We all have often seen many children begging, selling flowers, selling magazines, collecting garbage on the roads, railway stations, bus stands, etc. and all must be watching every day and we mostly ignore them.
But hardly anyone has tried to know from them what they themselves want, whether they are doing that work of their own free will or their circumstances are forcing them to do it. There are many such children whose future begins on these roads and ends on these roads, but they say that the flight of courage is faster than the wings.
By the way, every child has the ability to do something different, provided his/her abilities are properly assessed and he/she is properly guided, then no one can stop them from flying.
Today we are going to tell you the story of a girl whose light has worked and is doing the work of removing darkness in the lives of hundreds of children.
This girl below 25 years of age and of small stature, before whose courage even the sky bowed down, her name is Chandni Khan.
The name of whom we are talking about is Chandni Khan. Chandni Khan established an organization named “Voice of Slum” about a year and a half ago.
It is a story of the horrors of suffering, a present full of hope and endurance, and a future that promises to be brighter than ever.
Chandni Khan's journey from childhood to holding a pencil for the first time
Chandni Khan who herself belongs to the slums. She was born in Mathura. She also started earning with her father at an early age like other children of those settlements. From the age of 5 she used to go from village to village and town to town with her father doing street work like pageantry, magic, dance, and snake play, even till late at night She didn't hold back from working.
In the same way, life was running smoothly because food for two times was available comfortably. But time showed her a new form and those circumstances of life did not remain the same because her father passed away untimely. Because of this, the burden of the responsibility of family fell on her.
Time hit a 7-year-old girl in such a way that she probably could not have imagined. But it is said that no one works in front of time. To meet the basic needs of her family, that girl started working with other people and women, due to which she started getting 30 rupees a day, and sometimes they did not even get their share of daily earnings.
But she was not afraid of the struggle of life and had to go through bad situations for her family, even started picking garbage. In that too, she had to face many problems, sometimes dogs followed her, they used to bite her, and she had to listen to people's abuses. Because she was only seven years old, the policemen also did not allow her to go to the market.
An incident that can have a deep impact on the psyche of any young child. She had to go to jail one day on charges of theft, which she had not committed. This is one of the horror incidents of his life.
Then another accident happened to her, she sat in a car to go to Delhi, but the driver of that car did not make her sit in any other way and he was leaving the way of Mandi and going through some other way. That car driver told them how much money do you want, I will give you more than what you earn daily, the innocent girl could not understand anything, she started crying and started beating the car. Perhaps God had mercy on the innocence of that innocent child and she was saved because there was DND on that way. Seeing the man left them in the middle of the way and ran away.
Now Chandni changed her job, and now she started selling flowers on the streets and near red lights, she used to wait until 2 o'clock to sell flowers because malls and pubs mostly closed at that time and there is no way to go out. Most people used to buy flowers. She used to have the most difficulty in selling flowers till late at night in winter because the clothes she was wearing were not enough to protect her from the cold. To avoid the cold, sometimes she used to sit on the left space between two cars, and sometimes she used to sit adjacent to the wall.
Chandni was not losing courage, once again she changed her job, now she started selling corn, due to which her hands and clothes were mostly burnt.
By luck, she met some NGO volunteers who were educating the children of the slums. Started working closely with that organization, they told Chandni to connect children like her with them and she started bringing the children. Then that organization gave her a chance to study. At that time she was 10 years old but she could not even hold a pencil.
From here the change in Chandni's life started. She started participating in the activities of the organization and now she started seeing a ray of light in her life. In the light of education, she had found the goal of her life.
Change in life
After working continuously for a month after joining that NGO, Chandni was enrolled in an open school and her basic education started. That 10-year-old Chandni Khan who did not even know how to hold a pencil has turned 20 today and is currently studying in class 11.
She attended an NGO workshop where she learned about the legal rights of children and came to know that police cannot lock a child in jail. Whether the child is guilty or innocent, she cannot be kept in jail.
Now the first challenge of her life was in front of her, she single-handedly decided to help those children who were caught by the police. Some children were jailed for theft. She remembered the past and she recalled the horrors of the day when she was in jail. That 10-year-old girl went to the police station alone and got those children released. This is the best moment of her life.
