Laxmi is the mother of three children, aged seven, five and 10 months. She was married at age 14 and never received an education. We spoke to Laxmi in 2019, while she was living in the Prakash Tekadi Slums in Mumbai. Her two daughters had started attending Emmanuel Education Centre, a project run by GMP relief and development partner Hosanna Ministries. Laxmi was hopeful not only about her future but the future of her daughters. “I’m happy that my daughters will get some education; it makes us feel very proud,” Laxmi said.  

With your support, Laxmi’s daughters received three years of education at the Emmanuel Education Centre.  

However, living in Prakash Tekadi Slums was dangerous for her family. Laxmi, now in her mid-twenties, was worried about the safety of her young children. The community experiences daily cases of abuse and domestic violence and many people use bad language. So, Laxmi and her husband decided to move to another community where their family would be safer. Laxmi said it was a big decision to leave. “We said, ‘We have to do this for our daughters’.”  

Education gave her children new opportunities. According to Laxmi, the education that her daughters received at the Emmanuel Education Centre enabled her eldest daughter, Renuka, to be admitted into a new school in the community “very quickly”. Renuka knows English rhymes and poems because of the activities she participated in at the centre. Both Laxmi and her husband are very happy that their daughters can also write their parents' names in English! This is very encouraging for Laxmi. All of this would not have been possible without the Emmanuel Education Centre.  

With Renuka's education continuing, Laxmi is hopeful for her children’s futures. “I don’t want my daughters to marry so young. I want them to go to college and learn what they want. I want them to grow and leave this poverty.”  

Thanks to your support of the Emmanuel Education Centre, Laxmi and her daughters are again one step closer to leaving “this poverty”. The literacy skills that Laxmi’s daughters learnt while at Emmanuel Education Centre will help pave the way for future education opportunities in their new community. This means they have had more opportunities than Laxmi ever had. 

When you give to the COCOA Christmas Offering, you’re empowering people to break the generational cycle of poverty. Giving education to children gives them the ability to break that cycle. They will have access to further education and work, and set higher goals for their future!