Pallavi Mohta

My name is Pallavi Mohta, and I am a Fourth Year BA LLB (Hons.) student at Amity Law School, Amity University. I will graduate in 2022 with my bachelor’s degree. My career goal is in Women's and Child Human Rights, so I can put an end to widespread injustice that the women and children around the world have been facing since the very beginning.

I come from a small town where women are merely considered just an object by their family members. Consumption of drugs by children, gang violence, and crime are on every corner. After moving to the city, I had seen women and children begging on the street for money, but I did not know what to expect as I made my way through Delhi’s twisting, claustrophobic streets. My lungs filled with the delightfully pungent aroma of Indian spices and incense as I turned a corner and faced the gates of Umeed- A Drop of Hope NGO.

Entering the premises, I was struck by a curious sight. Children, obviously quite ill, were playing and laughing on the grounds and enjoying the modest toys, which had been donated to them. Infants, thin and malnourished, were clothed in clean, colorful outfits so cheerful that they almost outshone their wearers’ concerns. It was a totally different world.

The experience was very significant for me. I suddenly realized how a hopeful and optimistic environment could transform even the direst conditions. The children inside the orphanage were no richer than those begging on the street, but they had the benefit of a caring environment, which transformed their poverty-stricken lives into something resembling a normal childhood. There is no solution to, and certainly no justification for, childhood suffering, but it is important that we play our own small roles in consoling and helping young victims of poverty.

I realize that injustice and suffering in the world are too widespread to be solved through volunteer activity.