Our Cohorts
Mumbai Cohort
Maranatha Harvest Mission Orphanage
The city of dreams, Mumbai, is one of the major metro cities in India and the biggest metropolis of its state Maharashtra. Mumbai which was initially known as Bombay was a collection of Seven Islands and hence making it a coastal city in the western coast of India.
This populous commercial city is the hub for hopeful aspiring individuals. This city is inhabited by various humankind from different walks of life. This fast paced lifestyle might seem intimidating yet it is the friendliest city in the country.
How did the Cohort start?
Mumbai has been a special place for Sarthak Mentoring Foundation. It is the place where Abhijeet Anand and Nishitha Boda met and kick started the Sarthak’s journey. Mumbai cohort started in 2021 when Abhijeet visited an orphanage in Chembur in Mumbai for a usual interaction with children. He was so impressed with the mission of the organization’s director and abilities of the Girl children there that he proposed for the Sarthak program’s advent for the select students in the orphanage. Later in the same month, Sarthak Mentoring Foundation and Maranatha Orphanage collaborated to shape the dreams of 19 girl children in the orphanage. Today the Mumbai cohort has 7 active mentees and with 12 younger mentees who attend the Sarthak’s life skills sessions.
About the collaborated Organization in Mumbai, Maharashtra
Maranatha Harvest Mission Orphanage, founded by Pastor M. Gnaniah is an orphanage that is founded to serve children and be their source of emotional and financial support. Being brought up under severe life conditions, Pastor M. Gnaniah envisions serving many parentless children by nurturing and providing these individuals with education and enjoyments of childhood, so they can mature to be courteous independent human beings. More details on this orphanage can be found on http://www.maranathaorphan.org.in/.
Varanasi
Kutumb Organization
The city of temples, is an ancient city on the banks of the River Ganges in Northern India. It has over a hundred ghats located along the banks of the River Ganga. It is also believed by Hindu devotees to have been the home of Lord Shiva.
Although this city is the home of religion and spiritualism, it also has the distinction of being a revered position among Buddhists and Jains devotees.
How did the Cohort start?
Varanasi is a special city for India, hub of culture, spiritualism and heritage. In the 2021-22 session, Abhilash Anand, management intern at the time with Sarthak Mentoring Foundation, introduced Kutumb to Sarthak’s board. Interacting with Kutumb’s core team, Sarthak’s board was immediately convinced that together they can bring immense value to the lives of the children at Kutumb. Later in September, Kutumb and Sarthak collaborated together to shape up the lives of 9 children holistically chosen for Sarthak life skills mentoring programs.
About the collaborated Organization in Mumbai, Maharashtra
“Kutumb” which when translated means Family was founded in the year 2002 by Dr. Ashish and Ms. Puja. The vision of this organization is to provide that vision and ambience of ‘family’ to abandoned children . Over the years, Kutumb has widened their mission and strengthened all units of marginalized and underprivileged families. It has also stood for the cause of women empowerment. Presently, the organization focuses on the welfare and well-being of the village, child development and empowering women from all walks of life. Further details can be found here: https://kutumbfamily.org/
Ladakh: Leh and Kargil
Jawadiah Project Care
The Land of High Passes, Ladakh is one of the Union Territories in India. Ladakh is located in the Northern region of India which is situated between The Kunlun Mountain Ranges in the North and The Himalayan Ranges to its south. This remote mountainous landscape is also called “Little Tibet” due to it being inhabited by Indo-Aryan and Tibetans.
The two largest towns in Ladakh are Leh and Kargil which is populated by Shia Muslim followers and a 35% of Buddhists. India as we know is a country of diversity and Ladakhis are a replica of the diversity that is endowed in India.
How did the Cohort Start?
The story of Sarthak starting it’s cohort in Ladakh is a very interesting one. It dates back to 2019, when Sarthak Mentoring Foundation’s founder was on an exploration trip to Leh and accidentally got introduced to a Ladakh Youth event in Leh. The experience of the city, region and interactions with children and youth of Ladakh inspired Abhijeet to bring Sarthak’s initiatives to this region. Later in 2020, when Chuskit Angmo joined Sarthak Mentoring Foundation as an intern, the dream to bring Sarthak Mentoring Program to Ladakh was realized. In August 2020, 10 children from different regions around Leh were inducted into the Sathak’s 2020-21 mentoring session and thus taking Sarthak’s journey to one of India’s most remote and special regions. Later in 2021, another interesting coincidence led to the advent of the Sarthak Program in Kargil. In July 2021, Sarthak organized the Ladakh Mentoring Conclave in Leh to celebrate the success of one of the mentoring programs in Ladakh. During this time, Abhijeet met one of India’s most prolific and innovative personality Mr. Sonam Wangchuk. It was during the amazing conversation between Abhjieet and Sonam that the idea to include Kargil region was rooted into the Sarthak’s 2021-22 session. In the current year, we have a total of 23 students from Ladakh region, 20 from Kargil and 3 from Leh region.
About the collaborated Organization in Kargil, Ladakh
Jawadiah Project Care, founded by Anwar Hussain works toward providing financial support to academically brilliant children from Kargil, Ladakh. It is an Educational branch of Anjuman e Jamiatul Ulema Houza e Elmiya Asna Asharia (AJUIAK) Kargil - Ladakh. The main objective of establishing this project is to focus on the talented poor children of Kargil-Ladakh and provide them better educational opportunities with extraordinary care.
These children belong to higher Himalayas who come from different environments of the Kargil District.
These young minds of Kargil are not only academically brilliant but creative and highly inspirational. Their positive energy is what fuels the passion of these young minds. More details can be found on the organization’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Jawadiah-Project-CARE-Kargil-Ladakh