Day 4: All Malalas everywhere

July 12^th, was Malala Day.  She spoke so powerfully and gracefully at the United Nations for the right of every child to go to school. Her final words, "education first".  Ameen.During our visit to Ahmedabad a couple of weeks ago, Saanya and I visited several schools.  In one school, in a slum area, in a dilapidated building, almost 1000 children in two shifts, in clean uniforms with eager smiles, sit at their desks ready to imbibe their dreams.  Each school session starts with a prayer, sung by one of the students: “Lab pey aati hey dua banke tamanna meri” (my longing comes to my lips as a prayer) that darkness disappear through my life's actions, that God bless us with love for the entire world, compassion for one another, and thirst for knowledge.Saanya led the kids in a card making workshop. You should have seen their eyes light up at all the supplies – paper, stickers, flowers, curly scissors. For the next several hours they cut, and pasted, and created their masterpieces.   From the classroom window, in the alley outside, strewn with trash and overflowing with animals, I saw a young girl, oblivious to the noise and filth around her, sitting on the floor of her one room, reading.So on Malala Day, lab pe aati hai dua banke tamanna meri, that every girl and every boy have a chance to go to school, to have caring teachers and adequate materials, and supportive families and encouraging mentors, so they can each craft their own futures.Day 4, Dua 4: Education for every childPS:  If you’d like to support Saanya’s efforts to educate these children through Pennies for Education and Health, please message me.  Her goal is to raise $5000 this Ramadan for PEH (pehchildren.org).  Because in the words of Malala, “one child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”