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Project - Blossom Bus |
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Blossom Bus
www.lotusoutreach.org/india#blossom
See our updated report on the project half way through the year.
Catch up with the end of project report on the success of the bus program.
The Blossom Bus helps girls throughout Mewat, India secure safe and consistent transportation to and from school allowing these girls to stay in school and ultimately graduate high school. Staying in school has huge benefits for the socioeconomic status of these recipients and also prevents premature marriage and thus, early pregnancies as well. Along with the broad social, economic and health benefits, this program helps to alter the larger societal paradigm of the target region by demonstrating the
capacities of these girls and bolstering their position at a young age in a patriarchal society.
There is a severe scarcity of secondary schools in Mewat that prevents girls from
continuing their education. While boys often travel to neighboring villages to attend school, the ever-present
threat of rape prevents girls from leaving their villages without an escort. Gangs of young men in Mewat even
lay in wait along rural roads for unaccompanied girls to pass by so that they can assault and rape them. The
threat of assault combined with conservative parenting keeps girls stuck at home, uneducated. Providing these girls with basic education will have a powerful impact on future generations: children born to
mothers with primary school education are only half as likely to die before the age of 5. In addition, educated
women have increased earning potential. Such earning potential, along with greater confidence and selfesteem
afforded by basic education, enhances their bargaining power in the household and thus their ability
to meet the health, nutrition and educational needs of their children. Women who have a greater voice in
household decisions are demonstrably more likely to put the medical needs, education and general well-being
of their children first. Statistically speaking, children of educated women have improved survival rates,
nutritional status and school attendance.
Until proper secondary schools become
available in all villages, the Blossom Bus aims to support girls at this transitional stage, leading the way in
establishing female education as a norm rather than an anomaly. By supporting female education, the program mitigates gender imbalances, bolsters individual self-esteem and fosters a greater, more active role
for women in society. The impact of this program reverberates across the economy and community.
These two videos speak volumes: https://vimeo.com/96946382 & https://vimeo.com/96960633
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