I sat on the floor with a group of 8^th grade girls in India, and one thought kept coming to my mind: “They’re too young to get married — now, or even a few years from now.” Of course they are, they’re only about 13 years old. But I also knew that early marriage could be a real threat to each of them…

I hadn’t been to India since before the pandemic. And while I worked with our partners and received regular reports from them through the past few years, I was still shocked to see how much life has changed for the children and families we serve there — how much harder life has become due to increased poverty.

Condition of Families Post-Pandemic in India

During the pandemic, we helped people in India and around the world with emergency food deliveries and other critical aid. A lot of people didn’t have food and they were starving, locked down and nobody could leave their homes. Most lost their jobs — and are still struggling now to find work again.

Today, India allows people to go back to work, to freely travel and resume their normal lives. But the jobs are not there for daily wage earners. Most of the parents in our program were daily wage earners – people who receive pay each day as a maid, cook, construction worker, driver or other occupation. But these jobs are not as available as they used to be. Middle-income families have less demand for maids. Construction sites don’t hire as much.

A lack of jobs, combined with global inflation, means families are in even greater poverty than before. And increased poverty in India has a direct correlation to something unexpected: child marriage.

Early Marriage Rates Increase

The pandemic really increased child marriage in India. Why was this? First, because parents lost their livelihood and thus struggled to feed their children. Getting a daughter married meant one fewer mouth to feed. The second reason is wedding costs can be expensive, especially for the girl’s family due to the expectation for gifts and ceremonies. During the pandemic there was less expectation for an elaborate ceremony and dowry, and the cost could be less. It was cheaper to marry during the pandemic compared to during regular times. The third reason was parents were worried if they died during the pandemic, who would take care of their daughter? And lastly, parents also worried for their daughter’s safety when they were not in school during the pandemic, and they thought a husband could keep her safe — even if she was very young.

According to a recent UNICEF report, “Over the next decade, up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic.”

During the pandemic, our partners in India did all they could to prevent the girls in our program from becoming child brides. In some cases, we were successful. But some families were desperate enough to make their daughters go through with it. 

Now in 2022, our partners in India are saying they are seeing less patterns of girls being married off early compared to the spike that happened in 2020 and 2021. But we still need to try to get it back to pre-pandemic levels.

And the best way to do this is by making sure that girls stay in school.

Going to School Helps Prevent Child Marriage

When a girl is in school, it means that her parents understand the importance of education and are investing in her future. It means that she is getting the education that can help her to someday rise above poverty. When a girl is continuing her high school education, it means that marriage will be delayed at least until she’s 18.

A teacher in India said this to me during my trip. She teaches at a Holt-supported school, and says she has never been somewhere where so many children are supported with educational sponsorship to be there. She said that seeing so many children there who would otherwise not be able to go makes her job so meaningful — makes her feel like she’s part of something bigger.

How You Can Help This Giving Tuesday

This Giving Tuesday, I invite you to be a part of something bigger too — by helping to send a girl to school. It costs just $150 for a full scholarship, or just $15 for each month of the school year. Anything you can give will make a difference.

Our goal on this global day of giving is to help send 250 girls to school — in India and around the world. For each one of these girls who gets to go to school, it’s also helping to save her from child marriage. 

I think of the girls I sat with on the floor in India. They’re smart. They have dreams. They want to pursue careers when they grow up. And when I asked them, they have so much hope for the future.

And I pray that each of them has the chance she deserves to be protected from child marriage, continue her education, and be empowered to pursue her dreams.

Prevent Child Marriage This Giving Tuesday

Child marriage rates have increased dramatically since the pandemic. But you can protect a girl by sending her to school.

Give now

The post Too Young to Marry appeared first on Holt International.

I recently came across a heartbreaking statistic.

According to UNICEF, “Over the next decade, up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic.”

I read this in a story we recently shared about the rise in child marriage in India due to COVID-19, and how sponsors like you help to protect girls at risk. I hope you get a chance to read this story about the powerful difference you make as a sponsor.

I also want to share another story with you that we featured a couple of years ago. It’s about a young girl and her family in Pune, India — one of the communities where our local partners are now seeing an increase in child marriage.

Here’s how the story begins:

When Devi imagined her life, it looked a lot like her mother’s. She would never learn to read or write. She would get married and have children at 15 or 16. She would work on the farm or do chores for a wealthy family. Life would be difficult.

“I had in my mind that I would never go to school,” 17-year-old Devi says today. “Since I was small, all of my relatives told my parents ‘Don’t teach her. Don’t educate her. There is no point in educating a girl.’”

Can you imagine? As the father of a teenage daughter, it breaks my heart to think of girls getting married and having children at age 15 or 16.

It breaks my heart to think that my smart, capable, hard-working daughter would not have the same opportunities as her older brothers. But that’s the reality for so many girls in India and in countries where you sponsor children around the world.

Thankfully, Devi’s story has a hopeful ending.

Because of generous, compassionate sponsors like you, Devi overcame the barriers she faced to attend school. And when she met with our visiting Holt team in India, she started to cry as she shared a message for her sponsors:

“I want to say, God is helping me through you. God is working, and you are His engine for good,” she said. “My mom is working and I’m working, but really, you are helping in my education and studies and all things. I am very thankful for you. Nobody sees me, but you do. … All my family was in darkness, but now there is light.”

