Career Counseling

Last night, something special happened.

Within PMI are different community outreaches led by different members of the staff.  Praisey currently leads the Child Health and Education Program which we shorten to CHEP. She oversees the kids from grades 6-12 in their tutorship programs.  This year for the first time, CHEP has a graduating class. Six years ago, CHEP opened up and began taking in sixth graders for after-school study help. About seven of the original students have remained with PMI from that time til now, and they are currently finishing the twelfth grade and filling out forms for college and trade school application.
They come from the slum nearby, and they are the first generation in their families to be educated through high school. It's not only that their parents couldn't get an education, either - they just don't see a need for it in an enclosed community replete with traditionalism, alcoholism, and cyclical poverty.  And let me tell you something I've learned: it's really difficult to value education if your parents don't.
Last night, we provided a Career Counseling event in which the students from 10th, 11th, and 12th grades sat with college-educated people who care about their well-being and know about the education system in Delhi.  I got to speak to them all about perseverance and the way to choose your career path.  We plan to have follow-up counseling events for the graduating class.

 

All outreach is invaluable. Everyone's hard work counts.
But these students touch a place deep in my heart. They represent the whole of PMI's working years - they represent hundreds of hours devoted, and there they stand - healthy and smart and confident and strong - blooming as a result of all the people who care about them worldwide.
Their well-being and their commitment to pour back into their communities is the single reason I want to be involved here. This is what will change the game. These people. They can go where I cannot. They can help people I'll never have the opportunity to meet.

More than all of this, so many of these students have chosen Truth over lies as a direct result of PMI and CBC efforts. They meet weekly to discuss the Good Book with our good friend Raj, and they ask hard questions and they stand up to persecution daily. They aren't perfect, but they have hard lives and they do an excellent job handling them. They have chosen the most excellent way. They have put in hard work to improve their lives and the lives around them. They have thought for themselves and understood which Truth would set them free.
 No, i couldn't be prouder of them.

Keep praying for them to be healthy and strong, and for them to have a deep desire not only to improve themselves, but to give back to their community. Oh, how they give me hope for India.

Love from Delhi,
Julie with hope for the future.