Nittin

“YOU HAVE BEEN OUR ONLY HOPE DURING THE LOCKDOWN.”

“You have been our only hope during the lockdown,” says Geeta, mother of Vision Rescue student, three-year-old Nittin.

Nittin and Geeta live in a slum community in Mumbai along with 8 other family members, including two sets of grandparents, an uncle and an aunty. The family of 10 makes ends meet on the earnings of three adults with regular jobs.

When the first lockdown hit India in March 2020, they were thrown into deep waters. How would they put food on the table for 10 without even a single income? It would be months before the city opened up and daily-wage work was available again.

Nittin’s parents couldn’t even afford to buy basic groceries and vegetables for him and his baby brother, aged one. “No one asked us how we were surviving during this time..not even our relatives.. It was only you all who called and checked on our wellbeing,” says Geeta.

When our case officers and Community Champions spoke with Geeta in early April last year, she shared the deep worries that were burdening her family at this time. They were afraid of catching the coronavirus. They wondered if little Nittin would ever be able to study again, and they were afraid the whole family would face acute hunger in just a few weeks if situations didn’t change.

It was into this bleak situation that Vision Rescue was able to bring in help and hope powered by the generous donations of Vision Rescue’s supporters like you. From April last year, Nittin’s family has been gifted a grocery kit each month, and our case officers have been in constant touch with the family, helping them understand the facts about coronavirus, busting myths and fake news flooding their slum community, and most importantly teaching them practical ways to stay safe during the pandemic.

Best of all, our education team was able to onboard Nittin into our online education model as the family had a smartphone at home. Throughout last year he engaged in all our online activities, and his mother Geeta learnt how to use the phone to help Nittin study well at home. She even took the effort to send daily video recordings of his progress to our teachers! He’s a successful graduate of junior kindergarten now.

As Nittin moves forward with us this academic year into senior kindergarten, his physical circumstances haven’t changed much. He and his family still live in a slum community that borders Mumbai’s largest garbage dump and struggles with hunger daily. But Nittin and his family have hope; they know that they are not left alone to grapple with a raging pandemic and its horrific side-effects. They know that the Vision Rescue community of supporters is by their side, contributing to their well-being and rooting for their empowerment. They are able to face their future with strength and courage because they are not alone in this fight.