Today, Devi would be about 20 — an educated young woman who avoided early marriage with the help of her sponsors.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a ripple effect in the lives of orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. They are at greater risk of everything from child labor and early marriage to trafficking, malnutrition and domestic abuse. But your sponsorship is powerful. You are helping to protect your sponsored child from all of these dangers.

Whether you sponsor a teenage girl in India or a baby boy in an orphanage in Korea, thank you for your incredible devotion to your sponsored child. In a time of darkness, you shine a bright and beautiful light.

Become a Child Sponsor

Connect with a child. Provide for their needs. Share your heart for $43 per month.

sponsor now!

The post How Sponsorship Helped Devi Avoid Early Marriage appeared first on Holt International.

“Why do they want to let the children to study?” says Payal, her dark brown eyes perplexed.

“Especially girls…?” Mayvis adds hesitantly — the addition to Payal’s statement that makes all four girls nod in mutual questioning. Payal, Sanjana, Manixa and Mayvis are recording a message for their Holt sponsors. And this, their biggest question, marks a drastic shift in tone.

Just five minutes ago they sat upstairs in their classroom — proudly performing an American pop song in front of their classmates. Their friend group, all between the ages of 11 and 13, calls themselves the “Planet Chicks.” They like to talk on the school bus, dance and sing, and encourage one another to do the right thing.

They are happy, carefree girls. But, as their biggest question lets on, they know things could be drastically different. The conversation becomes serious.

“They don’t like girls. They only like boys.”

Sanjana

“They don’t like girls,” Sanjana says. “They only like boys.”

“People in the village,” Payal clarifies.

These girls all come from families that have migrated from the villages to the booming, southern city of Bengaluru. The villages they speak of are actually cities of several hundred thousand people, where people still adhere more strictly to the rules of traditional patriarchal society. Where they come from, it is common to educate boys, but not educate girls. Where they come from, young girls get married.

This is an excerpt from a longer story that originally appeared on the Holt Stories blog in July 2018. 

Just $27 can help keep a young girl safe and in school. Right now, your gift doubles to help build girl-friendly bathrooms at school!

The post They Don’t Like Girls appeared first on Holt International.

This is an edited excerpt from “The Child Brides of COVID-19,” which originally appeared on Holt Stories in May 2021.

Across the globe, girls who marry young are more likely to experience domestic violence. They are at increased risk of early and unplanned pregnancy. They can become isolated from family and friends. And as the demands of housework and motherhood take up their time, they are less likely to stay in school.

The global COVID crisis may set back decades of progress even in communities where our partners had effectively ended the practice of child marriage. But one key factor continues to make a dramatic difference in the lives of girls and women. And that’s keeping girls in school.

When schools closed due to the pandemic, our partners immediately recognized the risks to children, especially girls. Out-of-school children are at greater risk of not just early marriage, but also child labor, trafficking and exploitation. Through the generous support of Holt sponsors and donors, however, our partners had the resources they needed to maintain critical contact with children isolated at home.

They distributed mobile phones and laptops, which made it possible for children to do schoolwork online but also allowed for remote social work visits. BSSK moved summer camps and trainings for children and parents online. In Delhi, our partner started both a video blog to connect with children and a podcast to provide ongoing guidance and support to parents. Sponsored children received science and art kits in addition to regular school supplies, while their families received emergency food, medicine and even cash to pay rent and bills during periodic lockdowns. Most of all, our social workers continue to regularly visit families — remotely and, whenever possible, at a safe distance in person.

Sponsors make all of this possible. Through their compassion and generosity, and the efforts of our on-the-ground teams, many marriages that would have happened as a result of the pandemic have been prevented.

While still working under emergency conditions, our partners have already mapped out the work that needs to be done to regain progress lost during this ongoing crisis.

“In the coming period, a lot of rework needs to be done … [Support from] sponsors and donors will accelerate the process of reform,” says Vaishali, who shares that BSSK has already planned a prevention program for children and parents on the topic of early marriage. “We hope to see a delay in the age of girl child marriage,” she says, “and greater freedom to take higher education, be confident and financially independent.”

Now more than ever, support to keep girls in school is needed in these communities in India — and in the communities where Holt works around the world. For girls, school is more than an education. It means opportunity. It means a stronger voice and greater autonomy over their lives. It’s a reason for hope.

You can keep a child living in poverty from dropping out of school! Your gift of $25 or more gets a child the school supplies needed to return to school, stay safe and learn their way out of poverty.

The post A Reason for Hope appeared first on Holt International.

I recently came across a heartbreaking statistic.

According to UNICEF, “Over the next decade, up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic.”

I read this in a story we recently shared about the rise in child marriage in India due to COVID-19, and how sponsors like you help to protect girls at risk. I hope you get a chance to read this story about the powerful difference you make as a sponsor.

I also want to share another story with you that we featured a couple of years ago. It’s about a young girl and her family in Pune, India — one of the communities where our local partners are now seeing an increase in child marriage.

Here’s how the story begins:

When Devi imagined her life, it looked a lot like her mother’s. She would never learn to read or write. She would get married and have children at 15 or 16. She would work on the farm or do chores for a wealthy family. Life would be difficult.

“I had in my mind that I would never go to school,” 17-year-old Devi says today. “Since I was small, all of my relatives told my parents ‘Don’t teach her. Don’t educate her. There is no point in educating a girl.’”

Can you imagine? As the father of a teenage daughter, it breaks my heart to think of girls getting married and having children at age 15 or 16.

“I had in my mind that I would never go to school. Since I was small, all of my relatives told my parents ‘Don’t teach her. Don’t educate her. There is no point in educating a girl.’”

Devi, age 17

It breaks my heart to think that my smart, capable, hard-working daughter would not have the same opportunities as her older brothers. But that’s the reality for so many girls in India and in countries where you sponsor children around the world.

Thankfully, Devi’s story has a hopeful ending.

Because of generous, compassionate sponsors like you, Devi overcame the barriers she faced to attend school. And when she met with our visiting Holt team in India, she started to cry as she shared a message for her sponsors:

“I want to say, God is helping me through you. God is working, and you are His engine for good,” she said. “My mom is working and I’m working, but really, you are helping in my education and studies and all things. I am very thankful for you. Nobody sees me, but you do. … All my family was in darkness, but now there is light.”

Today, Devi would be about 20 — an educated young woman who avoided early marriage with the help of her sponsors.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a ripple effect in the lives of orphaned and vulnerable children around the world. They are at greater risk of everything from child labor and early marriage to trafficking, malnutrition and domestic abuse. But your sponsorship is powerful. You are helping to protect your sponsored child from all of these dangers.

Whether you sponsor a teenage girl in India or a baby boy in an orphanage in Korea, thank you for your incredible devotion to your sponsored child. In a time of darkness, you shine a bright and beautiful light.

Become a Child Sponsor

Connect with a child. Provide for their needs. Share your heart for $43 per month.

sponsor now!

The post How Sponsorship Helped Devi Avoid Early Marriage appeared first on Holt International.

 Rani* was just 17. She did not want to get married. She argued and pleaded with her mom. She asked her social worker to convince her mom to delay her marriage. Rani knew her mom was struggling to support her and her two little sisters. If she got married, it would ease the burden on her family.

But she knew what she could look forward to.

Within a year, she would be expected to become pregnant. If she didn’t, her family would wonder what’s wrong. Especially her in-laws. In India, when a girl gets married, she typically goes to live with her husband’s family. If she wants to do anything outside the home, she will need both her husband’s and her mother-in-law’s consent.

Rani didn’t want to give up her freedom. She didn’t want to give up school, which she excelled at. She didn’t want to give up the possibility of a different kind of life from the one her mother had — a life of her own choosing.

Over Rani’s objections, her family moved forward with arranging her marriage. In April 2020, during India’s countrywide lockdown, her family held a small, quiet ceremony inside their home. Her husband was 22, a construction worker who had less education than his 17-year-old bride.

A Global Surge in Child Marriage

Across India, as in developing countries around the world, the COVID-19 crisis has significantly increased the risk of child marriage.

According to a recent UNICEF report, “Over the next decade, up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic.” In the slum communities of Pune, India, where Rani lives, our local partner has actively stopped several underage marriages during the past year of the pandemic. But they were unable to stop five from moving forward.

Before COVID-19 hit India, child marriage had been all but eliminated in these communities.

Vaishali Vahikar is the sponsorship director at Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK), Holt’s long-time partner in Pune. For over 24 years, she has worked directly with the children and families in Holt’s sponsorship program in Pune.

“A surge is being seen in cases of child marriages — girls below 18 years of age — due to factors including the lockdown,” Vaishali explains. “Lockdown has resulted in the closure of schools, impact on the economy and lack of financial security and uncertainty over families’ livelihoods, which has pushed many into poverty.”

In India, a country where about one-fourth of young women marry before the age of 18, the risk was already among the highest of anywhere in the world. According to UNICEF, one in three of the world’s child brides live in India. Of the country’s 223 million child brides, 102 million were married before turning 15.

“Since BSSK has started providing its services in communities through educational sponsorship, girl child education and delay in the age of marriage has been always been top priority.”

Vaishali Vahikar, sponsorship director at Holt partner BSSK

But in the communities where Holt works in India, a hopeful development began to happen about four decades ago — the same time that sponsors began supporting girls’ education.

Girls started to stay in school longer, and marry later.

“Since BSSK has started providing its services in communities through educational sponsorship, girl child education and delay in the age of marriage has been always been top priority,” says Vaishali.

At the time, in the early 1980s, mostly boys attended school in the urban slum communities and rural villages where Holt and our partners work in India. As boys were expected to one day provide for their families, their education was given priority over their sisters’. If families could only afford school fees for one child, they would send their son to school. Girls stayed home and learned how to be a wife and mother. That was the norm.

But when sponsors began supporting children, the norm began to change.

How Sponsors Help Protect Girls

“Whenever a needy family approached BSSK for educational support for their children, it was the girl child who would be selected [for the program],” Vaishali says.

Sponsors covered their sponsored child’s school fees, uniforms and supplies — making it possible for her to attend school alongside her brothers. In Pune, our partner began life skills trainings and summer camps where boys and girls discussed everything from career paths to marriage to how to report sexual violence. They held workshops and trainings for parents where they discussed the same topics. Because of their sponsors, every child also had an advocate — a social worker who encouraged her in school and repeatedly emphasized the value and importance of her education to her family.

As they met with families, social workers also worked to educate them about the importance of delaying marriage until their daughters turned 18. If necessary, they would intervene.

