Editors Note: This weeks Top Pick is truly a dream come true, as I have often desired to make a difference in this world and help those in need but I wasn’t always sure of how to do that.  After Tammy Tibbetts introduced many to the unique, inspiring, and life changing school called Shanti Bhavan at the She’s the First Soiree, I just knew I had to learn more, do more, and give more.  Please take a few moments out of your day and read the enlightening  depiction from a current Shanti Bhavan volunteer, Natasha Khanna (pictured here during her stay in India) of how being involved and helping this organization can literally create a more beautiful and productive future for the entire planet.  To donate to this incredible cause you can click HERE and start adding COLOR all the way in India, right now. ALSO PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW! ~Nitika~

I knew that if I was going to sacrifice everything, it would have to be worth it.  I had been searching for an organization to volunteer abroad with for years. This desire manifested itself in the form of a perpetual work routine.  Enter office.  Turn on computer.  Secure coffee.  Open Microsoft Outlook.  Browse Idealist.org.  Refresh the ‘volunteer opportunities abroad’ section.  Repeat last step, neurotically.  This tedious search led me to Shanti Bhavan, a project I was immediately attracted to due to its unparalleled level of devotion to its children.  In what felt like overnight, but was probably closer to two months, I quit my job, sold my furniture, and moved out of New York City and into rural India.

Shanti Bhavan is a nonsectarian home and school located in Tamil Nadu, India for the region’s most socially and economically disadvantaged children.  The school follows a completely unique and innovative model to educating the poor; in fact, no other organization commits the same level of long-term and quality investment in the lives of the children it serves.  Accepting students at the age of four, Shanti Bhavan continues to financially and emotionally support them until they graduate from college – a seventeen-year commitment.

Shanti Bhavan has proven that its approach works. The success of the school’s model is evident in the academic achievements of its students. Students sit for the ICSE and ISC exams, considered among the most advanced in India. All students who took the level X ICSE exam in 2008, 2009 and 2010 passed with first Division, equivalent to a 3.5 GPA and higher by U.S. standards. Half of these students scored “Distinctions,” the highest scoring category. No other Indian school in history has achieved such success within the Dalit – or formerly known as “untouchable” – community.

This past year, with its first graduation of 14 students, Shanti Bhavan confirmed that a long-term investment in children would, in fact, allow them to break free from the shackles of social and economical discrimination. All 14 graduates were accepted into top colleges in Bangalore, many of which are considered among the top 10 undergraduate colleges in India.  The graduates are pursuing a variety of majors, from biotechnology to law to accounting. There is no doubt in my mind that, after conquering the rigorous curriculum of Shanti Bhavan, each child at this school will go on to do the same.

Shanti Bhavan’s model of education is not the only aspect of its mission that initially caught my attention.  The careful thought that went into constructing the school’s curriculum and values was evident upon my first visit to its web site.  First and foremost, Shanti Bhavan places a heavy emphasis on quality education.  It operates under the mentality that children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds should receive the same standard of education that their more fortunate peers are afforded.  That means that the children of Shanti Bhavan have an opportunity to study piano, dance ballet, and explore Microsoft Office in the school’s computer labs.

Furthermore, the school’s culture is designed to instill in its students virtues such as honesty, respect and humility. The success of this endeavor became clear to me after arriving and becoming acquainted with these children, who span from ages 4 to 17.  Each student at Shanti Bhavan is more curious, intellectual, humble and charming than the next.  Even the most beautiful, talented writer could do the children no justice with mere words.

The most rewarding thing about teaching and living at Shanti Bhavan is this: to work at Shanti Bhavan is to work in international development. The more that I learn about my students, the more I begin to understand how their individual successes will uproot their families’ from poverty.  These children have dreams to become journalists, electrical engineers, and pianists, yet they are the children of laborers, rag pickers, and quarry workers.  And they are capable of achieving these futures thanks to Shanti Bhavan.

Shanti Bhavan has reached a crossroads following the economic downturn of 2008.  While this endeavor was founded and largely funded in its early years by professor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and author Dr. Abraham George, it must now be primarily supported by grassroots donations from people like you, Bella Life followers.  This model of education is entirely sustainable and effective in the developing world. At the operating cost of just $4 a day, Shanti Bhavan is able to provide housing, food, education, clothing, medical treatment, etc. for each child.

You may not be able to visit Shanti Bhavan in time to watch 6^th grade’s Harish master Arabesque by Burgmuller on the piano, or receive a play-by-play breakdown of 12^th grader Karthika’s aspiration to first become a human rights lawyer, and then enter politics before becoming prime minister. (She’d like to tackle employment, environmental policy and India’s education system during her term.)  You may never walk through the beauty of Shanti Bhavan’s campus, lined with coconut trees, to be greeted with enthusiastic hellos and riddles by the increasingly toothless 2^nd graders. You may never take over my literature class and have the opportunity to lead a discussion on social and racial discrimination in the 1930s to provide a more thorough context for To Kill a Mockingbird. You might not make it to Shanti Bhavan until after the school’s famous ‘hip hopper’ dance trio graduates, which means you may never be taught how to moonwalk.

For now, experience these children through my photos and words.  And know that somewhere, on the opposite end of the world you live in, they are real and breathing, sleeping and laughing, working towards creating a better world and bringing about a change in the social injustice that exists in India. And know that there is something you can do to support them.

**WATCH THIS VIDEO AND BE INSPIRED!!**

**DONATE TODAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE**