Voice of Slum - Part 1

There is a saying “It takes only one voice at the right pitch, to start an avalanche”.

Hers is a story about a girl from the slums who herself held a pencil at the age of 10 and now she is reshaping the life of many children who dare to dream and desire to fulfil them. This story must be told to everyone and this is a voice that must resonate ,so that children in the streets are taken care and are equipped to lead their lives better. It’s also Story of a past filled with suffering, a Present full of hope and endurance, and a Future that promises to be brighter than ever before.

I am talking about Chandni Khan who was born in the slums of Noida, a place where several kids are born and die in oblivion. But she refused to lay back and make her peace with her grim destiny as she climbed out of the darkness and now she is extending her hands to pull others out of the same misery too. This girl started working from a very young age. “From the age of five, I used to travel along with my father to perform street magic shows, dance and play with snakes, even late at night. I also picked up rags during that time,” she recalls.

What worse can happen after this? An accident that further deteriorated her when her father passed away and the onus of the earning for the family fell upon her shoulders and she started working under someone who paid her a meager wage of Rs. 30 per day. The struggle didn’t stopped here, “At the age of seven, I had shifted to rag picking. Verbal abuses and dog bites became a part of my daily routine and at the end, I ended up in jail over false accusations of stealing. I kept changing my job, from selling flowers to corn, I was doing it all. During one of these monotonous days, I got lucky and met a few NGO volunteers who were educating children from the slums. It was then I discovered my purpose and enrolled myself with Badhte Kadam,” she says.

To be continued..

-Sunidhi

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