You can fund education of Mumbai 26/11 attack victims' children for Rs 100

Anjali Gupta 14 and Nikita Gupta 9 with their mother Savitri Gupta at their residence in Pant Nagar Ghatkopar PicShadab KhanInacircu00c2u0080u00c2u0088a dark and narrow bylane in one of Mahimrsquos slums is a small 270 sq ft dimly lit room where 45yearold Hussaini Bi is sitting with her two sons Abdul Karim 21 and Abdul Azis 18 and daughter Sameera 19 They still recall November 26 2008 mdash the most dreadful day in their lives It was the day Hussainirsquos husband Peer Pasha Mehboob Ali Shaikh died after he was shot in his chest by terrorists at Leopold Cafeacute where he worked as a waiterWith the state governmentrsquos compensation of R5 lakh per family not being enough to fund the education and life of her and her five children Hussaini Bi decided to move back to Yadgiri her hometown in KarnatakaAround 10 kilometres away in Pantanagar Ghatkopar East is a 400 sq ft room where Savitri Gupta lives with her parents and two daughters Anjali and Nikita aged 14 and 9 Anjali was just seven years old and in Std 2 at LD Doshi Gurukul Ghatkopar E and Nikita was just a year old when their father Vinod Gupta succumbed to bullets when terrorists opened fire at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus A garage worker Vinod was escorting his mother to the station A bullet hit his head killing him instantly His mother Malati was also was hit by a bullet but survivedBoth women were unsure how theyrsquod cope financially especially their childrenrsquos education These worries were put to rest when Girgaumbased organisation Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust RNCT stepped inToday Muneera Hussaini Birsquos eldest daughter is a fashion design graduate and married Abdul Karim 21 is in his final year of BCom Sameera has completed Std 11 and plans to pursue a nursing course Shakira and Abdul Aziz attend junior college ldquoI do not know what we would have done had RNCT not called usrdquo says Karim ldquoWithout this sponsorship we would probably have been doing some menial jobrdquohe adds Karim is the man of the house taking care of his mother his younger brother and two younger sisters Hussaini Bi also gets a monthly salary of R7700 from Leopold managementIn 2003 the 24yearold nonprofit started the Education Sponsorship Program under which the finances for the education of children who couldnrsquot afford it due to various reasons was covered So far the NGO has sponsored the education of 300 children of which 181 were those affected by the 2611 attacksldquoWe are currently in phase II of the project and aim to help 60 children out of the total 300 who are still in the process of completing their educationrdquo says Rajiv Mehta the trustee of RNCT which started reaching out to the children in 2003While RNCT has been raising funds through traditional methods by reaching out to communities corporates and organisations such as Rotary and Lionrsquos clubs it has now given a shot at a crowdfunding platform FueladreamCrowdfunding for a causeThe campaign titled Rebuilding the lives of kids of Mumbai Terror attack victims aims to raise R1 lakh which will support the educational requirements of five children with each receiving R20000 as an education scholarship Abdul Aziz Abdul Karim Shakira Shaikh and Anjali Gupta will be four of the recipientsIn just 30 days the organisation has raised Rs 70000 There are only three more days for the campaign to endldquoThis is not the first time that we are using a crowdfunding platform however we are definitely new to this medium of raising funds What we liked about Fueladream is that it gave personal attention to the campaign and has also helped us promote the campaignrdquo explains Asha Mehta Trustee of RNCTRanganath Thota founder and CEO of Fueladream says before the firm takes on an NGOrsquos cause they do a detailed due diligence ldquoSecondly we curate campaigns which involve storytelling We invest in the stories with social media marketing and lastly we partner with a communication firm to do all the necessary communication and PR around the campaignsrdquo says Thota In the six months that Fueladream has been live it has given a platform to more than 50 campaigns of which causes and charities would account for 35 In all it has raised Rs 2 croreA new lightIt may be small contributions Even Rs 100 will do but itrsquos made a great change in the lives of the recipientsFloyd Martis was just 15 years old and preparing for his SSC examination in November 2008 His father Faustin Basil Martis 49 was an employee at The Taj Mahal Palace when terrorists took siege Like many Martis was killed in the attack RNCT funded Flyodrsquos education he is now an engineerRNCTrsquos funding for her daughterrsquos schooling has also prompted Gupta now a Class IV railway employee to educate herself She enrolled herself in a night school and completed her SSC Today she has applied for a Class III job at the Railways and is awaiting its results