Raju – A Woman of Strength and Fierce Determination

After attending SHINE Conference Raju learnt about her inner strength. She has an inspiring story of fierce determination for her four sons, especially Nikhil who has a hearing disability.

In April the Thomas Family and a team of other Aussies will be heading to Kotdwara in North India for Project Help India’s third Women's SHINE Conference. This conference is an important aspect of the 'Project Help India' vision, and we can't quite believe that another year has come around.

Most of the Conference delegates are women who live in slums or jungle villages, in terrible poverty. These women can't afford to pay, so we are not charging them. We want to bless them and give them an experience they will never forget. Teenage girls, mothers, grandmothers, our teachers and community leaders will be attending. Our aim is to empower all women in all spheres of life.

Raju’s Story

This is the story of Raju. Raju is 35 years old. She is mother of 4 children, named Rajni (17 years), Ajay (16 years), Nikhil (14 years) and Ankur (10 years). She is wife of Mr. Vijenda who is a groundnut seller. He sells groundnuts by going door to door with a hand cart. Raju says she had suffered from many hardships. Earlier, her family would scrounge for food and money almost on daily basis. They would beg from their neighbours and take on odd jobs in order to just make ends meet. Her son Nikhil, a student at our city centre school is suffering from severe pain in his ears they use to bleed with puss very often. Raju says she took Nikhil to hospital but the doctors prescribed him with an operation of both ears. They say both of his eardrums have been melted and they need to be transplanted. She says one of his operation will cost 80 thousand rupees ($1800AUS), and if Nikhil will remain in this condition he will lose his listening power. When Raju was narrating this she was crying for her son as she is not able to afford such a costly operation. She has only one hope for her son and that is Project Help.
For Shine Conference Raju says after attending last year, she came to know about her strength, then she decided she will also work. After the conference she also started to sell groundnuts from her home so that she could arrange some money for his son’s operation. After listening to the experiences of the powerful ladies in the Shine Conference, she came to know about self- worth, relationships and community. Now she wants all four of her children to get educated and do some jobs, so that they could be rid of the pitiful conditions that they must endure. (Report written by Project Help Field Officer)

Raju is ready to SHINE. Please keep Raju, and many other women like her, in your thoughts and prayers.

If you could make a tax-deductible donation to support our work, we would really appreciate this. Please spread the word by sharing this blog, if you might know people who might be passionate about human rights, human justice, anti-human trafficking, and who might be stirred to make a donation to this worthwhile cause (we need some help as the cost all adds up and is budgeted at $7500). Please also share Raju’s story with people you know whose business or company might like to support this wonderful cause…it’s tax deductible for them too.