“BSSK with the help of authorities have stopped child marriages if there was information beforehand,” explains Vaishali.

Although marriage is illegal in India for girls under 18 and boys under 21, the law can be difficult to enforce.

Jim De is the director of Shishu Sangopan Griha (SSG), Holt’s partner in Delhi. As Jim explains, it’s difficult to work against such a firmly entrenched social and cultural tradition as child marriage.

“For many girls in India, I would think that they are brought up mentally prepared and mentally trained to believe that they are being prepared for marriage. That the ultimate goal is marriage,” Jim explains. “And they are also being trained to understand that marriage will start by age 16 or 17. So whether we say it’s a legal system of 18 or 21, irrespective communities respond to their community systems and social traditions.”

Even when cases of underage marriage are reported, no punishment may be handed down. But when girls are in school, they have added protection. If girls don’t show up for class, teachers notice — and can potentially stop a marriage before it happens.

Over time, as more girls attended school in the communities where Holt works, there were fewer and fewer cases of child marriage. Among the girls in Holt sponsorship in Pune, they became almost unheard of. Instead, families saw their daughters graduate high school — and some go on to attend college on scholarship.

Rani was in the 7^th grade when her mom reached out to BSSK four years ago for help sending her daughters to school. Without a sponsor, Rani may have dropped out. Instead, last year, she graduated to the 10^th grade.

Then COVID-19 hit India, pushing thousands of families into crisis — and forever changing Rani’s life and the lives of many girls like her. Sadly, even sponsorship could not protect these girls from this unprecedented global crisis.

A Solution in a Time of Crisis

The reasons child marriage has increased in India since the pandemic are complex, and varied.

With schools closed, children are no longer under the watchful eye of their teachers, making it easier for families to marry their daughters without being detected. Some families worry about the dangers their daughters face when not in school, such as a greater risk of sexual assault. If married, they believe, their husband will provide protection.

But for a majority of families choosing to marry their daughters now, their reasoning comes down to economics.

They have lost jobs. They are struggling to feed their children. And even though Holt sponsors and donors have gone above and beyond to provide emergency support — and Holt’s on-the-ground teams remain steadfast in their dedication  — families feel a deep sense of uncertainty. As of this writing, India is experiencing the deadliest second wave of COVID-19 anywhere in the world.

“For families in crisis — families like Rani’s — marrying their eldest daughter is seen as a means of survival. As Vaishali puts it, “They feel relieved if one of their responsibilities — their daughters — is taken over through the ritual of marriage.”

As much as they try to intervene, social workers cannot always stop a marriage from moving forward.

“We have been calling our families who are in our educational sponsorship program and asking them, please don’t get your daughters married,” Vaishali continues. “The only thing which we can do is educate them.”

Rani’s mom never finished school, and cannot read, write or do basic math. She married young and when her husband died of TB, she suddenly had to support her family on her own — including her mother-in-law and three young daughters. She got a job cleaning buildings and worked as a laborer on farms. She tried very hard to care for her family and ensure a good education for her daughters.

But when India went into lockdown, Rani’s mom lost her cleaning job. At the time, one of Rani’s younger sisters was undergoing expensive medical treatment. She needed surgery. For Rani’s mom, marrying her eldest daughter seemed like the best solution —  one that could also, unfortunately, have lifelong consequences for Rani.

A Reason for Hope

Across the globe, girls who marry young are more likely to experience domestic violence. They are at increased risk of early and unplanned pregnancy. They can become isolated from family and friends. And as the demands of housework and motherhood take up their time, they are less likely to stay in school.

But thankfully, one area where our partners continue to have an influence is in continuing education for girls after marriage.

“As her social worker came to know about her marriage, she interacted with Rani’s husband … He has assured to help Rani continue and complete her further education,” Vaishali says.

Rani is fortunate that she already knew her husband when they married. He was a long-time friend of the family. But typically, girls are arranged to marry boys they hardly know. Boys who are five to nine years older than them. Boys who they may or may not have anything in common with, and who may or may not be loving and kind to them.

Rani, however, has continued online classes with the support of her husband and her mother-in-law. She recently started the 11^th grade. Her sponsor continues to support her, and her social worker continues to look out for her.

For Rani, the future is hopeful.

But for many girls in India, and across the developing world, the risk of child marriage is greater than it has been for decades.

“Most child marriages due to COVID-19 are expected to occur in the near term among older girls,” UNICEF reports. “However, the impact of the pandemic is likely to be felt for at least the next decade, also raising the risk of early marriage for girls who are now young. Because marriage fundamentally alters the course of a girl’s life, the full effect of the pandemic on human development will play out over a generation.”

The global COVID crisis may set back decades of progress even in communities where our partners had effectively ended the practice of child marriage. But one key factor continues to make a dramatic difference in the lives of girls and women. And that’s educational sponsorship.

When schools closed due to the pandemic, our partners immediately recognized the risks to children, especially girls. Out-of-school children are at greater risk of not just early marriage, but also child labor, trafficking and exploitation. Through the generous support of Holt sponsors and donors, however, our partners had the resources they needed to maintain critical contact with children isolated at home.

They distributed mobile phones and laptops, which made it possible for children to do schoolwork online but also allowed for remote social work visits. BSSK moved summer camps and trainings for children and parents online. In Delhi, our partner started both a video blog to connect with children and a podcast to provide ongoing guidance and support to parents. Sponsored children received science and art kits in addition to regular school supplies, while their families received emergency food, medicine and even cash to pay rent and bills during periodic lockdowns. Most of all, our social workers continue to regularly visit families — remotely and, whenever possible, at a safe distance in person.

