by Aditi Patwardhan

Diwali—A Time to Help the Underprivileged

by Aditi Patwardhan

How old does one have to be to give up all of one’s profits to charity? 40? 30 at least?

Well, the answer in this case, is 13. Yes, Raje, a 13-year-old girl from Bombay, gives all the profits from her small handicraft business to help out those in need.

One day, when Raje was being1)fussyabout the food prepared at home, her mother took her to a neighboring2)slum areawhere a food truck was distributing food to3)the underprivileged. Seeing children running behind the truck, unsure about where their next meal was coming from, Raje made up her mind to help in any way possible.

Later that year, duringDiwali注, she started making and selling small sky lanterns and earned enough money to buy sweets for the kids and celebrate the festival with them. Since then, Raje has continued her initiative of spreading joy. She makes4)paper quillingobjects like envelopes, photo frames, greeting cards, handicrafts as well as dolls, and uses the profits for a good cause.

When her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and was undergoing5)treatment, Raje began thinking about the cancer patients who could not afford6)medical care. That year, she raised Rs. 30,000 for cancer patients. This Diwali, Raje will be conducting a workshop for underprivileged kids suffering from cancer, teaching them how to make handicrafts.

Her inspiring story was shared over 1,600 times within two days on Facebook, and readers have showered her with hundreds of positive comments. Raje’s story is certainly an inspiration for everyone, it7)reinforcesan important message—where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Here is what Raje said:

“One evening, when I was being really fussy with the food made at home, my mom told me to leave my plate and go with her. She took me to a slum behind my house, where I saw little children, my age, maybe younger, running towards a truck of food that distributed food tothem every Sunday. I was left in tears—they didn’t even know if they would get to eat for days and here I was complaining. That incident made me desperate to help in any way I could.

I’m 13 right now and I hope that in every Diwali, I can add a little more light, and bring a few more smiles. Hopefully the day will come where no child goes to sleep hungry and everyone can afford medical treatments—I’m going to try and give it my all…and that’s all we can do for now—try, until it becomes a reality.”

1) fussy ['fʌsɪ] adj. 挑剔的，抱怨的

2) slum area 贫民区

3) the underprivileged 弱势群体，下层社会

4) paper quilling 衍纸

5) treatment ['triːtmənt] n. 治疗

6) medical care 医疗护理

7) reinforce [riːɪn'fɔːs] v. 强化

多少岁的人才能把所得到的收益全都捐给慈善团体？40岁？还是至少得30岁？

好吧，在这个故事里，答案是13岁。是的，这位名叫拉吉的13岁孟买女孩，将她用小小手工艺品所挣来的全部利润都用来帮助了那些有需要的人。

有天，当拉吉正挑剔着家里准备好的食物时，她的妈妈将她带到了附近的贫民区。在那里，装有食物的卡车正在为贫民分发食物。当看到那些孩子们追在卡车后面，不知道自己的下一顿饭在哪里时，拉吉下定决心要用任何可行的方法去帮助他们。

那年晚些时候，在排灯节期间，她开始制作和销售小天灯，还赚到了足够给孩子们买糖果的钱，并能够和他们一起庆祝节日。自那时起，拉吉一直在延续着自己传播快乐的初衷。她做了很多纸工艺品，比如信封、相框、贺卡、手工及娃娃，所得的利润也是用于慈善事业。

当她的母亲被诊断出患有乳腺癌并开始接受治疗后，拉吉想到了那些付不起医疗费的癌症患者们。那年，她为癌症病人募捐到了30000卢比。在今年的排灯节，拉吉将为患有癌症的贫困小孩设立一个工作坊，教他们如何制作手工艺品。

她鼓舞人心的事迹在短短两天内已在脸谱网上被分享了超过1600次，读者们留下了数以百计的正面评论。拉吉的故事自然是在激励着每一个人，它强调着一个重要信息—有志者，事竟成！

以下是拉吉所说的话：

“一天夜里，正当我十分嫌弃家里的食物时，我妈妈让我放下餐盘和她一起去个地方。她带我去到家后面的一个贫民窟。在那里，我看到了和我一般大的孩子们，又或许比我还小，正追着每逢周日会给他们分发食物的卡车。然后我就哭了—在他们都不知道接下来的几天里是否还有饭吃的时候，我却在抱怨。那次的事件，让我非常想要尽自己所能地去帮助他们。

我现在13岁了，我希望在每一个排灯节里，我都可以为人们增添更多的光明，带来更多的微笑。希望这一天能到来：没有一个孩子会饿着入睡，并且每个人都能得到医疗救助—我也将尽我的所有努力……这也是直到它变成现实前，目前我们所能做的一切。”

注：排灯节（Diwali），又称万灯节、印度灯节或屠妖节，是印度教、锡克教和耆那教“以光明驱走黑暗，以善良战胜邪恶”的节日，于每年的10月或11月中旬举行。由于排灯节的影响力远远超过了其他节日，故其往往会被新马一带的华人社会误解为印度人的新年节日。

排灯节——一个可以帮助穷人的节目

翻译：法比仔