It takes a friend to change a life.

Seb's Projects India is there to be that friend.

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Living on the streets carries with it a multitude of unseen challenges that many affluent people never realise. Being born on the streets means that often people do not receive birth certification. Poverty often leads people to sell their ration cards. Debt and lack of income mean that school fees are difficult. Lack of ID means that government schools and welfare services are inaccessible. Illiteracy due to lack of education means that people often cannot write applications and petitions to officials for ID and assistance schemes. Lack of clean clothes and shoes mean that they are rarely listened to, respected, and even allowed into official offices. Vulnerability means that they are prone to exploitation. Poverty leads women to migrate alone for work, where they are prone to trafficking and sexual abuse by employers. 



​Here are the stories of 2 of the women we work with in 'Goodbye to Paper' (names and pictures have been changed for their security):

​Lalitha


Lalitha is just one of the rag pickers we work with on this program. She was born on the streets of Vellore, and grew up making money to feed her family through begging. As soon as she was old enough, her father arranged her marriage to a violent drunk, and soon after her 4th child, she became a widow. Her life on the street leaves her very vulnerable. She is fined by the police for trying to make money by selling flowers on the street every day, and at night, she is unprotected from the men that wander the streets. Life is very difficult for Lalitha, but she does what she can by rag picking amongst the rubbish piles for up to 13 hours a day to try and make enough for her and her family to get by.​

Chinnaponnu

 

Chinnaponnu joined our program hesitantly after months of watching her friends get involved. She didn't trust strangers. She was married very young to a man who caught HIV whilst working away, and soon died of the disease, leaving her widowed. A widow on the street is very vulnerable to the men around her, and her sisters in law took her in, feeding her and helping her find daily work rag picking and begging.