Baby steps to progress
“Look, our roof is leaking again.” said little Sadhana*.
Sadhana’s five member family lives in a tiny tin makeshift hutment in one of the poorest slum communities in Mumbai, which is bordered by the city’s largest garbage dump.
Every monsoon, their roof leaks and floods the house making it difficult for the children to sleep on the floor.
This is their life today. But how did they get here? Let’s backtrack a bit.
Seven years ago, Sadhana’s father Arvind* set off on a journey to Mumbai, the financial capital of the country. He dreamt of a better life and future for his family. Little did he know that the hustle bustle of the city would land him in one of the poorest areas of the city – the M East ward. Armed with just basic literacy and education, Arvind struggled to find a stable job. He took up work as a labourer and with the little he earns, he does his best to provide a roof over his family’s head and food on the table.
When our Community Champions and Interns were in search of children who had never been to school within their slum communities, we met little Sadhana. Her parents learnt about free, quality education available for her at Vision Rescue. They learnt about how powerful and transformative early childhood education could be. They agreed to enrol Sadhana in our Beacon Learning Centre.
In June 2022, we welcomed over 1500+ students into our Beacon Learning Centres across Mumbai and we were happy to see Sadhana walk into our Nursery class. Your donations reached out to Sadhana with a hearty nutritious midday meal every weekday, textbooks, a school bag, stationery, uniforms, health assessments, dental checkups and much more.
Sadhana loves being at our Beacon Learning Centre. Her favourite subject is Math, she loves to recite poems and has beautiful handwriting. “She completes all the class and homework on time,” says Sadhana’s teacher.
When a child is enrolled in our Beacon Learning Centre, our Case Officer works closely with the child’s family to set goals for their empowerment. Under our Family Case Plan, the child and the family are counselled and supported to meet their goals. To this end, Sadhana’s family participated in our healthcare and dental camps, various awareness camps and much more. Donors like you also provided tarpaulin sheets to cover the roof of their house to prevent leakages during the monsoon.
We have also assisted Sadhana’s father with an E-shram card (a government portal created to aid unorganised workers).
Sadhana’s parents are so grateful to you for your support because of which they can dream of a beautiful future for her.
Thank you for opening the doors of education for little Sadhana. We look forward to enrolling her in formal school soon.
*Names changed to protect identity.
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Vision Rescue exists to rescue children from all forms of exploitation by engaging and sustaining them in education. We are a registered NGO for child education under the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950.
You too can partner with Vision Rescue to empower people to find their purpose, enjoy their rights and live with dignity
Join us as a volunteer – www.visionrescue.co.in/volunteer
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