While still working under emergency conditions, our partners have already mapped out the work that needs to be done to regain progress lost during this ongoing crisis.

“In the coming period, a lot of rework needs to be done … [Support from] sponsors and donors will accelerate the process of reform,” says Vaishali, who shares that BSSK has already planned a prevention program for children and parents on the topic of early marriage. “We hope to see a delay in the age of girl child marriage,” she says, “and greater freedom to take higher education, be confident and financially independent.”

Now more than ever, child sponsorship is needed in these communities in India — and in the communities where Holt works around the world. For girls, sponsorship means an education. It means opportunity. It means a stronger voice and greater autonomy over their lives. As Jim says, it means a chance to pursue their dreams.

“I think [early] marriage is a byproduct of losing faith and losing the ability to survive. … What we try to do is not work specifically on that topic by itself, but the topic of dreams and aspirations. To make them understand there’s equality between males and females. To make them understand that girls have as much right and abilities to perform in life as a boy does. That there’s no difference,” he says, “between a boy and a girl.”

*To protect her identity, we have changed the name of the girl featured in this story and are not sharing any photos.

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The post The Child Brides of COVID-19 appeared first on Holt International.

How is the pandemic affecting children and families in Holt sponsorship?

Vaishali: The children didn’t know why all these restrictions were being put on them. We had to start with telling them how corona spreads and how one should take precautions like putting on masks, washing their hands, sanitizing. If you’re out of house, you have to sanitize again when you come inside. So our initial work was more on educating the families regarding all the precautions one should take to prevent from getting infection.

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Then some of the schools started online. … But for those online classes, many of the families didn’t have smartphones. And even if they had smartphones, they didn’t have money to recharge them. So there has been huge learning loss for the children.

Both parents were home [due to the lockdown] and they had no jobs to earn a salary. So all of those small savings which the family had were exhausted for their day-to-day needs. But for people who were addicted to alcohol … all the savings which were needed for families’ needs went to buying alcohol. Other social problems started, such as domestic violence. … There have been incidents of child marriage, child labor and school dropouts also.

Before the pandemic, child marriage was a rare occurrence in the communities where Holt sponsors support children. Why is it happening more now?

Vaishali: Indian marriages have lots of people coming together. But [marriages ceremonies have now] been restricted to 50 people. Their thinking was if they have a big marriage, they have to spend a lot for the ceremony. So they thought if they got their daughters married at this particular time, they’ll save on money. … The other thing was the parents thought if they leave their homes in search of jobs, they don’t have any security for their daughters [left] at home. So they feel marriage is the best solution to keep their daughters safe. And then, a [dependent] going from their house to another house will also cut down on their expenses.

Is there anything your team can do to prevent these marriages from happening?

Vaishali: We have been calling our families who are in our educational sponsorship program and asking them, please don’t get your daughters married. The only thing which we can do is educate them. There are other NGOs that are working to stop child marriages. If somebody comes to know about a marriage being [arranged], there is a forum called the Actions for the Rights of the Child we can tell and they can with the help of police and other judiciary stop marriages. A few of the marriages have been stopped. But at present, [parents are careful not to] let the news get out so there should not be any problem in carrying out the ceremony.

If they’re married, will the girls have to drop out of school?

Vaishali: We are in contact with the parents of the girls and we have been asking them to see that their girls continue their education even if they are married. But we are not sure that this will happen.

Nandini: The one thing I want to add is also that we have been supporting students with college education. So hopefully people see that girls are able to study higher and make a living. Hopefully that will motivate families to let the girls continue their education. 

How have sponsors and donors helped meet the most urgent needs caused by the pandemic?

Vaishali: Many sponsors and donors have lent their kind hand by providing grain kits, electronics to children for online studies, school fees, medical needs, sanitary napkins, etc.

Nandini: Initially the government donated a lot of rice and pulses to them, but that would not take care of all the nutrition needs of the family. So we thought about developing a high-protein mix powder made from all kinds of grains, pulses, seeds, millets and distributed it to the children and families. So only a spoonful of this powder would take care of the nutrition of the child. … And again, a lot of online support was needed in the family.

Can you describe the online support you provided to families and children?

Vaishali: We found there was a lot of need to keep children creatively and productively engaged. We started various online activities. We had digital camps for children and parenting sessions for the parents. Because the parents and the children were 24/7 together … there was a lot of clashes going on between the parents and the children and we could see the children were getting affected. So we started our parenting sessions online.

I spoke a lot about stress management, anger management, understanding your child per age, giving space to your child, listening to your children. A lot of the discussion is on communication skills. And it was very nice to see that the mothers volunteered to participate in these classes and they had a lot of questions. … We asked children, “What changes do you find after your mothers have been attending these classes?” And the children were very happy to say, “Now my mother seems to be understanding me more.”

How has sponsor and donor support helped children continue their education during the pandemic?

