Tips left on restaurant tables make big change in Indian students' lives

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 8 April 2000

EPHRATA, Pa. — For the past 16 years, patrons of the Nav Jiwan International Tea Room here have been providing children in Calcutta, India, with increased educational opportunities through their gratuities. Nav Jiwan is located in the Ephrata, Pa., Ten Thousand Villages store.

In 1999 tips given by Nav Jiwan customers totaled nearly $50,000 Cdn./$34,000 U.S. and benefitted 166 students. "The tip money we are sending is so useful. I wish we could give more; there is so much need," said Richard Sarker, Nav Jiwan manager.

This support of Indian students is one aspect of Mennonite Central Committee's (MCC) Global Family program, which has provided educational assistance and vocational training to children around the world since 1953.

Kate Myers, Global Family program coordinator, believes that based on population, India is Global Family program's greatest area of need. "A large part of our program in India is geared toward children in cities. Children in urban areas are always more vulnerable than children in rural areas," said Myers.

Myers explained that each year Nav Jiwan makes a commitment to sponsor a certain number of students based on projected customer gratuities. Nav Jiwan sponsors some 140 students per year.

This past September Sarker traveled to India and visited the children, their families and the schools receiving assistance through Nav Jiwan tips. A native of Bangladesh, Sarker worked with Global Family in Bangladesh from 1986 to 1992. With this past experience and having traveled to India prior to his last visit, Sarker explains that what he saw was "nothing new" to him. However, Sarker admits that he looked at the situation from a very different perspective since living in the United States for the past eight years.

" I wondered how people could live in such a small space with so little, yet they always had a smile and offered hospitality," said Sarker.

Sarker spent much of his time in India visiting with a number of sponsored students including Shamim Akhtar, a recipient of Global Family funds. Akhtar, blind from an early age, attended Calcutta Blind School and learned Braille. As an only child and the primary family wage earner since the death of his father, Akhtar has learned chalk making and also runs a public telephone booth.

During a visit at Akhtar's home, Sarker was amazed by his hospitality. "He was running around getting soda for his four guests," explained Sarker, "as he was running, he tripped and broke one of the bottles. I insisted I wasn't thirsty because I knew soda was expensive. [Buying] Four bottles of soda would have spent a day's income. But he was still offering it with a smile. That was amazing to me."

Since his return from India, Sarker feels a strong sense of immediacy for the children in India. "I was inspired by the difference it [Global Family program] made in their families. This sponsorship is another attempt at breaking the cycle of poverty in Third World countries," he said.

Sarker hopes customers will continue to generously give to the Global Family program. He sees one of his greatest tasks as spreading the word about the program and its impact on the lives of so many children.

"I wish I had more time to talk with our customers to inspire them," commented Sarker, "One time I was talking with a number of customers, and I explained that our tips go to children in India and they decided to leave a little more."

Global Family program began in 1953 with a project in South Korea. Initially MCC assisted orphaned, underprivileged children. A total of 200 United States and Canadian sponsors funded the original project. Within a short time, emphasis shifted from providing general support to children to funding education. Education remains the primary component of the sponsorship program. This includes funding for teacher's salaries, literacy programs, school supplies and various other formal and informal aspects of education.

For information on Global Family, in the United States, phone Kate Myers at (717) 859-1151; in Canada, phone Gayle Zacharias at (204) 261-6381.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org