Komal

Komal last saw her mother when she was three months old. Her mother struggled with severe mental health issues and one day she walked out of their home, never to return again.

Baby Komal was left to grow up with her father and grandmother in one of Mumbai’s fastest bludgeoning slum communities surrounding the city’s largest garbage dump.

Komal’s grandmother Sunanda made a living for nearly a decade scavenging this very garbage dump. She’d ruffle through the heaps of trash searching for scrap that can be sold to recyclers. With every kilo of scrap she scraped up, she ensured her earning for that day.

In fact, Sunanda’s one-room hutment is made from bits and pieces of reusable rubbish that she’d gathered over the years. This daily-wage business is what has kept Sunanda’s family alive. It’s what sustained Komal for the first three years of her life.

Recently, Komal’s father found a job as an office clerk, relieving Sunanda from scavenging for a living. She’s nowadays at home, looking after little Komal all day.

When we first met Komal she was playing alone on the street outside her house. Sunanda told us that their family couldn’t earn enough to send Komal to school. She was so relieved to hear about our Vision Rescue Beacon Learning Centre inside their slum community that would gladly educate Komal at no charge.

Komal was admitted into our nursery and she quickly made friends. She loves practicing cursive writing and she dreams of becoming a doctor when she grows up.

At our learning centre, Komal also receives a rich, nutritious meal every weekday, health assessments, dental workups and all her educational materials only because of supporters like you who invest in her growth.

Our team is also working with Sunanda and the others in their community, delivering an individualised growth plan for their family, creating awareness about important social issues in their community, conducting free health camps and building Community Champions who will lead the development of their community by advocating for education, nutrition and healthcare.

Thank you for sowing so richly into Komal and her family’s lives. It is your gifts that have saved her from the dangers of the street, rescued her from spending her days in a garbage dump and gifted her an education instead.

Her family is so grateful for all that you have done to draw them out of poverty and into an empowered life.