The Bal Prakash Children’s Center supports at-risk children of the Thar Desert (Ajmer, India) learn self-sufficiency skills in sustainable agriculture and food security. The center serves over 82 students, between the ages 6-16. The children are provided with an education and the skills necessary to help them develop into self-sufficient adults with a brighter future to care for they communities. The children work together with a full-time horticulturalist to learn to grow their own fruits and vegetables, which fully supplies their meal program. The children also learn to care for animals that live on the grounds.
Planeterra has funded a water reservoir for the Bal Prakash Learning Centre which is used for both safe-drinking water for the students, as well as irrigation for the farms. As this project is located in a remote part of the desert, your donation will be used to provided a salary for a full-time teacher (who will live onsite), as well as repairs to the school's roof, which is currently leaking.
In the midst of the Thar Desert, access to food security is becoming increasing more difficult with climate change. In one of the world's harshest living environments, with scorching heat and scarce rainfall, each day is a struggle and full of uncertainty. In this region, more than 80% if people depend on agriculture.
India is also the region with the highest concentration of street children in the world. With 18 million kids living on the streets, children are malnourished; they receive no formal education or medical treatment and they are involved in child labour from an early age. The Bal Prakash Learning Centre acts as part of a solution to both -- it provides a safe and supportive place for children to live, learn, and become self-sufficient, as well as leaders in agricultural techniques for their communities in the future.
