Raja, 12 years old, and his little brother Akhilesh, 8 years old, have been with us for over 3 years. When they first arrived they were spending most of their days begging in and around Dehradun, little Akhilesh guiding Raja acting as his ‘seeing eye’.It is a well-known fact that if a child has a disability their begging income increases dramatically, and sadly such children are exploited as a result. In the beginning they both came for one hour a day which slowly increased each week, during this time we trained a volunteer to start teaching Raja the basics of braille, at the same time this gave Akhilesh a break from his responsibilities to Raja and freedom to learn and play.

We tried desperately to get Raja admitted to NIVH (a local govt. institute for the blind) but to no avail, as they have strict rules that they will not give admission to any child over 5 years or under 18, a rule with reasoning which baffles us to this day. We did not give up there and finally came across ‘Sharp Memorial School for the blind’, not only does Raja now attend regular school but also his little brother Akhilesh, as they have facility for teaching the ‘seeing eye’s’ too. We cover their school fees/expenses, transport and medical needs. We are delighted with their tremendous progress!!!

Chandini the young girl from our poster video is progressing well, it has been a slow yet steady process guiding Chandini through basic literacy, with the help of computers and dedicated teachers she is now able to read basic Hindi.

Thank you all so much for your generous donations over the past few months, without which we would not be able to carry on our much needed work with the street and slum children.