Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Project 9 Speech - Sponsor a Girl Child

[Showed the poster of a small girl saying "My Parent's Can't Send Me to School, Can You ?]

Her parents can't send her to school.

But You Can ! And I earnestly call upon you to do so.

Today I am going to talk about a project called "Nanhi Kali".
This project is doing a yeoman service in ensuring the education of underprivileged girl children.

In many parts of India, when a girl is born people mourn not celebrate! They consider them as huge economic burdens. They abandon them at birth. They marry them off as children. They don't see any point in educating them.

Thousands of girls are forced to dropout of schools because their families cannot afford it.
For every 10 girls who enroll in Std I, only 3 complete Std X.

Education for a girl child born in a poor family is still a pipe dream.
The Nanhi Kali project intends to change all this.
Nanhi Kali means "Little Buds". So friends here is your chance to transforms these budding girls to blooming flowers by joining hands with Nanhi Kali project.

How can you help?
Sponsor a girl child. Be her guardian.
Give her the assurance that no matter what trials her family faces, she will never have to drop out of school.
Your sponsorship will provide her with books, stationery and uniforms. It will also be used to train her teachers to create a conducive environment in her school.

You may ask what is the guarantee that my sponsorship money is well spent ?
It is a very valid question ! A project like this has to be run by trustworthy, effective and efficient people.
Nanhi Kali project is jointly managed by the Trusts created by two respected industrial houses - Mahindra & Mahindra and Dr. Reddy's Labs. These have the finest professionals in the development sector working with a sole objective to ensure that every girl child in the country can complete 10 years of formal quality education.

On what basis do they select the girls for sponsorship ?
The girls who are selected are normally the ones who are enrolled in government schools; they belong to the poorest sections of society; their parents are illiterate ; they are the eldest girl in the family and have many siblings; they come from communities where deplorable practices like female infanticide, early marriage etc. are prevalent.

Will you come to know about the girl you are sponsoring ?
Yes. You will receive a profile and a photograph of the child . You will also receive half yearly updates about her.
This is Lata, the child I sponsor and these are her progress reports which I have received over the years. [Showed the Photos and Reports].
It tells me about her academic performance, her extra-curricular activities, her health, her personality and her family conditions.


Ever since its inception in 1996, Nanhi Kali project has supported the education for more than 50,000 underprivileged children. But there is still a long way to go. So I sincerely urge each one of you to sponsor at least one child.

How much it will cost ? It costs Rs. 1800 per year. Just Rs 5, per day.
For you this could just mean forgoing a cup of coffee or walking an extra kilometer instead of using a transport.
But for this child [showed the poster again] this could mean an escape from being housebound; escape from being exploited as a maid or a child prostitute; escape from being married off early and possibly dying during childbirth!

Every moment, millions of underprivileged girl children are living with the hope that someday, some one would reach out to them with love to fulfill their dreams and aspirations.

And each one of you can be that special someone ? Support Nanhi Kali just at the price of a coffee a day !

[Distributed among the audience 1-page fact sheets about Nanhi Kali project which had details on how to send sponsorship money]
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[ Date Delivered: Aug 29 2009

Objectives:


  • Persuade listeners to adopt your viewpoint or ideas or to take some action.
  • Appeal to the audience's interests.
  • Use logic and emotion to support your position.
  • Avoid using notes
Time: Five to Seven minutes

Comments:
Readers of this blog post who would like to know more about Nanhi Kali Project may visit http://www.nanhikali.org/ for more details.
Information on how to make donations to this project :
For Indian Residents : http://www.nanhikali.org/donate/donateregister.aspx
For US Residents: http://www.nanhikali.org/nanhikali/nk_usa.aspx
]