idea of a day in the life of a child at Aarohan.

The author Ian Whybrow, who visited CDL recently, has agreed to judge the competition.

The competition is drafted to fit with the level of each grade. There is an English and a French version of the competition. This is what the competition for Grade 1 looks like:



At CDL we are helping children like you, but living far away. They live in small houses with dirty water and not much to eat. They have to work to earn money. Before Aarohan helped them, they were not going to school. They did not learn to read and write and do maths like you. Now they go to school. Every day after school they go to Aarohan to get help with homework and something to eat.

We want more children to get help from Aarohan. Will you help us to help Aarohan?

First, with your Mum and Dad, read more about how CDL is helping Aarohan on www.cdlaarohan.blogspot.com

Then draw a picture of how you imagine a day for an Aarohan child. In your drawing should be:

1. The name “Aarohan”
2. A child
3. A book
4. A sun

Give your drawing to your teacher by the 20th May, 2011. If your picture is among the winners, it will be published.

In this way you help more people get to know about Aarohan!


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We are hoping with the help of the competition to get a lot more chidren at CDL and their parents thinking about Aarohan and how we can all help.

Daisy Girl Scouts

The Daisy Girl Scouts at CDL are learning about caring and sharing. Laura Tholstrup is caring and sharing by giving her saved up pocket money (34 CHF) to Aarohan. Lots of love from Laura