Extended Story

This is the case of Khushboo, a 14 year old girl and her mother Aparna Singh based in Dwarka, Delhi. Aparna Singh was working for the BPO company into ticketing for international passengers. She was laid off from the job since May 2020 after the outbreak of COVID-19. She managed to survive with the meagre savings for few months. Meanwhile, Khushboo, her 14 year old daughter, had to drop off from her school due to non-payment of the school fee.

Aparna Singh had lost her parents at a young age. Her father had retired from the Army. Moreover, her husband and her separated 3 years ago. Since then, Aparna had been bringing up Khushboo all alone with a very modest salary.
I got to know about this family in the third week of December, 2020. When I spoke to Aparna , she told me very hesitatingly that she has run out of all her savings. They are surviving on one meal a day. They were drinking lot of water in the night to suppress hunger. Although on telephone, I could visualize the pain of the mother seeing her daughter starving and withering away in front of her eyes.

I sent some small contribution immediately to take care of some immediate food rations etc. With the help of some of friends belonging to my Ex-School WhatsApp group, I also raised some amount for her survival for next few months. Our purpose was to reinstate her back to life, enable her to pay her house rent for unpaid house rent for last 3 months otherwise she may be driven out of house by a not so kind landlord. Well, Thank God, we managed to do that with the support of my friends and some kind fraternity.

Aparna Singh, managed to join her job back in February , 2021 based in Gurgaon when the conditions were improving a little. She could continue hardly for 10 days when the misfortune struck back again. She fell at her home accidentally and injured her leg very badly. Few years ago, she was operated upon on the same leg due to an accident and had iron plate already implanted in this foot at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital ( RML Hospital ) at Delhi. She was initially treated at local city hospital in Dwarka. However , pain and swelling in her leg became worse. She had to go back to RML Hospital for further treatment. She braved through the long queues and waiting period to see the surgeon at RML Hospital. She was put on heavy antibiotics to be given through injections at RML Hospital. She had to buy these expensive antibiotics herself since she was not entitled for free medicines and treatment since she is not having the card for “ Below the Poverty Line “ patients. I helped her again to buy these injections.

She could not continue with heavy antibiotics due to shortage of funds. In the third week of March , she had to again go to RML Hospital under emergency since there was a septic in the leg. RML prescribed a surgical procedure for taking out the fluid in 2 to 3 sittings. She had to pay Rs 5500 for this procedure since she was not entitled for free procedure. If not done, then she was risking amputation of the leg. She called me in desperation from the Hospital. There was no second thinking and I remitted the amount immediately.
Procedure was done and she was discharged with prescription of some heavy antibiotics. I again helped with some amount to buy medicines and some basic ration etc. With lot of courage and determination, she managed to stand on her feet by beginning of April. After pursuing with her employers, she informed me on 9th April that she was joining from 11th April. It was a sigh of relief.
I could not speak to the her for a week due to pre-occupation. I did not hear from her also for a week. With some premonition , I sent her whats app message on 19th April to know if everything is well. I did not get any reply for a week. My apprehensions turned out to be true when I called on her mobile. Her daughter , Khushboo picked up the phone. She informed me that her mother could not continue with the job since she ran out of funds to pay for her commutation expenses to Gurgaon . Her employers neither provided any transportation to the female employees and nor did they give any advance for medical and food expenses. She was threatened by the Landlord to either pay the rent for last two months or to evict the house.
Khushboo has informed me that Aparna has gone into depression and not speaking to anyone. I have again remitted some amount to enable her to buy some ration to survive.

In the last 4 months, with the assistance of my ex-school friends, we have been able to support her with with a significant amount .

I am a Chartered Accountant and I am seeking the support of the friends and community for helping Khushboo and Aparna Singh to pay for their expenses for food , medicines, living expenses for the next few months and for the education fee for Khushboo.

Our purpose is to help her reinstate back to her life and stand on her feet.With the help of funds generated , we would also help Khushboo to join her school. I have spoken to her teacher. She has informed me that Khushboo was a bright student always scoring between 80% to 90%. Khushboo has already lost one academic year since she could not join online classes in 2020. She will have to join back in 9th standard.

I am actively looking for the job opportunity for Aparna Singh. She is a graduate and fluent in English. If any one has any leads or job opportunity, it can be an immense help for this family.