13 July 2009
Meet the Burmans – Raj, Gigi, Alisha, Rhea and Rohan – who have lived in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, for the past 15 years. Their eldest, Alisha who is 14, has been in contact with teenagers her age in Chennai, India, thanks to the DFID Global School Partnerships programme at her secondary school - Warden Park in Haywards Heath.
Unlike most of her fellow pupils, Alisha has had far greater exposure to the issues facing developing countries as both her parents were born in India. This summer she will be visiting family in Chennai and Bangalore – a regular fixture in the family calendar. Every year, the family also visits city orphanages where they distribute unwanted toys and clothes from their household and their neighbours.
But the partnership has been of huge benefit to her local community and has deepened Alisha’s understanding of common global problems like poverty and climate change. “Linking with Little Flower School has shown me how lucky I am to have my education,” says Alisha. “My family is quite involved in charities so I do think about world problems. But with the partnership, we’re benefiting on both sides from seeing what we each think about it.”
"Having the Little Flower teachers visit Warden Park has helped people here to overcome prejudice and bring our nations closer to one another."
Shared history
Alisha’s parents are very happy that Warden Park is fostering links with Indian schools. “UK and Indian ties are deeply rooted in this area, and there has been an increasing depth of positive cross-cultural exchanges between both communities over the years, whether it’s cricket, Bollywood parties or curry nights,” says Gigi. “There is a memorial near Burgess Hill dedicated to the Indian war veterans called "The Chattri" (which means umbrella). This history has built on the close rapport between the people of Sussex and India.”
Raj feels the partnership gives the children “a much broader perspective on life”.
“It’s easy to live in your own little tribe. So having Warden Park associated with Chennai brings tremendous cross-pollination of ideas. Even though the children at Little Flower are hard of hearing, technology has enabled them all to communicate which is absolutely marvellous,” he says.
Investing in the future
They both agree that the world has tremendous challenges going forward and that schemes like DGSP are a good investment in the future. “When you consider global warming and the recent meltdown of the financial system, there are huge flaws in our current systems,” says Raj.
“The next generation should learn from that. The landscape over the next two or three decades is going to be completely different. People have to change.”