Changing lives-2

I would like to introduce you to Patchyammal. I met her first about 6 years ago, living in a very desperate situation, on the edge of starvation and although only 3 year's old, working at breaking rock with her slave parents. The family didn't earn enough money to buy food and had to resort to trying to trap rats to eat! When we returned to England, we managed, with the help of Sadeh Lok, to free all of the 14 family groups by paying off their debts. Most of the families chose to leave the area, but some remained. Regrettably, Patchyammal's parents split up but Sagar, her father, later remarried and now looks after Patchyammal, her sister Magaisse and her younger step siblings. Their income has improved considerably and the family have now returned to Mettupalayam, living with the other former debt slaves and working on the farm. Patchyammal is now coming to school each day, working hard and learning. Her health has improved although she will always suffer from those first 3 years of malnutrition. Hopefully, she will go on to secondary school- probably the first person in her family to achieve this. All this has been achieved with Venkat and Gomathi's dedication and commitment and the support of Friends in the UK. We are really making a difference to the lives and futures for these people.