Visiting a new city sounds so exciting with hopes of exploring the food, culture and traditional setup of the place and when this place is a rural part of the country, it becomes even more interesting, right? Last month, December 2025, I had this meaningful opportunity to visit one of the districts in Maharashtra, as a part of my onboarding at Miracle Foundation India and exposure to the work we are doing across states and also to learn from the team and offer any suggestions, if I could.
I knew we would be visiting a few villages; meeting the families we work with; meeting the various Child Protection Committees and definitely the heart of the work Miracle does, the children and youth. We reached Nagpur a night prior and kickstarted our journey to this village in Brahmapuri block of Chandrapur district, early morning of the next day.
Oh, the air was cleaner and more breathable than I have experienced in Delhi in the last so many years; the clouds were clearer; roads were emptier. It was drastically different from any town, let alone a city or a metropolitan. I was happier to breathe without a mask or air purifier after long.
We started with a simple breakfast at a nearby hospital canteen, wherein we planned the visit to the families; meeting with the Village Child Protection Committee (VCPC) and Bal Panchayat, later in the evening. We discussed the core areas of concern of these villages and the families we were about to visit and made three groups of two. The way to these villages was full of forested area, near Tadoba, Tiger centric area. The roads had limited to no public transport and limited community facilities.
The first destination was the VCPC meeting and it happened at a municipal school of one of the villages. Some children were experiencing nutritional and material vulnerabilities, reflecting broader challenges in access and support but the glow and shine in their eyes on seeing people coming to see them, was unmatched. They were all gearing up for some science competition and my eyes and heart were full to see the preparations with the most basic of things and yet, the intelligence and comprehension of the children participating was no less. Their teacher seemed so invested and enthusiastic about taking the students to a new platform, the enthusiasm we rarely see when opportunities are abundant. The meeting was very insightful with the Sarpanch and other members being so active and aware of a lot of schemes and areas of focus. Moreover, women outnumbered men in the committee and they weren’t passive members; they fully and readily participated in each and every conversation.
Our next destination was the families, with the intent of understanding their concerns and how well they are progressing with the support provided to them by us and the partner organization. The two families I had the opportunity to interact with had one thing in common. They looked happy and excited to have someone from Delhi visit them. At the same time, one family wasn’t very open about their challenges but the woman in the second family shared her progress, the growth of her children and about her skills very openly. She was knitting foot mats, from the rugs or cloth pieces people gave her for the same. She had the skill and the artistic approach to mix and match the patterns and colors to come up with beautiful door mats/foot mats. Her daughters had just come from the school and the younger one was crying on a trivial matter (trivial to me but absolutely important to that little one). But the moment she saw us, her spirit was uplifted and she smiled ear to ear and happily greeted us. Oh, that smile could cheer the coldest of the people in the room. Next, we were hosted at a SHG (Self-Help Group) woman’s house for a wholesome and extremely delicious meal. The kadhi she served was truly the best I ever had and the warmth with which she served the food made the entire experience absolutely memorable.
Later that evening, we got the chance to interact with the Bal Panchayat members, oh what energy and spirit those young adults had. We were all welcomed with utmost warmth and respect and a token of their warmth could be seen in the handmade bouquet they presented us with. There were roughly 25 children and youth, wherein, they had clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the committee members, led by this young boy S. Those children and youth may have had limited access to resources, yet the reach of the internet has been transformative, opening up exposure, possibilities and aspirations that go well beyond what has traditionally been available to young people in rural settings. All of them shared their dream jobs and one of them was to become a senior lecturer. I was totally awed by this girl’s conviction in her dream that she never missed her college despite it being very far away and the route being a difficult journey.
All in all, I realized that the community might be deprived of certain resources but was extremely rich on other fronts like being so closely tied and not knit through this so-called social media web that apparently has drifted us apart. Besides that, they were breathing clean air, oxygen readily and abundantly available to them and the food was home-made and not outsourced. They were warm and welcoming and available for us, unlike the so-called busy schedules of the city people.
To conclude, the visit was a learning experience for me, eye-opening on some fronts and giving me purpose on others, that this is where I have to contribute!
Author: Sumeena Sawhney, Manager, Government Partnership & Strategic Alliance, Miracle Foundation India
The views expressed in the article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Miracle Foundation India.