Urban Resilience Project in Delhi

Sabir Ali is 38 years old and lives with his wife and three children in F-Block, Seemapuri. Sabir is a victim of spinal cord atrophy and has 90% physical disability. Because of his own mobility issues and his wife’s partial physical disability due to spinal cord atrophy, both of them struggle to manage the basic expenses of the household and the education of the children. Sabir earns a small income by pulling a rickshaw and running a small shop, which barely covers the daily expenses.

During a community home visit, colleagues learned about the financial situation and struggles of Sabir Ali’s family and provided financial support through the project’s small business fund. In early March 2020, funds were disbursed to support the expansion of his rickshaw shop and Sabir upgraded his rickshaw shop. His daily income has increased by about 15-20% compared to before.

Now he is able to cover the basic expenses of the family and has the ability to repay his previous debts and redeem his wife’s earrings. The significance of this is not just the redemption of the earrings, but also the restoration of Sabir’s dignity, as the earrings were a valuable wedding gift from his wife’s parents.

‘I am very grateful for the support of this project. I can redeem my wife’s earrings. I felt guilty and ashamed because of my financial difficulties that someone kept the earrings, but now I can breathe a sigh of relief.’