Stories

The story of Arsh

by root

“Aasif Sir, can I help in packing the ration? I can pack either the Cornflakes or the pulses”, someone said to me in a softer tone, while I was talking to one of the pogrom affected families of North East Delhi about various relief measures. I looked to the side, and to my surprise, there was a kid, must be 8-9 years old. “What’s your name kiddo?” I asked. “I am Arsh, we met you yesterday and you helped us in getting a rented house and the ration kits” he replied.

Arsh was a resident of Shiv Vihar, his father, Salim owned a juice shop there that was torched by the communal mob during the Northeast Delhi pogrom. The family had to flee from Shiv Vihar and take refuge in Mustafabad. We managed to get rented accommodation for Arsh and his family for three months. Beds, mattresses, kitchen utensils, clothes, and other basic household items were also provided to them.

Well, from that day, he became our “Cornflakes Guy” and would pack several hundred packets of cornflakes every day. He would reach the Resource Centre before we reach and would be the first to greet our team.

In an effort to help Arsh’s family, Miles2Smile helped his father Salim to set up a general store at Mustafabad. During the Covid-19 epidemic, we made a list of all the pregnant and lactating mothers of the locality (almost 70 of them), and Arsh along with his father would deliver milk packets to these families. We also started the concept of “Smile Card” where we issued coupons to each family on a weekly basis and these were to be redeemed at our designated ration shops. Saleem’s Shop was one of the centers and a family could buy anything that they need out of the coupon (totally customizable). This created an equilibrium that sustained the requirements of the relief operation and simultaneously helped Arsh’s family financially.

I again visited Arsh’s family in August last year and got to know from his mother that she was planning to send him to a stitching unit as the family can’t afford to pay tuition fees for school. This is when I decided to start a relief school where children of Delhi pogrom victims are to be taught. Along with Arsh, his brother Ishan and sister Sebi also goes to the school. Arsh is one of the brightest students in the school.

Arsh’s desire for attaining education inspired us to start Sunrise Public School that is currently catering to more than 200 students and helping rebuild their lives and hopes

The Brave Women of Shiv Vihar

by root
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 Shiv Vihar received the maximum heat of anti-Muslim NE Delhi Pogrom. Torched properties, demolished residential areas, broken windows, and scorched walls were enough to attest to the situation. Every burned house in this locality narrated the story of its residents who bore the violence and maybe will carry its marks forever in their hearts. Every survivor had a story which could shake our souls, how they lived to tell all of it is indeed an act of bravery and strength. Reaching out to Shiv Vihar amidst the news of violence being still carried out in some parts of NE Delhi was an extremely difficult task.

Shiv Vihar received the maximum heat of anti-Muslim NE Delhi Pogrom. Torched properties, demolished residential areas, broken windows, and scorched walls were enough to attest to the situation. Every burned house in this locality narrated the story of its residents who bore the violence and maybe will carry its marks forever in their hearts. Every survivor had a story which could shake our souls, how they lived to tell all of it is indeed an act of bravery and strength

Reaching out to Shiv Vihar amidst the news of violence being still carried out in some parts of NE Delhi was an extremely difficult task. On our first day of visit for the relief work, our steps hesitated a bit when we saw the debris of humanity in those burnt buildings, the fire had seeped inside the walls, they were ready to fall. This was a community who had lost everything, the fire not only burnt their homes and killed their kins, it burnt their hopes too. We started with a plan for evacuation and relief work. In the first week of the relief work, we were primarily providing ration and essentials. Somewhere near this week’s end, around 2nd of March, a few women from the affected families approached us for helping them with a source of livelihood through sewing machines.

In order to rehabilitate their business, we bought two automatic sewing machines, (referred to as ‘ghuggi’ in the local language) and arranged 20,000 rupees for buying raw materials. Likewise, we helped in our potential capacities from relief to rehabilitation. These pogrom-hit people saw the savings of their hard-earned money, of their whole life, collapse in front of their eyes. All these days, we just kept working for these people, knowing for a fact that no matter what we do, we will never be able to rectify the great losses that these people went through.

It has been around 45 days since we have been working in Shiv Vihar.The past few weeks combined with the aftermath of pogrom and the outbreak of COVID-19 had been exhausting. The ration was bleeding, masks and PPE kits were drying from the markets. In this distress, we were blessed with a visit which was a pat on our backs and a push to work harder. Those women whom we could help with sewing machines came to donate 2,000 3-Ply masks and 100 PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) Kits which they had prepared themselves. We were asked to distribute these among the needy people.

We took a moment to acknowledge the gratefulness of these amazing women. They lost everything in the pogrom, what did they have? Sewing kit and a small amount of cash, a very small step to re-establish their livelihood. But what did they chose to do with this? Help the people in need. When the time came, they turned to help. What they asked from us was to distribute these items to people who need it, there were no parameters to limit the people who will be helped.These inspirational women are preparing more of these masks and PPE kits. If anyone out there is looking for buying these in bulk, their market is ready for supply. It will be a help to their business and an addition to the goodwill in the society as well. We will donate a few of these kits to the police force who is working in good faith for the society.

” For us, we have got another reason to keep working and to not let our limitations deter us at any point. Everyday when we wake up, we believe not to change the world, but to change the lives of those who we could. This beautiful step from the community has strengthened our spirits and we are fortunate enough to be remembered by these warm-hearted people. “