Irfan has been a Vision Rescue student at our Beacon Learning Centre for two years now, but just last month he was orphaned. His father, an alcohol addict, finally succumbed to the bottle, and after 15 days, his mother disappeared with Irfan’s four-month old brother, leaving Irfan and his younger brother Farhan alone in the slum community.
The children now live in their grandparents’ hutment in another part of their slum. Vision Rescue first met Irfan when he was just three. His parents were uneducated and his father could barely make a living as a driver struggling with alcoholism. His mother Parveen wasn’t even dreaming of an education for him because their very food and shelter were matters of daily uncertainty
When our community workers met Parveen, she gladly enrolled Irfan into Vision Rescue’s nursery and slowly began to dream of a brighter future for him. In class, Irfan loved drawing and reciting poems in Hindi and English. Your gifts provided him with a hearty meal each weekday, medical and dental workups and all his educational materials, from books to a backpack, raincoat and shoes.
After a year in nursery school, he graduated into our junior kindergarten and his brother Farhan joined our nursery.
Meanwhile, Parveen was enrolled into our vocational training course in mehndi design, and later our tailoring course as well. She grew so skilled, that she began to earn nearly Rs. 5,000 each month stitching clothes and applying mehendi at weddings!
That’s when tragedy struck last month, and the children first lost their father, and soon after, their mother. While Irfan and Farhan live with their grandparents now, our learning centre in their slum community is their safe haven.
The children haven’t dropped out of education, as is the case with many new orphans in Mumbai’s slum communities. Instead, they’ve stuck with their classes only because of your unrelenting love and support for them. Our BLC has become their place of comfort and safety – a constant source of encouragement and upliftment through a tough season.
Thank you for bringing hope and life into Irfan and Farzan’s darkest days!