Nandini: We help them with their notebooks and stationary. … We didn’t give them as much as we would have in a typical school year, so we cut it down in half but we supplemented with art material. And then the children needed masks so we got small masks made for them. … And we gave them some literacy material, age by age, starting with puzzles or books which normally these children don’t have access to … Each child got a science kit they could make, whether it was a human body or a car or whatever. The teacher who made it had online sessions with the children to show them how to construct the set or how to make this experiment. … And then mobile phones. With sponsor and donor support, we distributed nearly 30-40 mobiles.

How is COVID-19 affecting India in general and what is life like there right now?

Vaishali: The cases have gone down but again they are increasing. There are a lot of asymptomatic cases. People have taken liberties with [the lockdown ending] and they have been going to their villages, meeting people. There is some liberty they’re taking in not putting on masks, not sanitizing themselves. … So there’s a sudden outbreak of infection at present and all the schools are again closed down.

In what ways will sponsor and donor support be critical in the coming months?

Vaishali: In the coming period, a lot of rework needs to be done [to regain progress that was set back due to the pandemic] … Lots of social issues need to be addressed for which we had worked on the last 5-7 years. These include child marriage, girl child education, domestic violence, child labor, de-addiction, family health care, basic sanitization practices, etc. Along with the above, sponsor and donor support will be needed to help regain educational progress lost in the smaller kids. Now, curative education needs to be taken up as a project so that they regain their basic literacy. [Support from] sponsors and donors will accelerate the process of reform.

What would you like to say to sponsors and donors directly?

Vaishali: Thanks for all the patience and support you have shown since last year. This year too seems to be a coping year for all of us, especially the underprivileged ones. The adults in the family are struggling hard to meet both the ends. It is really necessary for we as adults to be with the smaller ones, understand and support them to help them achieve their dreams, as they are the future for which their today needs to be taken care of.

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The post How COVID-19 Is Affecting Sponsored Kids in Pune, India: A Q&A With BSSK appeared first on Holt International.

Schools first shut down due to COVID-19 in China in January 2020, and the rest of the globe was soon to follow.

By March, most countries around the world had nationwide full or partial school closures. And the situation has only intensified, with seasons of ebbing and flowing through the spring, summer and fall of 2020, and now the winter of 2021.

During this time, most countries have adapted to some form of distance learning in an attempt to keep children moving forward in their education. Teachers and students have met over video conferencing apps, educational material has rolled out via radio and television programs, and some schools even delivered workbooks to each enrolled child.

But despite the diversity of these initiatives, most forms of distance learning have been inaccessible for children living in poverty and in developing countries.

“Thirty-one percent of schoolchildren worldwide (463 million),” UNICEF reports, “cannot be reached by the broadcast- and internet-based remote learning policies either due to the lack of necessary technological assets at home, or because they were not targeted by the adopted policies.”

And a year without school is having devastating effects on children.

The World Bank estimates that the pandemic could push 72 million additional primary school-aged children into “learning poverty,” a term defined as children who are still mostly illiterate by age 10.

Illiteracy and a lack of general education have lifelong effects — perpetuating the cycle of poverty for children, their families and communities.

The pandemic is amplifying the global learning crisis that already existed: it could increase the percentage of primary school-age children in low- and middle-income countries living in learning poverty to 63 percent from 53 percent, and it puts this generation of students at risk of losing about $10 trillion in future lifetime earnings, an amount equivalent to almost 10 percent of global GDP.

The World Bank

Over a year since the pandemic began, many children around the world are now back at school. But the rippling effects of the 2020 school closures remain.

Education is a cornerstone of Holt’s work to empower children around the world. And in the past year we’ve seen the highs, lows and stark realities of what education during a pandemic has looked like and will continue to mean for children living in poverty.

Thoa Bui, Holt’s vice president of international programs, explains what some of these lasting effects may be, and how Holt is preparing to adapt and intervene to help promote the best outcome possible for children.

What do you anticipate will be the long-term effects of the school shutdowns due to COVID-19?

The effects are pervasive. There’s loss of learning and higher dropout rates, poor nutrition, increased violence against children, teen pregnancies, early marriages and more.

Now parents are tasked with supporting their children’s learning  at home and many struggle to perform this task. Especially when parents have limited resources and education themselves, which is common among the populations Holt serves.

Many children and youth rely on free or discounted meals provided at schools for food and healthy nutrition. So when schools close, nutrition is compromised.

Additionally, schools are hubs of social activity and human interaction. When schools close, many children and youth miss out on the social contact that’s essential to learning and development.

As schools reopen, are children returning? Why or why not?

It depends. We are trying hard in our programs to encourage and ensure as many children as possible go back to school. But it is a challenge. Children have had the pressure to work and generate income for their financially distressed families during the school closures — income that families now rely upon.

Many schools have switched to online learning, but many children do not have access to a computer or internet, or they find remote learning a challenge to adapt to. There are also many more families facing financial distress due to the pandemic, and some parents do not prioritize education for their children.

Despite all of these obstacles, we have seen most children in our programs return to school, as local authorities permit.

Have school shutdowns contributed to an increase in early marriage? If so, why?

International organizations and other nonprofit organizations report that this should be expected. Even before COVID, many girls in certain countries had a lower chance of attending schools than boys. And school attendance is key to delaying and preventing early marriage for girls. With schools closed, parents may want their daughters to get married early instead of going back to school. We have not received significant reports from Holt’s programs about this. However, we are looking to encourage parents with girls, especially, to continue to prioritize girls’ education. 

Have school shutdowns contributed to an increase in child labor? If so, why?

