Santosh Kumar Maurya lives in Gopalpur village of Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh. He is 50 percent handicapped. Both his legs have a problem. He cannot walk without support.
The struggle of living with such handicap was aggravated by the burden of responsibilities at a very young age. He had to quit his studies early. The family owns a patch of land in the village, but say they cannot use it for farming because of water problems.
Santosh is the only child of his parents. He left his village and moved to a town. Some years ago, he began working at an internet cafe. He earned about Rs 2,000 a month. With this trivial amount, he could barely survive. He is now married and has a kid, but the income has not moved up much.
The recent spate of lockdowns left him completely broke. He lost his job. He struggled to meet his family requirements. He was no more able to help his parents who, too, were solely dependent on him. He took a loan to survive, but that burdened him even more.
Our team happened to meet Santosh. When he learnt about us, he asked us for help. He said he wanted to buy a laptop and a printer to start an internet service shop.
We paid him the amount he had asked for, and some more. Soon, he bought the laptop and the printer. He also bought a small stock of mobile accessories to keep at his shop.
A week ago, he opened his shop. He has named it ‘Siva Maurya Online Seva Kendra’.
While we hope that his venture does well, Santosh continues to reel under the debt he had taken. For this, Santosh requires our collective help.
Support us. Help Santosh live a stress-free, dignified life.