" We have a small boat now. But when I grow up, I will buy a big ship, and ask amma and appa to rest." Pradip’s parents make a living through boat riding in a small village of Khammam, Telangana, barely earning Rs. 3000 a month. As he grew up, Pradip too started accompanying his parents on their daily rides and would do odd jobs for people, earning a few extra rupees. It took nearly three years of counseling and countless door to door visits by teachers from Mission Education at Telengana to convince Pradip’s parents to send him to school. They had not wanted to part with the little additional income that he had started bringing in. But in the end, when Pradip insisted, they could not say no to their son. Now when Pradip goes with his parents on the boat rides and they hear him talking in English with the tourists, they can’t stop smiling. He has also started teaching some English words to his parents to help them deal better with the tourists.
Both my brothers and I go to school together now and also have our meals together now. I have my own happy stories now. Earlier Purnima, her two brothers Som and Shubh and her grandparents, who these three children stay with, lead a life of despair and poverty. Her mother and father worked in Delhi and used to send some money every month. She usually used to take care of the household chores and her brothers. Seeing all her friends go to school and talk about it she also longed to go to school someday. It was through her friends that Mission Education Program of Smile Foundation came to know about Purnima and her brothers. After much discussions and talks with her grandparents Purnima was finally admitted at the centre. She currently studies in class 6, her brother Shubh is in class 3 and another of her brother Som will come to class 1. Very soon their hard work and dreams are going to bear fruit and they are going to be successful