Background: Blue Tent communities are a common sight across Bengaluru, yet the hardships faced by migrant families often go unnoticed. Five-year-old Papriya Das comes from a migrant family from West Bengal. Her father moved to Bengaluru six years ago in search of work, and Papriya and her mother joined him a year ago. The family settled in the Thubrahalli Blue Tent Community, living in a makeshift shelter made of scrap plastic and metal, with limited access to clean water, open sewage, and frequent flooding during the rains.
Challenge: With her father working as a garbage collector and her mother as a housemaid, Papriya’s parents spent long hours away from home. They enrolled her at Diya Ghar during a community visit in July 2025. Soon after, a Diya Ghar medical camp identified a severe skin infection caused by unhygienic living conditions, requiring treatment for over a year.
Intervention: Diya Ghar ensured regular medical follow-ups while teachers worked closely with Papriya’s parents, reinforcing hygiene practices and supporting her treatment. Alongside medical care, she received nutritious meals, a safe learning environment and individual attention that supported her overall development.
Transformation: Today, Papriya has fully recovered and is a healthy, confident learner. She enjoys forming 2-3 letter words through the Moveable Alphabet in English, writing Kannada alphabets through Sandpaper Letters, and can recognise numbers from 1 to 20. As she prepares for formal schooling, Papriya has a new dream, to become a doctor, inspired by the doctors who helped her recover.