When Jacob Sztokman came to visit Mumbai in February 2011, little did he  know that the trip would change his life – and  the lives of a thousand children – forever.

Jacob,  then a 42-year old father of four living in Modi’in,  Israel, was working as a marketing executive for  a hi-tech company. Through connections with a  co-worker, he found himself walking through the  slums of Mumbai with Father Trevor Miranda,  the founder of REAP, an award-winning NGO  that runs classes for children in the slums. As  Jacob listened to Father Trevor’s stories about  his work with the children, he was struck by  the sights and sounds around him. He had  never before encountered this kind of poverty,  certainly not among children. With no running  water, little sanitation, limited electricity, ill health and lack of nutrition, the children were  at tremendous risk of physical and cognitive  stunting, life-threatening diseases and child  labor. 

“These beautiful children,” Jacob recalls,  “were no different than my own children.  I could not remain passive in the face of such extreme poverty; this was an opportunity to help.” Jacob spent the next year engrossed in the plight of children in the slums of Mumbai. In an effort to figure out how he could help, he had

many conversations with Father Trevor and with  other NGO’s involved in this cause. He learned that the most important tool to enable children to escape the cycle of poverty was education. However, there was a major obstacle keeping  children from learning: that is, the need for basic  survival. Parents often would send children  to work for a few rupees a day rather than  sending them to school, in order to ensure that  they would have food to eat that day. Children,  even as young as four years old, could be seen  working as rag pickers or sewage cleaners –  awful, unsanitary, dangerous jobs – in order to  pay for food.  

 

Jacob discovered that there was a very simple solution to both the immediate problem of  survival and the broader goal of education:  providing hot meals in school. Indeed, President  Bill Clinton, whose organization, the Clinton  Global Initiative, spends tens of millions of  dollars in relief around the developing world, has said that the single most effective  solution to combatting childhood poverty is to provide hot meals in school. The nutritious meals relieve the tension of basic survival for the parents, and provide a powerful incentive to send children to school.  

It is a win-win solution.  

By early 2012, Jacob started Gabriel Project Mumbai, with the goal of providing daily hot, nutritious meals to children attending school in the slums of Mumbai. In an innovative program called “Eat  to Learn,” Gabriel Project Mumbai provides 1000 hot, nutritious meals  to children ages 3-14 in the slums of  Mumbai. GPM works with a local women’s business  cooperative who prepares the meals, thus pr oviding economic sustenance to 140 women in the slums.

GPM also brings 40 Jewish volunteers from around the world each year to  work with the GPM staff and local volunteers  in the slums and help deliver meals while providing educational support in the form of  informal classes and lessons in geography,  science, English and more. GPM emphasizes the absolute importance in  developing and working with local personnel  and grassroots NGO’s to achieve the sustainable and replicable long term goals of  the initiative. While international volunteers add  an important element of development work, it  is the cultivation of dedicated and passionate  local teachers, local NGO partners, local staff,  local volunteers and women employed from the  slums that make GPM most impactful from a  sustainability perspective.  

The program is a win-win situation all around. The children receive nutrition, education, and  literacy support, the women receive economic empowerment, and the volunteers receive a  life-changing experience and vital lessons on  issues of development, hunger and poverty  around the world.  

GPM has achieved some amazing things since its founding. In 2014, GPM accomplished the following:  

• 275,000 hot, nutritious meals were prepared  and delivered for 1000 children attending school  in the slums of Mumbai 

• Attendance rates in class improved by 50% • 1000 children received hygiene packs and  education, including toothbrushes, toothpaste  and soap 

• 140 women in the slums built their business  and provide for their families  

• 20 local Indian interns provided informal  education  

“The lesson from all this is clear,” Jacob says. “Never give up hope. There is always  something you can do to make a real  difference in the lives of others. If you  live with your heart open, you can find  a way to reach out to those who need  help and make real change.”  

Today, in addition to running GPM, Jacob is  also studying at Glocal, where he has met many  inspiring colleagues and learned from many  wonderful professors. “I’m so grateful for the opportunity to learn at  Glocal,” Jacob says. “I have learned so much  from my peers, as well as from my teachers. I believe that the program not only gives me the  skills to make GPM better, but also provides  many sources of inspiration that we really can  make a difference in people’s lives.” 

Jacob Sztokman