Case Study of Kajalben Manubhai Chauhan

LIVES TRANSFORMED BY HARD WORK AND OPPORTUNITY

Below is a heart-warming and true account of how the lives of Kajalben and Manubhai Chauhan and their four children have been transformed for the better.

From the left Sonal, Rupal, Kajalben, Manubhai, Mahesh and Chirag

The Chauhans belong to the “harijan” caste (untouchables). Traditionally they were only allowed to do the most menial and dirtiest of tasks and could not get any other work in their villages.

About a dozen years ago, before they came into contact with Bapu, neither Kajalben nor Manubhai had a steady job. It was a hand-to-mouth existence, trying to make the pittance they earned last from one job to the next. If the children, aged 2 to 6, fell seriously ill there was no money for medicines.

Manubhai had been out of work for two months when he got to hear about Bapu’s ashram in Chaparda. Initially Bapu took both of them on for work on a casual basis and thereafter employed them permanently. Manubhai worked in the gardens and Kajalben helped with sweeping and washing clothes and dishes. Bapu offered free schooling to all the children in exchange for honest hard work.

Fast-forward 12 years on to today: eldest daughter Rupal, aged 20 is in the final year of her B.Comm degree. Mahesh (age 18) is in 1st year of College doing a B.Sc. course and twins Sonal and Chirag, aged 16, are prospering at school. Sonal won a silver medal in a national rifle shooting event in Kerala. Manubhai is now the driver for the English Medium School. Kajalben helps at the ashram cooking and cleaning. From the photo, one can see that the family is happy and healthy living in an environment where fresh air, food and milk are readily available.

In the past 20 years, the lives of hundreds of other villagers in and around Chaparda and from further afield have likewise been transformed through the medium of Bapu and BET.