Priya's story
"You helped me find my voice, and taught me how to use it"
Priya is a 12-year-old girl who lives with her family in one of Delhi’s slum communities alongside the railway line.
Clustered together in ramshackle buildings, these families exist within inches of passing trains and Railway Children was the only charity to work within the community there when Covid arrived. At that stage both of Priya’s parents had lost their daily income due to the pandemic and her mother had also been diagnosed with kidney failure. Priya is one of eight children and the family needed emergency food parcels during the pandemic – but throughout this difficult time, and no matter what hardships she faced, Priya has been an inspiration.
We made sure all the children had ID cards and armed with her official paperwork Priya has been attending school and studying hard at every opportunity.
Her life is far from easy, but rather than being defined by her situation Priya has developed into a natural leader and is encouraging other children in the slums to come forward for support.
Our teams have met many who have dropped out of school, been forced into child labour or become addicted to drugs. We have set up children’s centres within the slums where we can offer support and activities and Priya plays an active role in bringing children to our team and encouraging them to embrace the opportunities we can offer them. She has learned so much about child marriage, child rights and education that she is now leading the children’s group, speaking on these issues and motivating others to follow her example.
Priya continues to work hard at school, with plans to either become a teacher or a youth worker so she can continue to help other children reach their potential. With all her paperwork in place, as well as her dedication and passion, we know she will succeed.
But we also know that there are still many more children living in the same slum community that do not have ID cards and cannot attend school.
With your help our teams can go out into the communities and support them with the paperwork to get their children properly registered and on the path to a better, brighter future.
Please help us reach more children like Priya with a gift today.
£22 could pay for ten families in one of India's slum communities to be helped with the paperwork and administration necessary to register their children for ID cards.