Aasha Foundation projects emphasize enriching the lives of girls living in orphanages and shelters and aim to position these children to achieve independence and pursue their dreams. Aasha Foundation projects fall into three categories: We believe that no change is as transformational for girls than education. Our Aasha Education program provides funding for private school educations, enabling children to attend quality schools that place them on a path toward university. We also provide funding for after-school tutoring programs and English language classes. We plan to begin supporting university educations in 2010, when the eldest girls from the Sharanam Centre will complete the 12th grade. Experiences that are rights of passage for more fortunate families are pipe-dreams for slum children. Participating in activities that their middle-class schoolmates enjoy changes how girls think about the lives they deserve in their futures. Through our Aasha Recreation and Life Skills program, we organize and participate in outings and excursions including visits to amusement parks, movies at modern multiplexes, shoe-shopping trips, and meals in restaurants, as well as trips by airplane and overnight hotel stays to attractions such as the Taj Mahal. While these outings are fun for the girls, they also provide opportunities to engage in the same activities as their peers and to interact in public social settings. Aasha Foundation members and friends attend all such outings. We provide funding for projects which impact the daily quality of life for girls living in orphanages and shelters. Such projects include reconstruction of shelter bathroom facilities to address not only health and cleanliness but also privacy.