Hope is Found
Near the railway tracks of Mumbai a twelve year old girl named Amu* watches the trains go by. Never having stepped into a school classroom or left the slum where she lives, Amu walks the streets and picks up garbage and other material which she sells in the local market. She doesn't think she has much of a future apart from this, so every morning she walks out of her small house made of bamboo and plastic sheets and begins looking for items to sell.
Amu misses her father, who died when she was much younger. Her mother and stepfather are also rag-pickers – the term used to describe the work Amu does every day – who leave Amu unsupervised without providing her meals throughout the day, simply because they have very little money for food.
One of the women in the area talked to Amu's mother about the Hand of Hope Feeding Center located nearby. Amu was excited at the thought of going to a new place where she wouldn't have to beg or search for food. When she arrived at the Feeding Center she felt that she stepped into another world. She saw good food, fun and games, and other children her age to play – and not work – with.
Amu now is happier girl. She has put on weight, sings the songs she learns at the Feeding Center and enjoys the fun activities that she participates in with the other children. Amu looks forward to the next day, wondering what she will learn and who she will meet. Her life has changed, thanks to the Hand of Hope Feeding Center.
*Name changed for privacy
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