How A Photo And A Group Of Foreigners Changed The Life Of A Girl Wearing A Pink Bracelet
Young Divya now has a home and an education assured.
By Sadho Ram — 24 Dec 2015, 07:28 PM
Recently, Richard Harold Dick Smith, an Australian entrepreneur, was on a train tour of India, when he noticed an 8-year-old girl from a homeless family, playing near a railway tracks under a bridge.
He photographed the girl wearing nothing except a pink bracelet.
Dick Smith's original photo of the homeless family living under the bridge.
Image via Chris Bray/Dick SmithAfter he left India, Mr. Smith, who was desperate to help the family out in any manner possible, enlisted the help of his friends Chris Bray and his wife Jess Bray to help look for the girl and her family
Dick Smith showing Chris the photos he snapped on his iPhone of the homeless family.
Image via Chris BrayWith just a hazy photograph of the little girl in a pink bracelet and a GPS location, Chris and Jess left for India to look for the girl and her family to help them with accommodation and funding her education
The couple, who had just three days to find the girl and her family, somehow managed to connect with a bank manager and a university professor in the Indian city of Vadodara (where the photo was taken), who was the friend of a friend of a friend of the father of a friend of Chris.
Talk about six degrees of separation! Below is how they found the girl in the photo:
They had emailed ahead and this receptionist, Jayati, was keen to try and help the couple, acting as their Hindi/English translator
DAY 2
Chris and Jess went to the bridge without Jayati. However, there were various families around and they couldn't recognise anyone.
The locals didn't speak English at all, only Hindi, but with the help of their contacts, they returned to the bridge, passed around the photo that Mr. Smith took and asked if anyone recognised anyone
After everyone denied knowing anyone in the photo, Chris saw this man in a red shirt with a plastic leg who was also in their photo
Then a woman recognised the girl with the pink bracelet and pointed towards a woman she said was the girl's mother
She sent for her daughter, who was playing in the back. She still had the pink bracelets on. Her name is Divya, meaning 'divine light'.
With all eyes on her, Divya, who thought she must have been in trouble, was initially very shy and also a little upset
After Chris explained the whole situation to Divya and her family, they met the whole family. She has two brothers, 7 and 2 years old, both who were also in the original photo.
"The parents had been living under the bridge for 12 years, and Divya had been born there just under the bridge without any nurse etc. As the father was away at work (a plasterer, earning USD4-6 per day, not enough to afford even a slum house while also caring for three kids) we decided it was best to wait until the dad came home from work to discuss with the whole family to see if there was a way we could help. Dr. Chellani told them to meet at the Bank that afternoon. We even had to pre-warn the security guard to actually let them in."
Divya with her mother, father and two siblings at the bank
"We met the dad for the first time, and mercifully it turned out that he doesn't drink or smoke (the whole state of Gujarat is a 'dry state' and alcohol is illegal, but there is, of course, a thriving black market). We believed them too, he certainly presented better than many of the other red-eyed, hungover men under the bridge - he seems like a genuine, hard working man, loves his family, and just struggling to get ahead."
DAY 3
They all met up again at the bank. Chris and his contacts started the process to open a bank account for the girl, with the mother as the guardian, so that Mr. Smith could deposit rent every month, which would then be automatically transferred to the rental account.
"Dr. Chellani suggested we write up a formal contract linked to the account, specifying what the funds are allowed to be used for (Rent, and furthering the girls education), and to give them confidence that this was to be ongoing, a minimum guarantee of 2yrs of an agreed level of funding, after which it will be reviewed etc (although the plan is for it to be more than 10yrs).
We later added a condition that Divya must attend school regularly else funding can be stopped (the principle will provide monthly attendance reports to Dr. Chellani, who is also a 2nd signatory on the account, to oversee & ensure the funds are spent correctly)."
They let them choose what they wanted, mostly very practical stuff. Divya fell in love with this dress so they got that too!
The four people who deserve all the credit for this wonderful story
Left: Chris and Jess Bray; Right: Dick and Pip who are funding Divya's education.
Image via Chris BrayCheck out Chris Bray's post on Facebook: Finding 1 girl in India's 1.25 billion.