A submission to Global Teacher Digital Narratives 2016

This is Selvammal. She is 7 years old and lives in a small village in Tamil Nadu in the south of India. She lives with her brother and father.

Their house is made from mud bricks, sticks and rocks and has a grass roof to help keep their house cool in the summer.

Selvammal and her brother walk 14km to and from school every day in the beating sun, with no shoes and cuts on their feet.

Selvammal’s father works in a field to make a living for himself and his young children after their mother passed away a few years ago from disease.

Quite often, Selvammal and her brother will go days without clean drinking water or food because the ground is so dry and it never rains.

One day, Selvammal was bitten by a poisonous insect. The village doctor came to see her but her father could only afford herbal remedies. Her rash and infection spread quickly and boils appeared all over her body.

Children like Selvammal are bitten by insects every day and cannot seek medical help.

In India, 78 million people are homeless and 11 million of there are children who live on the street with no access to shelter, food or water.

Nearly half the world’s population, more than 3 billion people live below the poverty line.

Salvammal is just like you and me, we are both similar to a degree.
It’s not about the money, or the food we have in our tummy
The water we have in our tank, or the money in our bank.
It’s about the happiness we share, and showing others that we care.
As an active member of our community, we must share, act and give in unity.
Creator(s): Alexandra Toohey, Tahlia Lymbery