Anand's Story: Emerging with Purpose

Like many vocational trainees, Anand hails from an extremely poor family, which meant higher education was out of his reach. To help provide for his parents, he had become a day laborer and went about his days without purpose.

Then, in 2012, Pratham mobilizers came to his city of Warangal. They met with Anand and showed him the various ways he could find and develop a career. Anand decided to enroll in the automotive training program in nearby Karimnagar.

Anand attests to having had very little direction before beginning his training at PACE (Pratham Arora Center for Education). But as his day-to-day activities became more defined, he and those around him began to notice a change—he was speaking differently; he interacted with strangers with a new found self-assurance. Beyond learning a trade, Anand was building the confidence and positive attitude that would allow him to enter and succeed in a professional setting.

After completing the three-month training, Anand was offered a job at Kakatiya United Auto Garage with a monthly salary of Rs. 6,000 ($100), along with bonus incentives. This opportunity, coupled with Pratham’s ongoing counseling and career guidance, gave him the experience and support necessary to begin building a career. He now enthusiastically recommends PACE to his friends and hopes they too will seize the opportunity to make a meaningful change in their lives.

Anand has been shown that he can emerge successful when faced with even the toughest adversities. He can support his family and sees the world through a new lens. Because of PACE, he found much more than a job—he found himself.