Janki Sahu with her host family in the USA

Janki Sahu, all of 15 years old and a proud class nine student of Prerna Girls School, left for New Delhi on the 8^th August, 2014 – the day of the 12^th Prerna Convocation. She is bound for the US where she will attend high school for a year on a scholarship.

Fourteen Girls and 42 boys applied for the Kennedy Lugar – Youth Exchange Program and Janki Sahu was the only one selected. It was a story of failure and obstacles that miraculously turned to success. This is her story:

Janki is the middle child, the daughter of a daily wage laborer and a house help who together earn a meager living not even enough to put two square meals on the table for themselves and their three teenage children – two girls and a boy. A dedicated intelligent fast learner, Janki, sporting a mile long smile, modestly introduced me and the AFS volunteer to her parents on the first interview at her home. While others were hesitant, embarrassed and even faked their residential addresses, Janki proudly took us to her home – a single room mud house with a tin roof that was no higher than 6 feet with a single entrance that one had to crouch to get into. The tin roofs and tin door were constructed out of flattened tin canisters and oil drums that her father had acquired from somewhere. The structure was housed under a water tank constructed to on 30 foot stilts erected to supply water to the residents of the area. The surrounding land was developed with local wild plants but was kept neat and clean – there was a definite sense of hygiene among the family of five.

The rules and regulations seemed to have been designed to keep Janki from winning the scholarship. She had to be able to speak and write English, her parents had to agree to let her go for a year, her parents had to have some form of government identity, her medical tests and records and of course – not to mention Murphy’s Law – Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Convincing her father and AFS to let her attend:

This was not much of a problem given Dr Sahni’s convincing power. So, this milestone was sooner reached than discussed. Then came the interview at Delhi. Fourteen girls were sent to Delhi along with their parents at Dr Sahni’s expense. Three Toyota Innovas were booked to drive the girls and their parents to and from Delhi. We were told that if both parents of the girls did not accompany them long with some form of government identification, the girls need not attend. Janki’s mother could not go as she was bed ridden and her father had no form of identification at all – private or government.

Requests and pleas were finally heard and we were allowed to send Janki along with her father – they would have to take their chances as they could not be allowed into the US Center without a valid identification.

They took their chance and won!

The security did not allow them to enter the US center because of a lack of identification and we all thought Janki was out of the running. After a couple of hours waiting near the gates of the US center, waiting for the successful candidates to emerge so they could depart for Lucknow. However, fete smiled on Janki for through the window upstairs, Ms Diane Millar saw Janki standing with her father and enquired why she was out there. On being told the reason Ms Millar came down with her staff and interviewed Janki and her Father outside the gates. She asked Janki’s father how she will manage when she comes back, and how he will afford to provide her with an air-conditioner and the luxuries she will be used to by then. He answered, “she will earn them.”

We were informed a few days later that Janki and Anchal Kannaujia were short-listed for the scholarship. Then a few days later we were told that Janki had failed the English Language Test. Dismay crept in but then we were told a week later to prepare her for two month and she will be re-tested. The team went into overdrive. Two months later Janki passed the test!

The bad news was that Anchal KAnnaujia was dropped from the final list and Janki was included. But now we had to get her passport – How, was anyone’s guess. Janki did not have a valid address!!

A lot of running around, a letter of recommendation to the passport officer from the local MLA, the local police and a helpful neighbor who took Janki in all contributed to Janki getting her passport – it was as if Hades himself was plotting against her but force majeure was on her side.

Hurdles Galore!

When we got her passport we thought everything was smooth sailing from here on – then we were asked for her medical records. How, in India, can a child born to illiterate parents maintain medical records when the government health centers do not? We had to vaccinate her all over again for viruses and diseases we never knew existed. But we did! It took all of one year to prepare for the KL-YES scholarship, and we were putting medical records together even on the day Janki was to leave for Delhi! – Last minute requirements.

After attending the 12^th Prerna Convocation Janki left Lucknow with her father bound for Delhi by bus. She is scheduled to fly to the US on the 11^th August. We all wish her safety, knowledge and the love of the host family she will be staying with for the next year – Luck you ask??? She definitely has all she will need I’m sure.