Puja (and Bharot)
Puja recently left Casa Balo to return home to live with her family. Puja and her brother Bharot are the catalyst for Balo. Betta discovered and befriended both children in the Mother Teresa orphanage in 2005. She connected with them instantly, and over the course of the next few years, Betta started Balo with the two of them at the heart.
Puja pictured on the far left.
Puja and Bharot are not orphans. Their mother is mentally ill, and their father was always away working, so they had little care in their home. With Balo’s help, they were able to move from the orphanage back into the home with their mother and father. As Puja reached adolescence, it became unsafe to have her staying in her family home. She was of the age to marry; her father was most often away, and her mother was not in a position to protect her from men. Betta and her father decided that it would be best for Puja to live in at Casa Balo, and she did for three years.
Puja was a disaster when it came to schoolwork. Her teachers and Rehana were concerned about her future. It was clear that Puja was interested in cooking when she was living at Casa Balo. Rehana was nervous that she would cut herself, but with Marzina’s guidance, she began helping bit by bit in the home. She enjoyed the work and did it well.
In 2018, Rehana gave her a job at the school helping Marzina in the kitchen. Puja shined. In a kitchen that provides up to 300 meals a day, she was happy and quick to cut, peel, slice, and dice vegetables. She works relentlessly with a smile on her face, and she is proud of her paycheck, using it to help support her parents.
Bharot is finishing his studies in the Balo school, and he takes them very seriously. Initially he did not want to attend school, and he was a bit of a challenge, but now he is focused and intent in his learning. In the afternoons, he can be found taking hairdressing classes at Casa Balo.