Working with a corporate firm in Gurgaon, Pawan Sharma couldn’t find his inner peace. Thankfully, being active in theatre, he had something to fall back on to find mental peace and comfort. Everything changed one evening when he and his theatre group were performing a street play in the vicinity of Dilli Haat.
“It was an issue-based play. And as soon as it was over, we had queries from the audience about how they could help in spreading awareness. It was a satisfying feeling. But as I came out and saw little kids working on the streets, the feeling faded away. It was painful to see kids as small as four-years-old working for a living. Just performing plays on issues wouldn’t help much, I thought,” says Pawan, remembering the turning point in his life one November evening in 2005.
The next day began with new thoughts. Pawan was ready to take on an issue — he wanted to educate street kids. He reached Dilli Haat with some pre-primary books and gathered some kids who were surprisingly keen on studying, and he sat under a flyover to teach them. “It was the idea which later led to my organisation Khoj Foundation, which aims at educating street kids,” he says.
Started single-handedly, the Foundation now has nine permanent board members and volunteers are always in a loop. There are different teachers for seven different areas of South Delhi where the classes are usually held. Each area has around 20 to 25 kids studying. All these kids come for classes in the morning and later in the day sell books, flowers and other things at traffic signals for a livelihood.
“We still take classes under flyovers or in parks of residential colonies, but over the years we’ve also managed to get some facilities. We have a van that works as a moving school. It helps us conduct weekly workshops on theatre, art, cleanliness, hygiene, etc,” he says.
With the help of Khoj, almost 25 kids have started going to regular schools. “Some are continuing, some dropped out. But after we got them enrolled we have been doing everything that can lead them to a good future,” says Pawan.
However, he has not been able to get the 80G certificate for his foundation that gives tax rebate to a contributor.
“That becomes a setback in collecting funds, but still people from all around have been really helpful. We’ve been able to expand our horizons only because of the support we are getting from so many people,” he says.