Sindhutai Sapkal begged On Streets So She Could Feed Every Orphan She Saw ! ( became a 'mother' to over 1400 homeless children ) Can You Imagine Anyone More Heroic? :-
Sindhutai Sapkal begged On Streets So She Could Feed Every Orphan She Saw ! Can You Imagine Anyone More Heroic? :-
Sindhutai Sapkal's life started as being an unwanted child, followed by an abusive husband who abandoned her when she was nine months pregnant. The circumstances she has faced could force anyone to lose courage and succumb to the adverse situations. But Sindhutai emerged stronger with every difficulty she faced and became a 'mother' to over 1400 homeless children when she herself was in a hand-to-mouth situation! Read more to know about this unique persona.
She got married at a tender age of 10 to a 30-year old man. Her abusive husband beat her up and threw her out of the house when she was 20 and nine-months pregnant. She gave birth to a baby girl in a cow shelter outside their house the same day and walked a few kilometres in that condition to her mother's place, who refused to give shelter to her.
"I cut the umbilical cord with a sharp-edged stone lying nearby," she recalls. The incident deeply affected her and she thought of committing suicide, but gave up that thought and started begging at railway platforms for food to look after her daughter.
As she spent more time begging, she realized that there are many orphans and children abandoned by their parents. Having faced the difficulties herself, she could feel their pain and she decided to adopt them. She started begging more earnestly in order to feed the many children that she had adopted. Gradually she decided to adopt every child who came across as an orphan and, over a period of time, she emerged as the "mother of orphans".
Till date she has adopted and nurtured over 1,400 orphans, helped them get an education, got them married and supported them to settle down in life. She is fondly referred to as "mai" (mother). The children are not given up for adoption. She treats them as her own and some of them are now lawyers, doctors and engineers.
To eliminate the feeling of partiality among children she gave away her biological daughter to Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai, Pune. Her daughter herself runs an orphanage today.
Sindhutai with her love and compassion has gathered a huge family of 207 sons-in-law, 36 daughters-in-law and over 1000 grandchildren. Till date she continues to fight for the next meal. She does not take support from anyone but still gives speeches to earn her daily bread and butter.
"By God's grace I had good communication skills. I could go and talk to people and influence them. Hunger made me speak and this became my source of income. I give many speeches at various places and this gets me some money which I use to take care of my children," she says.
Many years after being abandoned by her husband, he came back to her and apologized for his harsh deeds. Having devoted all her life to the orphans, she forgave him and accepted him as her child, as she could only harbour motherly love for all. She affectionately introduces her 80-year old husband as the eldest child.
She has six organizations operating under her name which work for various needs of orphans.
Her life's story inspired many and a Marathi film called "Mee Sindhutai Sapkal" was made on her which won a national award.
https://www.thebetterindia.com
Posted by: Ravi Narasimhan <ravi.narasimhan.in@gmail.com>
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