Walking through her neighborhood Target on a Wednesday afternoon, Cassie, a young elementary teacher working for a public school in the midwestern United States, fills her cart with child-sized face masks, sanitizing wipes, bottles of hand sanitizer, enough colored pencils and crayons for every student, and a supply of motivational stickers that are sure to make the eager and enthusiastic children in her classroom smile. During her first few years of teaching, her shopping cart was also filled with school supplies, but upon the advent of the COVID pandemic, the face masks and sanitizer are new. She wonders what the upcoming school year will bring. Will the school remain open for in-person classes all year? Or will there be another lockdown? The uncertainty is unsettling, but as the teacher, her students’ hero, she knows her confidence in all circumstances is what they look to for their own sense of stability in these trying days.
On the other side of the world in India, Nisha, a high school teacher, is also preparing to welcome her students back to one of DFN’s Good Shepherd schools. However, Nisha isn’t shopping for school supplies. In fact, the students won’t be present in her classroom. The pandemic lingers in India and prevents students in DFN’s schools, and most of India’s schools, from returning to in-person learning this year. And so for Nisha, a dedicated teacher, the workload to make sure her students can learn something from home with limited technology, no help from parents, and only occasional interaction with school staff means she has to work extra hard to cultivate understanding in challenging subjects like physics, chemistry, trigonometry, and calculus.
But even facing these enormous hurdles, Nisha isn’t going to give up. She is committed to visiting every student’s home, to creating opportunities for one-on-one face time with every pupil. She has created app-based workgroups for discussion and learning. She has also taken every textbook and generated extra worksheets and assignments for those in need of additional academic help. Her job responsibilities have multiplied, but her deep love and compassion for each student makes the effort worth every hour of added work. Just like Cassie in the United States, Nisha in India loves her students and is willing to do whatever it takes to foster an environment of learning. Pandemic or no pandemic: both of these devoted women want their students to reach their highest potential.
The reason Nisha can continue teaching and creating positive transformation in the community in which she works? Faithful people like you who give month after month to provide Nisha’s salary, as well as all of the textbooks and materials that make learning possible in DFN’s schools. Nisha’s success is guaranteed because you have been generous in the past and continue to be generous even during pandemic days.
You can impact a child’s education and ensure that teachers like Nisha can continue making a positive impact in the lives of children all across India. From $25 for school supplies to $200 for a teacher’s monthly salary, every gift makes a difference.
Because Every Life Matters.
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