India's "children of the dump"
POSTED: May 24, 2007
By Staci Dennis
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Above, Roma, 12, collects rags with her family at a local dump to help earn income.
Thanks to Operation Blessing, Roma and her family were able to attend a free medical camp in her village where she and more than 380 people received treatment.
Roma is enrolled in the Operation Blessing Vidya Jyothi center, a school and daycare center.
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RAJASTHAN, India - Buried beneath thousands of pounds of garbage is where Roma found her hopes for the future.
A tattered rag soaked in garbage wasn't trash to this 12-year-old girl; it was the fabric of her life – the way she and her family earned an income. They would trade the small pieces of cloth for money.
"These families make their living by going through other people's garbage," said Operation Blessing President, Bill Horan.
In Roma's village, where alcoholism, prostitution and disease run rampant, she and her family tried to run their own business by moving flocks of cattle to various cities.
However, their business failed and instead of forcing Roma to marry to release financial burdens, which is common in Rajasthan, the family resorted to collecting rags at the local dump.
Roma would work with her mother, often missing classes at school, to help carry loads of rags back to their home. The unsanitary conditions took a toll and Roma developed a bad cough that she couldn't seem to shake.
Thanks to Operation Blessing, Roma and her family were able to attend a free medical camp in her village in March where she and more than 380 people received treatment. In addition, OBI drilled a bore well for the village to have clean drinking water.
At the medical outreach, tests concluded Roma had bronchitis and she was given antibiotics, cough syrup and vitamins.
"I want to be like the (people) who served me," she said. "I want to help others."
Roma is also enrolled in the Operation Blessing Vidya Jyothi center, a school where 20 children attend daycare and 87 students are registered in evening classes.
The school was founded in 2000 to specifically help the children of families who rely on collecting garbage from the local dump as their way of income.
How You Can Help
Operation Blessing is helping to transform the futures of children like these through educational assistance, nutritional feeding programs, medical care and more.
Please make an online contribution toward OBI's Bless-A-Child programs today and help us continue to reach those in need.
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