Our partners overseas have reported concerns over child labor while children are out of school for so long. The reason is parents have lost work or cannot find any income during the lockdowns. Even after COVID, unemployment will continue to be high from this. Families have lost income and thus children have had to participate in the workforce to supplement that income. When this happens, education becomes less of a priority.

How will Holt to continue to support children in their education in 2021?

Holt and our partners have tried hard to support children to transition and adapt to new learning environments. We’ve provided laptops, internet access, school supplies, and encouragement and counseling to parents to  keep education for their children a priority. We will continue to ensure that children have what they need to go back to school.

Thoa Bui implements Holt’s vision and strategic leadership to ensure growth in Holt’s programs for vulnerable children in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Thoa has more than 20 years of experience in international program development and management. She holds a master’s degree in social work awarded by the Fulbright Scholarship and served at the Holt Vietnam office prior to coming to Holt International.

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The post Education in a Time of COVID appeared first on Holt International.

“Especially girls…?” Mayvis adds hesitantly — the addition to Payal’s statement that makes all four girls nod in mutual questioning. Payal, Sanjana, Manixa and Mayvis are recording a message for their Holt sponsors. And this, their biggest question, marks a drastic shift in tone.

Just five minutes ago they sat upstairs in their classroom — proudly performing an American pop song in front of their classmates. Their friend group, all between the ages of 11 and 13, calls themselves the “Planet Chicks.” They like to talk on the school bus, dance and sing, and encourage one another to do the right thing.

They are happy, carefree girls. But, as their biggest question lets on, they know things could be drastically different. The conversation becomes serious.

“They don’t like girls,” Sanjana says, “they only like boys.”

“People in the village,” Payal clarifies.

These girls all come from families that have migrated from the villages to the booming, southern city of Bangalore. The villages they speak of are actually cities of several hundred thousand people, where people still adhere more strictly to the rules of traditional patriarchal society. Where they come from, it is common to educate boys, but not educate girls. Where they come from, young girls get married.

How old should a girl be when she gets married?

“Nineteen or 20,” Payal says.

“Twenty-five,” Sanjana says decisively.

“Before, it was small girls,” Mayvis says, indicating with her hand to a height just below her shoulders.

Two long braids fall on either side of Payal’s green-and-white-striped tie, part of her school uniform. She shares about her friend who got married at just 3 or 4 years old.

When a girl is married, or betrothed, in India, she goes to live with her new in-laws. Here, she is often expected to be a housekeeper in her new family’s home — a role that can quickly devolve to that of a domestic servant. Her childhood ripped away from her, she drops out of school and  is now susceptible to nearly every form of abuse. Three or 4 years old is exceptionally young, but the typical age isn’t much older.

“That is called a bal vivah,” Sanjana says, the Hindi word for child marriage. “We should not do this.”

Payal, Manixa and Mayvis nod in agreement.

For girls whose grandmothers, mothers and even some peers likely married around their same age — and younger — this is groundbreaking. We should not do this.

The girls continue sharing. They say that not only do some girls marry very young, but some are even killed.

“Their words are heavy,” says Bhumika Tulalwar, Holt’s India program manager, about the girls’ references to child marriage and female infanticide that still happen throughout India.

“I think they are very conscious,” Bhumika says, “These girls understand why they are in educational sponsorship.”

In Bangalore, Holt sponsors help over 1,000 girls go to school. Through Holt’s longtime partner organization, Vathsalya Charitable Trust (VCT), sponsors cover the cost of school fees, uniforms and supplies for girls who are most at risk of dropping out. This is critically important. Going to school ensures that a girl is educated and empowered to earn an independent living someday — that someday, she can end the cycle of poverty in her family. And in the present — today, this week and this month — going to school greatly increases the likelihood of her health and safety.

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“We pay the fees of the students who are very poor,” says Pushpa Latha, VCT’s education sponsorship officer. Without this assistance, many families borrow money in order to send their children to school — and this can make things even worse. “It’s a very big problem for them,” Pushpa says, “to pay the loan with interest. [If this happens], everything will go — their lifestyle, nutrition, everything. They cannot meet their home needs because of borrowing money from others.”

And if a family has gone too much in debt and can no longer send all of their children to school, it is almost always the daughters who are forced to drop out — not the sons.

Pushpa spends a lot of her time here, at Mohre Public School. Because of sponsors, Payal, Sanjana, Manixa, Mayvis and 15 other girls are able to attend Mohre. All of their school expenses covered, and they also receive regular home visits from Pushpa, who understands their home and family situations and works with the students and their families to make sure all of their basic needs are met. Pushpa even coordinates and advocates for special activities at the school  — activities like drawing, singing, sports and more.

“We do this so they can develop their multitalents,” Pushpa says.

All multitalented, Payal, Sanjana, Manixa and Mehrunisa are taking full advantage of these opportunities. When they grow up, they want to be an actor, a fashion designer and actress, a dancer, and a singer, respectively.

Their dream jobs — as 11-to-13-year-olds — are a bit fanciful perhaps, but exciting. Even more exciting is that because they’re going to school now, they have the foundation they need to work toward whatever profession they want someday. They say they want to get good jobs, ones that will allow them to support their families.

“When girls grow up, [parents] should let the girl choose the boy. They have to see how he is, that he is good.”

