‘Never in our dreams’: Delhi girls’ inspiring journey from slums to University of Sydney

Sleeping between sewer drains and noisy railway tracks, these three young women from India’s most crowded slums have defied the odds to take their education to the next level here in Sydney. Hear their stories.

Sleeping among overflowing sewer drains and noisy railway tracks, studying English by the light of their mobile phones, three young women from India’s most crowded slums have defied the odds to take their education to the next level halfway around the world.

Plucked from their slum homes by charity workers, new students Tripti Singh, Fazia Hissien and Juhi Joshi are some of the most remarkable people to grace the sandstone halls of the University of Sydney.

Once staring down the barrel of early marriages and call centre jobs, the trio were supported by international charity Asha to finish school, pursue higher education in Delhi, and all three are now undertaking Masters degrees.

Master of Strategic Public Relations student Tripti hails from the Vivekananda slum in New Delhi, where she was expected to financially support her mother and three siblings by joining her father as the only working members of the family.

Convincing her parents – particularly her father, who earns the equivalent of $300 Australian dollars a month – that she shouldn’t walk away from her studies was a hard ask.

University of Sydney students (L-R) Fazia, Tripti, and Juhi grew up in slums, but Indian charity Asha has enabled them to attend uni in Australia. Picture: Dylan Coker / Daily Telegraph

“It has been a struggling and hard journey,” the 22-year-old said.

“I live in a community that is surrounded by embassies and other diplomatic areas, then there is our small slum where we literally struggle for everything – we don’t get water, so we have to wait for water tankers to fill our buckets every day.

University of Sydney master degree student Tripti grew up in the slums of India. Picture: Dylan Coker / Daily Telegraph

Tripti in front of her home the day she left for Sydney. Picture: Supplied

“If the water tanker doesn’t come, they don’t have any water for the day. Thousands of people use the same public washroom, that’s very unhygienic and humiliating as well.”

Juhi, a 22-year-old Master of Public Health student from the Mayapuri slum in west Delhi, was the first girl in her community to take a science course at university.

Juhi is studying her Master of Public Health. Picture: Dylan Coker / Daily Telegraph

“There was a lot of noise making it hard to focus on studies, you could hear the railway line all the time,” she said.

“Asking slum children if they want to study abroad is a very surreal thing – we never think about going abroad, ever, even in our dreams,” Tripti said.

“When I go back to Delhi I want to give back to my community. Because I have been given a chance from Asha, I want (to help) the thousands of students there who have potential – they just need a little hope and a way.”

Juhi standing next to a big drain which is just a few steps from her home. Picture: Suplied

Public relations student Fazia said studying in Sydney had been “beyond imagination” for a young girl from a very conservative Muslim family in the northeastern e-waste dump of Seelampur – especially after her father passed away.

“I grew up in one single room which was rented with my family, with six members including me,” the 23-year-old said.

Fazia with her mum in front of her home in Delhi. Picture: Supplied

“The environment is not so good for health and education – there are open drains and dirt everywhere, the area is congested with so many people … so it’s difficult to study there.”

Left “demotivated” by her father’s death, it was the persistence of Asha’s staff constantly showing up to her home and urging her to come along to their study centre that ultimately set Fazia on her path to studying in Sydney – a move back in 2019 she says was “no doubt” the right decision.

“There are numerous girls like me who can’t imagine even going to university in Delhi. It is the best decision that I’ve ever made.”

Fazia (centre) says joining Asha was “no doubt” the right decision. Picture: Dylan Coker / Daily Telegraph

Asha founder Dr Kiran Martin started the charity when she was 28 years old and now, at 65, says she still has “the same passion, same energy” to lift the lowest members of Indian society out of poverty as she did when her project began.

A paediatrician by trade, Dr Martin has flown into Sydney for a gala dinner this evening (Thursday) that will host members of the legal and business fraternities to fundraise for the Asha’s work, long supported by powerful corporate types and prominent public figures like Governor of Victoria Margaret Gardner.

“I get so choked up when I see them (the students) standing there with their graduation gowns, I just ask ‘is this really happening?’” the pediatrician said.

“Because I know these kids from when they used to be roaming around those dirty lanes and streets, I’ve seen them playing in those drains.

“They are a great inspiration.”

To find out more about Asha, go to asha-india.org

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