Make The Future of the Country - Living up to their name

On 29th July, Laxmikant Borase and I went to meet Mr. Naresh Dhall, the founder of Make The Future of the Country (MTFC). Mr. Dhall runs the MTFC school in the Kanheli area in Rohtak, where he provides free primary education to children from nearby slums. Our journey there was quite eventful as well, having to change two autos to reach Kanheli. Once there, we met Ms. Sonia Gupta, one of the 40 volunteers at the school, who showed us the way to the school. During the 20 minutes walk there, Sonia told us about the school and herself. There were 150 students in this branch of MTFC, and another 50 in another branch that they have opened in the Bhiwani slums. We were impressed to know that Sonia herself was doing her B.Com (Hons.) from a college in Rohtak, and made sure she was at the school to teach the kids everyday.

On reaching the school, we saw about 60 kids aged between 5 and 10 sitting in the ground and studying in their 'classes' under different trees. Sonia informed us that most of the kids had not come that day since it was Shivaratri, and they had been forced by their parents to go to the temples and bring back food and money that the devotees would be handing out that day. It was disheartening to hear this, since for these kids, festivals were a time to go and collect food for their families, instead of actually enjoying and doing what they would want to.

Sonia then introduced us to Mr. Naresh, who invited us to his office to further tell us about MTFC. Pictures of various functions and ceremonies where the kids had performed adorned the wall of his office. He told us about how he had started MTFC on 27th September 2007, with a group of student volunteers, after they had realized that kids in the slums nearby wanted to learn, but did not have an opportunity to. Nareshji had personally visited the homes of these children to convince their parents to send their kids to the school. Most parents refused to send their kids, since they believed that a kid going to school would not be able to earn money by polishing shoes or begging. Yet, Nareshji persevered, and today MTFC is truly doing its part in making the future of the country with a strength of 200 students.

Nareshji went on to tell us about the various problems faced by MTFC. Their biggest concern was funds, since they did not have a bigger NGO or sponsors backing them up. MTFC does have 111 monthly donors, whose donations vary from Rs.20 to Rs.2100, but this amount is far from sufficient when it comes to meeting the needs of 200 kids. MTFC itself ran a fund-raising campaign, where they made cloth bags and sold them for Rs. 20 each, collecting funds for the organization as well as doing their part in helping to save the environment. Yet, a lot of plans made by Nareshji for the kids have not materialized due to the lack of funds. . That being said, they have received one-time donations from some generous organizations, like a few computers from Punjab National Bank, and file cabinets and book shelves from the Lions Club and Bharat Vikas Parishad. Also, since MTFC does not have a pool of funds, Nareshji ends up approaching organizations for material donations, like buying shoes or notebooks for the kids when they run out of them. Though it was impressive to hear about the generosity of these organizations, it was also sad that MTFC were not able to get a greater amount of support for their benevolent cause.

One of the biggest problems that we could highlight with MTFC was that the excellent work being done by them is unfortunately not being publicized to the outside world. Nareshji showed us a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of functions and activities that the kids from MTFC had taken part in. We were delighted to see more than a 100 clippings in there, which were a showcase of the hard work that Nareshji and his 40 student volunteers had been doing over the past 3.5 years. Despite having so much to show for, MTFC has not been able to publicize itself. This was one of the key issues that we identified during out meeting with him, since having done all the hard work over the past few years, they do deserve to have the world know about it.

Nareshji went on to discuss his experiences in the field, and how organizations like MTFC run more on the inspiration of the volunteers than funding. He then requested us to talk to his group of volunteers, as they were all very excited as well that someone from IIM had come to their school. We talked to the volunteers about the Social Development Project, and how we intend to contribute to their wonderful cause. The volunteers were a truly inspirational bunch, since all of them were pursuing their Bachelors degree, and yet made sure they turned up daily for the sake of the kids. They were also extremely enthusiastic, and they asked us several questions about SDP, IIM Rohtak, and even the Teach For India Movement.

Our visit ended with us meeting some of the students there. This was the best part of the visit for me. Six students took turns to recite poems, sing songs, and tell us jokes, all beginning with "Good Morning, my name is _____ and today I will be reciting/singing/telling you _____", and ending with "Thank You". Seeing these small kids speak good English made my respect for Nareshji and MTFC grow severalfold. Following this, we took our leave, proud of what a small NGO like MTFC was doing for the country, and how we needed to do our part in making them recognized for their achievements. What MTFC is doing is truly commendable, and having seen their work first hand, we felt even more committed to the SDP project.