Payal, sponsored student

And someday, when they’re older, they might choose to get married. But, they say, they’d want to do things a little differently…

“When girls grow up, [parents] should let the girl choose the boy,” Payal says. “They have to see how he is, that he is good.”

“She should not be treated as a commodity,” Sanjana says.

As quickly as it started, this serious conversation ends and lends way to another one, about how to play Fire and Ice, a tag game. Within seconds, Payal, Sanjana, Manixa and Mayvis are running and laughing with the other girls, playing tag in the courtyard of their school.

We answer Payal’s question, telling her that Holt sponsors help girls go to school because they believe in girls — in their intelligence, in their abilities, in their equality to boys, in their dreams and in their value. Payal, Sanjana, Manixa and Mayvis understand this, and it has and will continue to make a profound difference in their lives.

Shrieks, squeals and schoolgirl braids fly through the air as the girls run and play. And this is exactly as it should be.

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Sponsors help prevent early marriage for girls in India. 

Four-year-old Rukshita lives in a shed on the construction site where her father works. Eleven-year-old Harshitha can read, but her parents can’t. Five-year-old Suman migrated to southern India from Nepal so her parents could earn $1.25 per day working as laborers.

Each of these girls, pictured in the collage above, is unique. But their stories share a similar and often troubling narrative — a narrative built around the shared experience of growing up female in modern-day India.

In India, statistics for girls are upsetting — especially for girls growing up in impoverished or marginalized communities like those you support through sponsorship. One in six girls will die before her 15th birthday. Only half will learn to read. Even fewer will graduate from high school. Although 18 is the legal age for marriage in India, the law is difficult to enforce. Nationally, about 27 percent of girls still marry before they turn 18. In rural areas, the percentage can be as high as 69 percent. When parents force girls into early marriage, they rob their daughters of their chance to dream. Child brides are more likely to have children they can’t support, more likely to face domestic violence or abuse and, ultimately, more likely to repeat the same cycle with their own daughters.

That’s why sponsors are so important for girls in India. Child sponsors help girls stay in school as long as possible, keeping them safe and giving them the best chance of breaking the chains of generational poverty.

Pilavi is 14. She dreams of becoming an engineer someday. When she talks about her sponsor — the person in the U.S. who is helping to fund her education — she gushes with gratitude in the way only a 14-year-old can. In English she says, “Because of my sponsor, I’m studying higher and higher. Thank you so very, very much for helping me.”

Pilavi is just one of more than 50 boys and girls from a slum area in Pune, India, attending a summer camp for pre-teens. The donor-funded community center is a colorful single room lined with chalkboards, map posters and artwork. Kids sit on bright woven rugs on the floor, talking and giggling in small groups. They are talking about a prompt question scribbled in ink on white paper that they drew out of a basket.

“When should a girl marry?”

Most of these teens have never been asked this question. One of the girls in Pilavi’s group says she never wants to marry. A boy adds that it is up to her parents. Another boy says that marriage should be for love. Pilavi, without a hint of her usual, chipper smile, says girls should finish school first.

Pilavi is just one of several girls in the room who knows her parents could find her a husband at any time. Her family lives nearby, in a slum community where an entire family will rent a single-room home with no electricity, no running water and no plumbing. Pilavi’s mom was married when she was Pilavi’s age.

In India, poverty leaves girls at a tremendous disadvantage. Parents assume boys will be better suited to care for the family. So, families will keep boys in school, but pull their daughters out to work and help the family earn money. They’ll wait until their sons are old enough to support a family before finding a spouse for them, but marry off their teenage daughters because it’s one less mouth to feed and one less child to care for.

“I tell moms now that their daughters don’t have to be like them. I tell them that they can get good jobs. They can marry later. Many of these families need money now, so it’s hard to see how it will pay off to keep their girls in school, but that’s what we teach them.”

Vaishali Vahikar, sponsorship director at BSSK

Today, as wealth grows in India, more and more girls are attending college, delaying marriage and growing financially stable. Recently, India also passed new laws that further criminalize child marriage — causing some parents to delay marriage for their daughter until she is at least 18. The long-term effect of Holt and other organizations working in impoverished communities has helped to lessen child marriage as well. But India’s population of children and families living in extreme poverty remains among the largest in the world. Poverty is especially harsh for women and girls, who have few protections from gender-based violence, exploitation and forced marriage.

Staying in school for as long as possible is the most effective way for a girl to remain safe. And simply paying for school fees, uniforms and supplies removes a major financial barrier — helping girls to finish their education, and avoid early marriage. While in school, girls also have the protection of their teachers.

Girls with Holt sponsors receive even more advocacy from people like Vaishali Vahikar, the director of sponsorship at Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra, Holt’s partner organization in Pune, India. Vaishali also oversees the community center, leads trainings for parents of children in the surrounding community, and regularly visits the homes of sponsored girls.

“I tell moms now that their daughters don’t have to be like them,” Vaishali says. “I tell them that they can get good jobs. They can marry later. Many of these families need money now, so it’s hard to see how it will pay off to keep their girls in school, but that’s what we teach them.”

Sponsors, Vaishali says, are the real heroes. Sponsors provide the ongoing support girls need to stay in school, to have advocates at home and to have spaces like the community center.

For Pilavi, this is especially true. She knows she can continue to dream about her future because of her sponsor.

Billie Loewen | Former Holt Team Member

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The post When Daughters Are Worth More As Wives appeared first on Holt International.