Butterfly - Child Welfare and Education

Brother sister duo were earlier a housemaid and a corn seller, before they came to Lakshyam. Mother is a widow staying with her brother having her own constraints to feed the family. Once the sibling joined the school, they both seemed to be the most brightest kids of our centre. When their father was alive they both were going to school. So fortunately their base in studies was well in place. After keeping them with us for 2 years and bridging their educational gap ,Lakshyam has enrolled them to a private school and paying their fees as there is no government school in the area. Deepa, their mother has joined our women empowerment program and stitching bags for us and is able to earn Rs. 3000 per month to sustain her family’s basic needs.

Ankit is 9 years old and who is suffering from Club foot, also called congenital talipesequinovarus (CTEV), which is a congenital deformity involving one foot or both. The affected foot appears to have been rotated internally at the ankle. Without treatment, people with club feet often appear to walk on their ankles or on the sides of their feet. Due to this condition he is unable to walk. Lakshyam provided his family with the support and helped Ankit to successfully go through 6 operations which has treated his one foot completely and another 6 operations would be taken care off for his other foot procedure. We are providing him with medicines and also other resources that are required. We are hoping that he recovers in the next 6 months. A student from IIT Delhi takes 2-3 hours classes for him so that his studies don’t lag behind due to his physical condition.

Samaika (aged 6) is Taushik’s sister and suffers from the same skin condition, Lamellar Ichthyosis. Just a few days after her birth, it was revealed that she suffers from the condition. Aware of the horrific implications of the skin disease, Lakshyam has been providing constant medical care to her. Although the condition is a lifelong but with better care and regular medication Samaika’s condition can be managed in a better way.

Taushik (aged 10) suffers from a genetic skin disease known as Lamellar Ichthyosis that causes the skin to have printed marks all over the body along with generalized scaling. Taushik’s skin turns red with irritation in summers and extremely dry in winters due to this condition. For years, he had been living in unbearable discomfort. We at Lakshyam couldn’t bear to witness his pain and decided to seek treatment for him. Now Taushik is getting treated at one of the renowned hospitals of our country, Fortis Hospital. Taushik and Lakshyam are strongly bonded with love for each other, so much so that the school of Lakshyam has become a second home for him.

Deepak was a ragpicker , when we use to open our centre early morning 9 am , he would be on his way back from rag picking from the roads as his working hours was early morning. With those dark brown eyes he use to stop at our gate and look inside the kids coming in and settling down. It took us 2 months to bring him inside the school. Initially when he started coming to school he would bring his bag full of rags keep at the entrance and then walk in. Due to lack of proper waste management in our country , his hands use to bleed almost thrice a week as 80% of us thrown glass bottles, plastic bottle, paper , card board and along in the same bin anything which is broken. These are further dumped on the road sides. The kids so called “Ragpickers” then pick out stuff from this garbage that they can sell further and earn their living. Deepak being one of them. The eyes had that passion to study, his family pressure made him pick the rags but for 1 year he/ we managed both together. After a year he was completely with us as he was a bright hard working child and his family was counselled regularly. Another 1 year his growth was tremendous and within 2 years he was in a state where we though he can be enrolled in a proper school. Today he is going to a private school and in Class 3 and we hope he becomes a police officer that’s what his dream his !!

Sakshi was one of the girls who was seen begging on the traffic signals of Chhatarpur on Saturdays outside the mandir asking for money or food. When Lakshyam started working in the Basti she never came to us, she just eyed us from distance and ran away. On asking about her, most of the people would say she is Gungi (dumb), half of the community people did not know her name as she was addressed as Gungi and that had become her name. Our first step started when we encouraged people to recognize her name and call her Sakshi instead of Gungi. Slowly she started coming to us and there we realized how beautiful she is, how deep are her eyes and over last one and half year the whole community has accepted her because we had made her feel special and this made people curious why was she getting so much importance. Her parents have been counselled and now she is not on the streets anymore. She has been taken to Kalawati Hospital, AIIMS and various Private Hospitals for check-ups to cure her inability to talk and slow mental growth! Keeping in mind her special needs she is now sent to a special school, so that she can learn how to communicate and be self-sufficient as we can clearly see how capable she is with her actions. She has passed her exams for Navjyoti Special School and Lakshyam is raising money for her admission fee every month which includes her tuition fee, transport fee, certification and documentation and also contributes in doctor visits and medicines.

Mantasha – A young, squeaky Girl hailing from the suburbs of Arthala, Ghaziabad. When we started working in Arthala community she would often come to the centre exhausted from all the household chores that she has to perform being the eldest of all 8 siblings in the family. Her father and mother work as daily wagers. She is the eldest of all siblings at a tender age instead of going to school she stayed back home and helped in taking care of her younger siblings, performing household chores. She started coming to Lakshyam Centre and now has completed 4 years as a part of Lakshyam Family. She has the potential and is an avid learner. She is always enthusiastic, energetic and open to new challenges and ideas. Currently, she is studying and is enrolled in a nearby government school via Lakshyam.