Pothiraja is in the 8th grade and lives in Veerapandi Village (Madurai) India. This young boy has undergone lot of struggle in his life prior to joining Tripura’s HoPE Learning Center. He lost his father at a very young age and his mother is mentally ill. He used to stay hungry and would wander aimlessly, because he and his mother had no permanent home. They would spend their cold nights in an unprotected bus stop for shelter.
Pothiraja would help homemakers in Madurai village, and he was fed in return. He ran errands for others and did not attend school regularly. The villagers utilized his innocence by making him do household chores for them.
The bus stop shelter where he and his mother were staying is near one of Tripura’s HoPE Learning Centers. When a girl named Kaveri, a 5th grader, asked Pothiraja why he wasn’t attending school, he told her that there was no one to care for him or help him in his studies. So this girl took him to one of the HoPE Lerning Center teachers, who asked him to attend classes at the center regularly and requested that he rejoin school.
Four months after he joined the learning center we noticed a miraculous change in his overall attitude. He now attends classes full of confidence and is doing well at his school. He carries a sweet smile on his face, leaving behind bad memories of the past and is looking toward a bright future.
He one day wishes to become a police officer. There is a spark and a drive within Pothiraja which gives us no doubt that he will achieve his goal.
You have an opportunity to be a part of Project SAVE by making a donation to sponsor other children just like Pothiraja, who are in need of food, shelter and education, so they’re able to not just survive, but truly THRIVE.
Kindly make your donation at this link: https://www.tripurafoundation.org/donate
With love,
Chandra Sullivan
Tripura Foundation Team Member
