 | |||||
|
|||||
| THIS ISSUE | |||||
|
|||||
 | |||||
With education comes freedom 
Twenty-one-year-old Kubendran is full of determination. He belongs to a large family in India who were for years caught in a spiral of poverty. Following his father’s death, his mother Selvammal, had no choice but to borrow money to feed her family, and the then ten-year-old Kubendran was her only ‘collateral’. Unfortunately she was unable to keep up with the rising debt and Kubendran was forced to leave school and work rolling beedi’s (a type of cigarette) to help pay off the loan. It was not long before he was working 14 hour days, from 7am to 9pm, and the size of the loan never seemed to get any smaller. For four long years this was his life, until his mother came in contact with World Vision. World Vision helped Selvammal to free Kubendran from bonded labour through the Born to be Free programme with funding from World Vision New Zealand. Kudendran still had dreams for his future. “I had missed four years of school and I wanted to continue,” says Kubendran. He joined a Transit School run by World Vision to help him adjust, but when he returned to his old school he had to continue at the same grade he left, sitting next to children four years younger than him. "I was very upset when the school asked me to start all over again from grade four, but I didn't want to give up so I started studying," says Kubendran. From then on, there was no looking back for Kubendran. Today, he is completing his final year of a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in mathematics. "World Vision has been supporting me and my family all the way. My life is totally changed because of this help," says Kubendran. "After I finish my graduation, I want to do my bachelors degree in education and become a teacher. My dream is to teach poor children like me and help them have a better life," says Kubendran. And there is little doubt with Kubendran’s determination, he will achieve that goal. |
|||||
 | |||||
|
|||||
