About Me
My Space or Yours? Myspace Layouts and more at myspaceoryours.net!
All information on this site related to S.O.U.P., Kajal and Snehlayam provided directly by Grace Zaidi and used with her permission.
The Society Of Underpriviledged People (SOUP) was founded in 1983 by Mrs. Grace Lily Zaidi and her husband, Rev. Qamar Joy Zaidi. SOUP has a board of trustees that is made up of people from various professions and sections of society. These people came together in order to help the poor and needy in their region of India, specifically focusing on the needs of women and children. SOUP reaches out in love to women and children who are victims of abuse or trafficking, to street children, to people living with HIV and to women seeking to find a way out of prostitution.
SOUP is located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. With a population of over 166 million, Uttar Pradesh is India's most populous state. It is also one of its poorest states. Crushing poverty has resulted in an extensive problem of human trafficking and child and bonded labor. Thousands of children find themselves abandoned or the streets or at train stations, or sold to begging rackets, drug and crime rings, or traffickers. Many young girls are sold into sex slavery. Uttar Pradesh's shared border with Nepal makes it a highway on the international trafficking route for girls trafficked into the brothels of Mumbai and Delhi.
Snehlayam (A Home of Love and Care) is a residential and non-residential program run by SOUP. This is a much needed outreach for the children in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. They service those children caught up in extreme poverty who would be lost to the sex trade, child labor camps, or the streets. These children face unsurmountable odds in overcoming the harsh reality of their lives. All have faced abuse of one sort or another, most have been orphaned by AIDS.
The goal of Snehlayam is to take these children off the streets and out of the sex trade market and/or child labor camps and provide them with a future. The program provides a stable environment giving the children shelter, food, education, vocational training, medical care and counseling. The main goal is to assist these children in becoming well-educated, self-reliant citizens of India.
SOUP seeks to address both the causes and the effects of poverty in their area, to create a better society for all.
Kajal's Story:
Kajal is now five years old. She has been living in the greater Nashville area for about two months. I had the pleasure of meeting her about a month ago. She is a bright, inquisitive, endearing child. She took me by the hand and took the greatest pleasure in walking me from one end of the house to the other. She would point things out along the way. She was filled with such happiness and exhuberance. She spoke English very well...if I hadn't been told her story I never would have guessed she was born in India...and that her life did not begin so happily. It was difficult to believe she is blind and only came to America a month or so before I met her.
This is Kajal's story.
Kajal was born in Gaziyabad, India. We do not know the reasons why her step-mother and father chose to inflict such pain. Sometimes it is better not to ask what causes evil. It's enough to acknowledge it exists. Whatever the reasons, her step-mother applied some kind of chemical to Kajal's eyes. This chemical blinded Kajal. After this, her step-mother and father took Kajal to the Allahabad railway station and abandoned her there. About the age of three, abandoned by her family, purposely blinded and also suffering from Dysentery...Kajal wandered around the train station.
Some potters took pity on Kajal and took her home with them. However, with poverty the reality for most people in India, and the fact that Kajal was a girl...a handicapped girl at that...she was simply one more mouth to feed. These people decided Kajal could not stay with them. So, they returned with Kajal to the railway station and approached the Station Manager to intervene on Kajal's behalf.
This is where S.O.U.P. enters the story. The Station Manager was aware of the successful work and mission being carried out by the loving people of S.O.U.P. He contacted them and it was quickly decided that their residential program, Snehlayam would be the best place for Kajal. The Station Manager knew of S.O.U.P.'s track record of acceptance, shelter and counseling given to the street children of India. Their main goal is to rehabilitate those children fortunate enough to find their way to S.O.U.P. And, when possible, the restoration of families with their children.
Kajal reluctantly accepted S.O.U.P. as her new home. After almost fifteen days and the care and devotion given to her by everyone at Snehlayam, especially that of Matron Rema Verma, Kajal finally settled into her new home. Such love and attention, care and nourishment brought about positive changes in Kajal's demeanor and personality.
The next step was to take Kajal before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) so that she might be granted government shelter and care. Rev. Joy Zaidi, co-founder of S.O.U.P. was able to secure an order allowing Kajal to stay at Snehlayam and get the treatment she needed.
That is when the search for an Ophthalmologist began in earnest. However, the search for one in the Allahabad region of India proved unsuccessful. Rev. Joy Zaidi, and his wife, Grace, spoke to their friends Rev. Kelly and Keri G. in Fort Worth, TX about their very great need to find a physician who could help Kajal. They also began searching within the U.S. to find such a physician.
Then, Ms. Ashley R. of Nashville went to India and stayed at Snehlayam. As she was serving S.O.U.P. and their ministry to these children she met Kajal. Ashley sent the request for an Ophthalmologist back home to her friends and family in Tennessee.
After Ashley returned home she was put in touch with Dr. Ming Wang. She couldn't wait to call the Zaidi's and share the wonderful news! Their prayers had been answered! Sponsors stepped up to make the necessary arrangements for Mrs. Grace Zaidi and Kajal to make the trip to Nashville. One very generous donor, Mr. Curt G. provided the funds for both Grace and Kajal's airfare.
Dr. Ming Wang and the Wang Foundation have been very generous to supply part of the support needed for Grace and Kajal while they are visiting, in addition to the much needed eye surgery that will potentially restore Kajal's vision. Kajal's life and story are indeed a miracle!
All information on this site related to S.O.U.P., Kajal and Snehlayam provided directly by Grace Zaidi and used with her permission.
