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112 Garland Cresent
Sherwood Park, Alberta
Canada       T8A 2R2

Phone: (780) 467-6254
Email: OneMumbai1@aol.com
Where it all Started...

March 31st, 2000 marked the beginning of the rest of my life...a little too dramatic, but as it turned out - all too true!

On this day, I had met with Vinod (age 15), a beggar on the streets of Mumbai who was excited about taking me to see his ‘house’ (a hut no bigger than your bathroom where 5-6 boys his age lived), and the home of his brothers and sisters.

We sat and had tea with the wonderful restaurant owner across the street who feeds the boys even when they don’t have money, and then we made our way north to the suburbs where his family stay. As we approached the slum in our rikshaw (miniature taxi), there were people shouting to him from all sides.

As it turned out, his younger brother Santosh (age 7) had been run over by a Good’s Carrying Truck and was in the hospital. After picking up Kanchan, the lady that took Santosh in (his mother is deceased and his father was thought to be drunk somewhere), we made our way to the hospital.

At the hospital I found a sad little boy with a broken femur and his older sister Laxmi (age 10) who was taking care of him like a mother. I was so saddened by the situation - two little children hungry and scared and alone. They needed a little love and I had lots of it to give. I returned to the hospital every day thereafter.


Kiran, Laxmi, and Santosh in their new home in Child Haven orphanage. This was Laxmi's first birthday party (she turned 12).
...to Where it is Now

After a lot of fights with the doctors and many hours spent in the hospital, nothing was healed and the kids were back to their ‘normal’ life in the slums of Khar, Mumbai. I then saw what their lives were really like and got to know many more children and adults in the same position.

The day that really made an impact for me was the day that I took Leah Cairns to see the children. We sat over a little baby who was 18 months old and yet only weighed 7 pounds. He looked so sick. He could not digest his milk and it had curdled in a thick white film on his tongue - he couldn’t close his mouth. His skin was wrinkled and there was no life in his eyes.

Powdered milk for him for a month would cost $10; a banana a day for the month would cost $1. Next to nothing - and his parents weren’t even able to give him that.

 

Leah and I sat there for nearly an hour saddened and feeling so helpless. It was too late.

We thought about how easy it would have been to save this child: feed him, cuddle him, take him to the doctor. It is only one child, but at the same time that is exactly it, it is one CHILD without a chance to live until he is 5.

I returned to the slum to visit the kids two days later and the baby was gone. His family had given up hope in Mumbai and returned to the villages to maybe have better luck there and keep their other 3 year old son alive.

I left India the same day that Leah took Laxmi, Santosh and their younger brother, Kiran, to their new home, Child Haven International in their home state of Gujarat.

 


Two weeks ago I was in Gujarat for my reunion with the kids and I cried and cried. Not sad tears by any means. The children are so happy and healthy and loving life! Santosh is running around (leg completely healed), Laxmi is reading and writing, Kiran never stops smiling! They are living a dream. Thank You Child Haven.

Now One! International will help more kids live the same dream!



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