Posted: 05/05/2009
On 30th April, His Excellency, Mr. Rupert Holborow, the New Zealand High Commissioner to India and his wife Mrs. Polly Holborow along with Dr. Kiran Martin, Director of Asha, were present at the Asha centre in the Trilokpuri slum to inaugurate the Computer Literacy Programme there. The New Zealand High Commission has been a generous supporter of the work of Asha since the last few years and this time the money donated by the High Commission was used to purchase 8 computers, an internet connection and a printer.
To encourage the children to excel in all they do despite the difficult circumstances they live in, the High Commissioner spoke about how His Excellency, The Honourable Anand Satyanand, became the Governor-General of New Zealand even though his grandfather worked as a servant when he arrived in Fiji from India.
His Excellency was surprised to hear that some of the children at Trilokpuri didn't even know how to turn on a computer and one of the girls present hadn't even had a chance to touch a computer before. Mrs. Holborow who has been teaching English to the children in the Asha slum at Ekta Vihar, decided to give the excited children a few basic tips on using a computer while others watched.
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Dr. Martin then spoke to the slum dwellers about the work of Asha and how the lives of numerous children would now change because their computer knowledge would help them find better employment and access to the internet would open up a world of information for them.
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A few students appearing for their A-level exams were also given books. As soon as Dr. Martin explained to the audience that the money for these books was raised by auctioning a bat autographed by the New Zealand cricket team, the cricket lovers in the crowd burst out in cheers!
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Mr. and Mrs. Holborow were happy to visit a house of one of the children from the slum and were all smiles as their well-spent evening came to an end.
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I was widowed at 25 and left with 3 children – the youngest was just one year old. Asha helped me financially so I could send my children to school and now have a job as a maid. I thought about ending my life but Asha gave me the support to carry on.
Vimla, Ekta Vihar
