A television report that shook us
In June, Rajat saw a shocking report on local television about the Patra family. They live with nine children in a “cave of garbage”. The father is almost blind, the mother often ill. The family lives on leftovers that others have thrown away. They collect plastic bottles for which they get a few cents from recycling dealers. Two children work as domestic help. Only the two older children went to school for a short time.
Here is the report that set us in motion. Take a look at the first 2 minutes (privacy notice: the link is uploaded to Youtube who sets cookies when you click on the video):
We had to do something
Rajat reports: “Today I had the opportunity to visit the house in Bhubaneswar. The television report made me go there and it touched my heart. When I tried to look inside, it was hard for me to put my feet anywhere on the floor. I realized that I could not stay there for long. The stench under the garbage they live in was inhuman. This place has no walls, no doors or windows. All I found were bags of garbage which they used to shelter them.
We knew that we had to help this family after Rajat’s visit. He brought them supplies and clothing, but after 20 years this family has been living in the trash, they needed more.
Here is a video of Rajat’s visit (privacy notice: when you click on the video it is possible that Vimeo sets a cookie on your computer):
The garbage heap is transformed into a “Welcome House”
Since the monsoon rain was about to set in, we had to hurry. So we started to build a simple house for them on July 14th. We would like to thank the friends who spontaneously donated to help the family. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to make a difference in the life of this family and to give them a decent life!
