A blind girls’ school in India named Antar Jyoti Balika Vidhyalaya for last seven years. It is a free residential school exclusively for blind girls in Bihar, a state where there is no social infrastructure for the blind. The school is run by a non-profit government organization, the Bihar Netraheen Parishad, established 33 years ago to educate blind children and help them find employment and a better life. This school was open in 1993. The school was started by an eye doctor and couple of visually impaired men. They picked three blind girls from slum area in Bihar, one of India’ s poorest states in India. If to be born a girl in a state with the nation’s highest rates of female feticide is a curse, to also be blind at birth is doubly so. These girls face rejection not only by society but also by their own families. This school gives these kids hope, love, shelter, better education and promise them better future by making them independent. Here, they have access to books in Braille, computers, and activities such as art and yoga. It is an environment filled with the innocence of childhood and the optimism of youth. Our effort is to help and uplift visually and physically challenged girls of lower strata of the society who have low income not sufficient enough to support the even basic needs. They are often forced to live in the streets or lead even a darker way of life. There are more than 8 blind boys schools in Bihar run by government but this is the only girls school run by NGO. Indian govt. has not provided any supporting funds since 2008. So this school totally run by the support of donors. Dr. R. N. Singh is the president of the school. Under his leadership, there has been significant changes and development in the school. Each child of this school has a heartbreaking story to share with community. These kids go through a lot in their young age. In last few years, the school is facing financial challenges due to lack of donors. I work in Duke University in Development Department (Fundraising), so I understand the value and power of donors. I discussed with the president of the school and also did a feasibility study with the current donors and decided to launch a global campaign of $500K. We are sure that with the support of local community we can easily achieve our mission. $250K will be used for endowments to cover the operating cost of the school and rest of the funds will be used to provide better infrastructure, playground, science lab and computer lab to the girls. With your support we would like to create awareness about the existence of these visually impaired girls and their needs. These kids have seen hell in their very young age and they need support of the local community to make them independent and give them better life. With the success of this campaign, Bihar Netraheen Parishad will be able to contribute towards making these visually and physically challenged girls to start thinking towards a dignified and independent life. The scope of our work keeps expanding as we try to serve our 110 girls now on board in ever more effective ways. The aim of this fundraising campaign launched on January 29, 2016, is to provide these girls, as well as those still waiting to join, with an environment where they can realize their full potential. More Details: biharnetraheenparishad.org/

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