About Us
Friends of Aseema is a U.S. nonprofit corporation dedicated to helping the Aseema Charitable Trust in India. Aseema means “limitless” in Sanskrit. What does the word “limitless” mean to you? Hope? Possibility? For children living in crushing poverty in Mumbai’s streets and slums, hope and possibility seem out of reach. This is where the Aseema Charitable Trust steps in.
At Aseema, “limitless” is more than just a word. It is a way of thinking. The Aseema Charitable Trust is devoted to giving the best education possible to the most marginalized and underprivileged children it can reach. Directly educating 2,700 children per year, Aseema functions on a lean annual budget for what it must accomplish, with 6% spent on common facilities and only 7% on administration expenses. Aseema reaches more than 2,000 other children through indirect support such as teacher training at schools in Lucknow and Kanpur, India, serving marginalized communities. With supplemental support from Friends of Aseema, Aseema can take its mission to serve these children even further.
More than 25 years since its founding, Aseema has grown from a borrowed classroom for a handful of slum and street children to fully managing three public schools in Mumbai serving only poverty-stricken children. In addition, Aseema built and operates a school in a tribal region northeast of the city. Although Aseema’s students live in extreme poverty, they now outpace their counterparts in the region’s private and other public schools.
Take a look at our Projects page to see some of the ways we have supported Aseema. Our News page contains annual reports and other updates, too. To learn more directly about Aseema’s services and impact, hear from staff, students, and alumni on the Testimonials page.
Watch this video to see Aseema in action today.
Aseema believes wholeheartedly in the limitless potential of every child. Its education program is a model for the world, demonstrating that education infused with understanding and flexibility of thought can permit a child to rise above even the direst of circumstances.
Without Aseema, these children would spend every day focused on their basic subsistence – begging, trash-picking or trying to sell tea – without any realistic hope of a different life. But for the luck of the draw, any of us could have been born into this plight. The children of Aseema give back to us by bringing their own gifts and talents to society.
Friends of Aseema hopes you will join us in finding the common human core in all of us. Throughout the world, there is so much division. We can do better than that.
Your contributions to Friends of Aseema will make an immediate, measurable impact on the lives of these children.
Aseema’s approach centers on understanding each child.
Aseema transforms lives.
Your donation to Friends of Aseema will help us sustain and extend this work.
Values-Driven Education
Aseema works to instill caring values in the children, who are encouraged to help each other with learning and life tasks.
Valuing Children
Aseema places heavy emphasis on teacher training and the bond between the teacher and the child. Children are made to feel valued.
Extracurricular Activities
Aseema gives children a well-rounded education with experiences designed to uncover their talents. The children are exposed to a range of subjects like art, cinema, sports and dance.
Understanding the Child’s Needs
Aseema social workers and counselors evaluate each child’s background and respond to their needs so that the children can be healthy and grow emotionally and academically.
“If you want to teach a child math, you need to know more about the child than about math.“
Geeta Subhedar,
Education Head, Kherwadi Municipal School
Every Child has the Right to Education
We would love to hear from you. Please let us know how you can help and support Friends of Aseema.
Friends of Aseema is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation organized under Pennsylvania law.
The official registration and financial information of Friends of Aseema, Inc., may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll-free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
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