Pallavi lost her father when she was only one year old, and then her mother a few years later, when she was just five. After the demise of her parents, she and her sister, Usha, were entrusted to her aging grandmother’s care, and both the were enrolled at a government school in Kumbarkoppal, a village near the city of Mysore. As a result of their unstable environment at home, the sisters were receiving very minimal education. Their grandmother became increasingly unable to take care of the sisters as she grew older and more frail, and the girls were eventually sent to Deenabandhu Children’s Home. Pallavi joined the 4th grade class when she arrived at Deenabandhu, and was given extra attention so that she would be able to catch up on acquiring the foundational skills of reading, writing and mathematics. She turned out to be a curious student, a quick learner, and was soon among the brightest in her class. She developed a growing interest in arts and crafts, and started designing beautiful greeting cards and gifts for her loved ones. She also became an integral part of the theatre group at her school, as well as becoming a talented hairstylist.
Pallavi scored an impressive 83% on her 10th standard board exams, and chose to pursue an Arts concentration for Grades 11 and 12. At present, she has decided to pursue a four-year degree course in Fine Arts at Chamarajendra College for Visual Arts (CAVA) in Mysore. We are so proud to announce that Pallavi will be commencing this incredible new journey of her college studies on 18th October, 2021.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, Yoga Gives Back has been supporting Pallavi through both the Sister-Aid program and the SHE scholarship. The Sister-Aid program currently provides more than 500 underprivileged children with primary and secondary education, as well as 500 mothers with micro-loans to support economic self-sufficiency, while the SHE scholarship program is funding 400 students with a five-year scholarship for higher education in the rural villages. Without this support, these students would have absolutely no other way to continue their education due to extreme poverty and related family problems.