“I used to work as a ragpicker. My sister and I would pick up garbage on the streets and were forced, by my father, to beg for money. He was an alcoholic and took any money that we were given to feed his alcohol addiction. Our job was to pick garbage from trash bins, wash it and resell whatever we could to make enough money to sustain ourselves.

My sister and I were brought to Aarti Home in tattered clothes and falling hair. We had scars and marks all over our bodies and looked awful but Aarti Home transformed us.

I am doing very well now; I study hard and so does my sister. We are both very committed to making a good life for ourselves. I also think I’m hilarious and I love telling jokes and making people laugh. We spent so much of our childhood not laughing, it feels good to hear other people laugh.

My mother is still living and has tried to coax us to come back home multiple times. I have desperately wanted to have a good relationship with my mother, so one day, when she was particularly insistent, I went back home. I stayed for a few days but I was uncomfortable and was staying only to make her happy. That’s when I realized that I was already home — Aarti Home was my home and the girls at Aarti were my real family. I have never been happier since.”