Looking at her talent and work, there is an institution of that organization, and she joined it in growing steps. This marked a turning point in her life and she made it her life's goal to bring children like her into the light of education.
She encouraged the members of her community and explained to many parents the importance of education so that they become aware of their children's education.
She continued to work for the growing step, helping them to open new education centers and add more children to them. Soon, she was appointed as the District Secretary, and then she was promoted as the National Secretary.
Now Chandni got a chance to join the newspaper named Balaknama. Her eagerness to always learn something new led her to become a reporter for Balaknama, bringing to the fore the harrowing stories of slum children, and her work was widely appreciated. There are many stories of brutality, as well as stories of hope and positive change.
Now, this newspaper started being published in English version also, and on the strength of her talent and achievements, she increased the circulation of this newspaper from 2000 to 5000.
With the help of this newspaper, she tried to make the voice of slum children reach the government and society and kept fighting for the rights of those children. Then she was appointed as the editor of that newspaper.
She worked for 10,000 children. She worked for children in 4 states. Because she used to work with children, she also got a chance to meet some famous and big people.
Chandni Khan has also received the Karmaveer Chakra Award for her work.
She has also worked with CRY NGO, Save the Children NGO, PLAN NGO, UNCRC, and NCPCR for children like her.
Also voiced her views on India's live shows like Radio Mirchi, India Today, and then one of the prestigious Ted Talks in Bengaluru.
She became a Ted Talks speaker and a motivational speaker, expressing her hope for the lives of slum children with her biography.
In this journey, while working for the education and progress of the children, now she is 18 years old, then there was a new change in her life because she had to leave that organization. That organization works only for children below the age of 18 years. Zindagi made Chandni stand again at the same point, but Chandni was now empowered and her intentions had become strong.
After being separated from the organization, she felt as if she is standing where she started from. Once again the same fate came in front of her, which she had left behind and had moved far ahead. Such a reversal of time that he had to sell corn again.
Because of this, thousands of questions used to come to mind, and one day the people of Birla company saw her and offered her a job in his company. She could have lived her life comfortably with that job, but her restless mind never allowed her to settle down.
She did not let her desire to make a difference in the lives of children like her and her thinking of doing something for them get suppressed. She left her job and moved towards her goal. It is said that God also helps those who know how to help themselves. She fought fearlessly against all troubles and bad situations and with her courage and determination, became the founder of an organization, that is educating children and making their future bright.
She formed a group consisting of children like her, all of whom knew how to work. And then along with her friend Dev Pratap Singh established a voluntary organization called Voice of Slum in Noida for slum children.
This NGO is like a ray of sunshine spreading light to all those who are hindered by their circumstances to lead a dark life.
Its main objective is to provide basic facilities like health, education, and shelter to the slum and street children.
She first started connecting children with her while playing on the streets near settlements and increases interest in education among those children and spreads self-reliance in them.
Children whose life revolves around begging, selling flowers, pens, toys, etc. Those who do not know anything about the other good aspects of life. Chandni and her entire team introduce her to the bright side.
Just as a potter stabilizes the utensils and toys made by her by cooking them in the fire and then decorating them with colors, in the same way, she is refining the personality of these children with the light of education.
Along with education, she also promotes many other talents inherent in children. For her, education in dance, music, etc. is also given, as well as tricks of self-defense are also taught.
Along with this, she also tries to provide employment opportunities to older children so that they do not have to beg on the streets. Voice of Slum also brings out a magazine called Voice Post.
The important thing about this magazine is that the journalists and editors of this magazine are all children of this place. Through this magazine, these children try to tell and explain to our society and the government what is their point of view of this society. What they think and what they want, they tell all this to society and the government in this magazine.
This magazine is printed in both Hindi and English languages, children write themselves in Hindi and it is converted into English.
Through Voice of Slum, Chandni and her team have so far taken more than 500 children out of slums, educated them, and made them self-reliant.
If you also want to cooperate in any way with this work of Chandni, then you can contact us by visiting the Facebook page of Voice of Slum.
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