Chris Bray and his wife Jess recently visited India — but this was no
ordinary December visit. They were here with one very specific
mission in mind: to locate a girl and her family. Dick Smith
showed Chris a photo he had taken from a train.
The photo was of a homeless family living under a bridge, and included
a little girl who wasn't wearing anything but a pink bracelet.
Dick wanted Chris and Jess to go to Vadodara (where the photo
was taken) and find the family, who he wanted to help with accommodation,
education for the girl, and a bank account into which he could
regularly transfer money for the family. Talk about the spirit of Christmas
giving! This is the story of Jess and Chris’s whirlwind India visit:
All they had to go on was this distant photo and the Google Map
location. To make it worse, most of the people in the photo were
looking the other way.
They flew to India — their adventure will begin in Vadodara.
The receptionist of their hotel acted as a Hindi/English translator
and got them started on their journey finding the girl in the photo.
On day 2 they found the bridge, but they could neither communicate
with anyone, nor could they recognise anyone from the photo.
They walked into a bank where they knew the manager, and were introduced
to Dr. Chellani, who would help them out.
They started passing the photo around, and this woman recognised
the girl in the pink bracelet. She directed them to the girl’s mother, who
called for her daughter — she was away playing.
They found the girl!
The girl’s name is Divya. While she was initially very shy (and possibly
afraid she was in trouble), they reassured her, telling her the story of
the photo taken from the train, and how they were looking for her
because someone wanted to help her.
The family had been living under the bridge for 12 years.
Divya was born and grew up there. Her father worked as a day labourer,
but wasn’t earning enough to afford a house, while also raising 3
children. They decided to wait till the father came home before discussing how
they could help Divya and her family.
On the afternoon of day 2, they met the whole family in the bank. The
father works hard, but they’re not able to make ends meet. To Chris, they
seemed the perfect family: able and willing to work, and not averse to help.
They showed Divya’s family a photo of Dick and Pip, the couple
responsible for this miracle meeting.
They watched the realisation dawn on the family that, if they
wanted, they could now get help in a number of ways: education for Divya,
rent for a house, and a better job for the father so that they
could support themselves.
They set up a bank account in Divya’s name with her mother as the
guardian so that Dick could transfer money into the account every month. Since
they didn’t have any form of ID and couldn’t sign their own name, the bank
took their thumbprints on the form.
Divya and her mother get their passport photos taken for the bank form.
Divya gets a bank account.
A formal contract was linked to the account, specifying what the
funds could be used for: rent and education, for instance.
The contract also mentioned that the funds would be provided for a
minimum of 2 years, after which the contract would be reviewed (although the
plan is for it to be more than 10 years). As an incentive to Divya’s
parents to educate her, a clause was added specifying that the funds would be
stopped if Divya stopped attending school
To start things off, they deposited enough rent money for 3 months
into the bank account.
Two families stuffed into the back of a single
auto-rickshaw! Divya’s going shopping.
Since Chris and his wife Jess don’t speak Hindi, and no one in
Divya’s family speaks English, Chris took photos on his phone of the
things they needed to buy, and asked Divya’s mother to guide them.
While they bought mostly practical clothing for the family, they also
bought this dress for Divya which she had fallen in love with.
Divya gets a school bag.
Divya gets school supplies!
She will be starting in Class 3, and should move to Class 4
next year. Since she has years of catching up to do, Dick has agreed
— should the need arise — to pay for a tutor.
Divya can’t get enough of her new shoes. She’s been walking barefoot all
these years.
Divya holds a photo of Dick and Pip, her brand-new benefactors.
This is the school that Divya will be going to.
Dick has said that he will make a significant donation to the whole
school.
After their lovely goodwill adventure, Chris and Jess head
back to the airport.
Seemed like a Santa Claus present for Divya.
Truly said, " If you want anything with all your heart, entire universe starts moving to make that thing get to you. "
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