"When Parents Lost Hope, the Sampushti Team Didn't Give Up"

Aryan, a child aged 2 years and 11 months, living in a small village in Gram Panchayat Som, Block Sandila (Hardoi district), Uttar Pradesh, was found to be severely malnourished during a screening organized under Sampushti’s  Malnutrition-Free Gram Panchayat program, a program that focuses on children from 6 months to 5 years. 

“Papa, I Want To Become A Doctor”

Sushma Kumari, a 16-year-old student of Class 11 at S.K.S. Public School (a low-resource budget school) in Kaliaganj, in Bihar, was on the brink of being married off. Her parents believed it was time. After all, she was a girl, and “ladkiyon ki shaadi to jaldi hi ho jaani chahiye” (girls should be married off early).

Sahil’s Story: When “Everything’s Fine” Isn’t the Whole Truth

At first glance, Sahil seemed like the kind of student every parent would be proud of -  confident, composed and well-mannered. The Class 8 student from S.N Public School (a low-resource budget school) in northeast Delhi was the first to fill out the mental well-being screening form. He did it quickly, without hesitation. His teachers had no complaints either. He studied regularly, played outside, and shared everything with his mother. He even got help from his father with studies. In his own words, “Sab theek hai (everything is fine).”

"A Journey from Silence to Confidence"

Twelve-year-old Sonali from Shergarh village in Doiwala block, Dehradun, Uttrakhand, once struggled with the fear of speaking up in class, even when she knew the right answers. Her turning point came during a workshop conducted under DC’s Abhyuday program, which focuses on building emotional resilience and confidence among school children.

Sangeeta’s Story: “I Wanted to Ask… But Who Could I Ask?”

Sangeeta had been married for three years. She and her husband were trying to conceive - a journey she had hoped would be joyful, if not simple. But when her husband was diagnosed with diabetes during a routine check-up, joy gave way to worry.

“I Want to Die” to “I Want to Be Understood”

Twelve-year-old Reyansh from Y.B Public School (a low-resource budget school), in migrant-dominated northeast Delhi had always been the quiet type. He rarely spoke in class, kept to himself, and spent most of his time alone. Teachers thought he was just shy. But the results of Reyansh’s mental well-being screening carried out as part of the TeenBook Student Well-Being Program told a different story.

"A Change In Diet Lead To A Change In Life"

Kavita aged 17 lives in Kachhauna, a small village in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh. Her father runs a grocery shop, and her mother is a homemaker. She is often requiring her to take leave from school due to her health problems. As a 12th-grade student this puts a lot of pressure on her to succeed academically amidst her struggles.

Neetu’s Story: A Conversation That Changed Everything

At Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Delhi, the Project Sshakti team, part of a Development Consortium initiative that supports people living with HIV, encountered a challenging LFU (Lost to Follow-Up) case. Neetu Sharma, a 26-year-old woman in her eighth month of pregnancy. Her viral load had not been monitored recently as she missed several follow-up visits to the project’s HIV Care and Support Centre. When contacted by the team, she insisted she was HIV-negative and shared a test report from Sanjay Gandhi Hospital. Her husband also backed this claim, forwarding a “negative” report via WhatsApp.

“We Used to Feed Him Whatever Was Available”

When the Project Sampushti team first met Sameer Kumar during a routine screening in his village in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh, the three-and-a-half-year-old was shy, quiet, and visibly underweight. His parents, Rakesh Kumar and Geeta Devi, are farmers with no formal education. They cared deeply for their son but had little knowledge of what a balanced diet actually looked like.