Babar Ali- Sandhya Parwani 10C

The typical lifestyle of a poor boy living in India is as follows: waking up to help with the household chores, getting ready to go to school, and catching an auto- rickshaw. A lot of times the “getting ready for school” part is not included in these boys lives. Babar Ali, however, has one unique thing he does every day. After Babar Ali walks a few kilometers back home, more children enter his backyard with him. Babar Ali is a 16 year old teenage boy whose passion is to teach as many children as he can. His school might not look like a school, but all the children attending Babar’s school are being educated and that too for free. Babar starts his school with the National Anthem, and then he and 10 other teachers educate 800 children who cannot afford to go to any other school. When Babar was only 9, he used to teach his friends lessons as a game, but Babar soon realized that he could change his friends’ lives by properly educating them. Babar Ali himself goes to the best school in West Bengal, the Raj Govinda School. His family needs at least 1,800 rupees, which is around 40 rupees, in order to provide Babar Ali with a uniform, books, the school fees, and money for the rickshaw. Although Babar’s school is very far away, Babar does not complain. He is determined to learn, and even more determined to allow the children of his country to have a brighter future.
Not only Babar, but all of the students attending Babar’s school are an inspiration for me. To see Babar’s backyard school and compare it with my school makes me sad. You might think Babar’s school makes me sad because the children attending that school have to sit on the mud and bare the heat. But what really makes me sad is that even though children in the International School of Curacao have the most comforts, they don’t want to learn. We are given assignments but we complain that we have too much work. We don’t see that we are the few fortunate ones who have been given the chance to study. The children in Babar’s school don’t have technology to strengthen their knowledge, but whatever they learn are the most thrilling ideas to them. They have built up confidence inside their selves; they know that even though they are not the richest children in the world, they can do what rich people do. They can also learn. A lot of them live happily with the hope that one day they will be able to become something. One of the students is Chumki, a fourteen year old girl who starts her morning at 6 working in homes till 2 in the afternoon. She then goes to Babar’s backyard. Her dream is to become a nurse, and she can become one because of Babar’s help.
I also hope now that I will be able to become something, and help people. In the beginning of the year when challenge 20/20 was discussed, I was in great confusion on how poverty could be solved. Babar Ali has showed me that if you want something, you can achieve it. If I and others in the world want poverty to go away, it can happen. Just talking about the issue of poverty won’t solve it; doing something about it can solve it. Many children when educated become smart and important people in the world.
Babar Ali had faith in himself and he was able to make his backyard into a school. Since he was nine he has been educating children who can’t get the education he does. He has taught me that I’m not the only one who needs education, everyone does. I know now that trying to achieve the highest is possible, but what is even more important is helping others achieve what they want as well. Today I can say that I am living with a reason; I am living because I know whatever goals I want I can accomplish, and I am living because I can also make a difference in this world. Even if I don’t know it, I have the power in myself to rise, and one day I want to experience this power. I know that everyone can do what they wish to.

Sandhya Parwani
History 10C