#137 Payali School

The Payali School was started in 2003 by DG Deepa Willingham,   The following was taken directly from the RI website and I think it articulates the story of the school best. Education, clean water & amp; sanitation and sustainability are all key components to the success of the Payali Learning Center.

A basic understanding of poverty is the inspiration Rotarians need to eradicate it, keynote speaker Deepa Willingham said during the second spouses plenary session at the International Assembly.(2008)

Willingham, a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Ynez Valley, California, USA, told the audience that 1.3 billion people around the world live on less than US$1 a day and that 10 million children die each year before they reach their fifth birthday due to extreme poverty. “I find these numbers staggering and overwhelming. My heart aches with sadness,” she said.  

Figures like these led Willingham to form PACE Universal(Promise of Assurance to Children Everywhere) in 2003. The organization’s mission is to nurture the education, nutrition, health, and social development of young girls in the slums of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India, and other areas around the world.

“I’m just a simple Rotarian from a small town in Southern California, but I believe that I can make a difference by doing my share, however small that may be,” Willingham said.

Her club partnered with the Rotary Club of Calcutta Metropolitan to build a permanent building for the Piyali Learning Center, which will eventually serve 1,200 girls and 500 boys from impoverished villages around Kolkata.

The center will also help provide clean water, sanitation, and solar ovens to the community of Piyali Junction. “The aim of the center will be to bring about sustainable changes to the lives of citizens,” said Willingham.

Those living in extreme poverty “live with no hope in their hearts, they have no voice in their destiny or the ability to determine their future,” Willingham told the audience.

Principal gives an overview of the school

students working on their computer skills

Local women, making beautiful jewelry

tight quarters, but the girls are thrilled to be in school

all happy to be learning

PDG Pam Russell, stand below the original sign

I am simply in awe of Deepa's commitment and was so pleased to be able to see this amazing school first hand. The new building is scheduled to open late spring and will offer boarding and allow the school to grow  to offer education up to level ten.  There is also an adult Learning Center as part of the school which offers jewelry making and computer skills to the women of the community. Microcredit will offer these women the opportunity to buy materials so that they can sell their goods and become self sustaining. Deeps is proof that one Rotarian can do great things, but working together even more can be accomplished.  Deepa's dream is giving hope to children who had no hope.