A lost Childhood

The world is full of stories of different people, some people  are privileged and some are not. It is the duty of the privileged people to take care of the underprivileged ones. In our lives we are never satisfied with what we have and we are always in a race to get more. Though we have all the basic necessities and comforts of life yet we crave for more. Think of those people who struggle day in and day out to make their ends meet, strive to feed their children, sometimes they are able to and sometimes they are not. Circumstances make people slaves of  time and one such case is of Mr. Altaf, who lives in one of the temporary dwellings in the outskirts of Srinagar city. Mr Altaf works as a sweeper in Srinagar Municipal Corporation where he merely earns Four Thousand Rupees per month out of which twelve hundred is deducted for a bank loan which he had taken few years back for the treatment of his wife who died a year ago. Altaf has three daughters and a son, all of them are below 14 years of age. They live in a temporary dwelling made of some wooden pillars surrounded by GI sheets, the rain water seeps from the ceiling  as well as from the ground too. Altaf has to take care of his job as well as the kids too, none of them go to school.The eldest daughter Saima takes care of the cooking and other household jobs and the rest can’t afford uniforms to go to school with other privileged kids of our society. These kids even lack the basic amenities, they do not have proper clothes, they wear the same clothes over and over again without even taking a bath for weeks together as they don’t have a proper bathrooms. Overall this family is suffering in all the ways. The purpose of this whole photo feature is to lend some help to this family by what ever means possible. When we go to a restaurant and after having a meal, do we ever hesitate in giving a good tip to the waiter, then don’t these kids deserve a life , don’t they deserve their childhood back ?

P.S. If anyone is willing to help this family, he/she can contact me through email. Sufy.nit17@gmail.com

Mr Altaf with his children.

The children standing at the door, these kids lack the proper clothing.

The interior view of their dwelling.

Saima, the eldest of the siblings.

Saima, the eldest daughter, who sacrificed her childhood for the sake of her siblings.

 

Toyiba, the youngest sibling with her elder sister Saima who holds the picture of her parents, their mother have died a passed away a year ago.

Altaf holding his Ration card, he has been issued an Above Poverty Line Ration card whereas he should have been given Below poverty Line Ration card because of his low income.

Standing against the door of their dwelling is Shakir ,the second child of Altaf after Saima and the only son among three daughters.

Toyyiba, the youngest of the siblings sitting in her temporary kitchen

The space for kitchen, Saima has learnt cooking at this age as her mother has passed away and she had to do it for her siblings.

Standing on the door of her kitchen, she looks outside, may be she wants to play with other kids or wants to study at a school, but destiny has kept something else for her.

These kids deserve a life,they deserve happiness, they deserve a school and childhood back.

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