All her life, Anchal has struggled with skin infections. That’s no surprise because she was born into a slum community in the poorest part of Mumbai – one that neighbours the city’s largest garbage dump receiving over 4800 metric tonnes of trash every day. Surrounded by dirt, Anchal and her family had grown accustomed to the blisters and bruises that routinely broke out on their skin. Anchal’s family has lived here for 15 years now.
Anchal’s cluster of slum communities specialises in superlatives. It has the lowest literacy rate in Mumbai, the highest child mortality rate in the city, and is notorious for its lack of water, sanitation or power.
Today, in class, Anchal is an outgoing bundle of joy. She overcame her initial days of shyness quickly, and warmed up to her class teacher and friends. She loves drawing and games, and she wants to become a teacher. Nitesh, her older brother, loves playing sports and wants to become a businessman, and Rajkumar, her younger brother, is happy to just colour pictures in class.
It’s tough to measure in words just how much your gift of education means to these children. For them, it’s been a doorway out of the poverty they are surrounded into a world of possibilities.
