“Now i sell fresh green vegetables” – Ram Singh

Ram Singh is a native of Rajasthan. During his childhood, his father came to the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh and started living in a hut. In 2010 he came to Lucknow in search of some work and started working as a daily wage earner and on days when he could not get work for a long time he would stay hungry and used to sleep on the sidewalk.  Over there some fellow laborers told him that twice a day food is distributed outside the Hanuman Setu temple, so when work was not available, he used to go to the temple for food. Over there he came under bad influence and started consuming drugs in a bad company. Gradually he became addicted to drugs and begging became his daily routine which he describes as: “फिर क्या यहीं भीख मांगना नशा करना यही जिंदगी का रोजमर्रा बन गया लगभग एक साल मंदिर पर गुजारा”. In 2018 he met Sharad Patel and decided to enroll himself in the rehabilitation program. He started staying at a shelter home and through a designed model he received proper rehabilitation services and eventually became able to sustain a livelihood as a vegetable vendor and would save 500-600/- per day. He also reconnected with his family and describes his new life as “अब सम्मान के साथ जिंदगी जी रहा हूँ लगता हैं की मै भी इंसान हूँ”