Education & shelter for homeless children in India

I Never thought I'd reach till here...

Hi everyone! My name is Nikita, and I am happy to share with you all that I secured 945 marks in 2019 Intermediate examinations. At this juncture, I am able to envision my future as a medical professional. I never thought I could reach up to here, or that I could even continue my studies. I always loved to study but I couldn't do that due to severe financial troubles that crept into our life. 

Misfortune and worst possible disturbances between my mother and father wrecked our family financially and socially. My parents separated and my mother left our siblings with my father. At that time my father’s emotional and financial condition was in very bad shape. He started resorting heavily on alcohol. That brought him no respite but a major accident, that took place while he was driving in an inebriated condition. That accident and its related problems drained our finances completely.

The worst part was, he stopped paying school fees for he could not afford to pay. So we stopped going to school, but my mind was always in school. With nobody to care for our interests, we did not know, where our life was going. In that totally disturbed and disrupted condition, my father consulted my paternal uncle and sought his help. He was just an auto driver having family and children. Nevertheless, he was kind enough to provide us with temporary shelter at Hyderabad. My uncle has three children and all were going to school. When I saw them going to school, I could not afford to sit back at home idly. So I started pleading my uncle and father. Father was in no state to look into our needs and uncle couldn't afford it. So he started enquiring about homes which can provide conducive environment and education as well. In that process, he came to know about AASHRAY RAINBOW HOME in Secunderabad. But he was very much concerned about me as I was a girl child. So at first, he sought admission for my younger brothers into their Sneh Ghar boys home. Listening to the situation of our family, Aashray management was kind enough to admit my brothers. They also suggested to bring me into their rainbow girls home as we children were almost homeless without our mother and no money to live by. In 2012 I got admitted into their girls’ home. At that time, I was a 5th grade drop out. So Aashray provided me with a lateral bridge course for 6 months and got me admitted into 6th class later on.

Initially, I thought I need to get adjusted for everything as it was a place away from home. I just wanted to continue studies without worrying much for anything else. But Aashray home proved to be a home away from home. Extraordinary love and affection from the home mothers helped me to forget worries and traumatic memories. Slowly got used to it and started fully concentrating on my studies again. Understanding my interest in studies, teachers at home encouraged me greatly and offered me timely help. This helped me to excel in studies and secured a 9.3 percentile in 10th class.

During my 10th class itself, home teachers motivated me to appear for Telangana State Gurukul entrance. I prepared well and secured decent marks in entrance and secured a seat in State Social Welfare Residential College, Narsingi. Excellent education at the college and continuous outstanding support from the Aashray home helped me to concentrate on my studies.    

" I hope to get the same love and support until I am able to become a successful medical practitioner. I thank all of your support to help my friends and me to reach a stage where we can dare to dream and achieve it on our own terms".  - Nikita.