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Photos: Family living on the fringes in Delhi sees hope in 7-year-old

For one desperately poor Indian family, barely educated and living on the fringes of New Delhi life, hope can be found in their 7-year-old boy with huge eyes and scraggly hair. Simply by staying in school he’s become the focus of the family’s dreams.

Updated on: Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM IST

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1/10

7-year-old Farmaan looks out from his home, set up on a wooden fruit vendor's cart, as it drizzles in New Delhi. Someday, the family says, the 7-year-old will save them. “I’ll fight,” the boy’s mother said when her husband insisted their son start working. She vowed he would stay in school, no matter what. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

7-year-old Farmaan looks out from his home, set up on a wooden fruit vendor's cart, as it drizzles in New Delhi. Someday, the family says, the 7-year-old will save them. “I’ll fight,” the boy’s mother said when her husband insisted their son start working. She vowed he would stay in school, no matter what. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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Farmaan (4th L), and other homeless and daily wage labourers keep themselves warm around a bonfire. More than 20 years ago, Ruby Khan and her husband, Nisar, came to New Delhi, hoping to find work and some sort of future in the capital. They were desperately poor and barely educated. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

Farmaan (4th L), and other homeless and daily wage labourers keep themselves warm around a bonfire. More than 20 years ago, Ruby Khan and her husband, Nisar, came to New Delhi, hoping to find work and some sort of future in the capital. They were desperately poor and barely educated. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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The Khan family, led by Nisar Khan, make their way to a temple to receive donations and free food. Nisar’s legs have been weak and twisted for as long as he remembers, and the barrel-chested man in his early 40s needs a wheelchair to get around. When his parents died, he says his siblings forced him and his wife to leave the family home, a few hours south of here. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

The Khan family, led by Nisar Khan, make their way to a temple to receive donations and free food. Nisar’s legs have been weak and twisted for as long as he remembers, and the barrel-chested man in his early 40s needs a wheelchair to get around. When his parents died, he says his siblings forced him and his wife to leave the family home, a few hours south of here. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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Ruby had made it only through fifth grade. Nisar never went to school at all, though he has picked up basic reading and math skills over the years. What they found in Delhi was a life on the fringes, living in a squatter colony in the heart of the old city. The couple and their five children survive mostly from Ruby’s begging, though their two oldest sons get occasional work as labourers. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

Ruby had made it only through fifth grade. Nisar never went to school at all, though he has picked up basic reading and math skills over the years. What they found in Delhi was a life on the fringes, living in a squatter colony in the heart of the old city. The couple and their five children survive mostly from Ruby’s begging, though their two oldest sons get occasional work as labourers. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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City authorities regularly clear out the squatter camp and often destroy whatever they find. Because of that, some members of the Khan family sleep on a fruit vendor’s cart the size of a large door, with the rest squeezing under a plastic tarp tied to a nearby wall. If the authorities arrive, the family can quickly pile everything they own onto the cart and roll it away. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

City authorities regularly clear out the squatter camp and often destroy whatever they find. Because of that, some members of the Khan family sleep on a fruit vendor’s cart the size of a large door, with the rest squeezing under a plastic tarp tied to a nearby wall. If the authorities arrive, the family can quickly pile everything they own onto the cart and roll it away. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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Ruby Khan helps Farmaan get ready for school. The family rarely has more than a few hundred rupees between them. The oldest son Armaan, 17, dropped out of school to try to find work. The middle son Ajmeri, 13, dropped out when he was bullied because of a speech impediment. The oldest daughter Mehendi, 16, often spends her days helping out at a school for homeless children, but earns no pay. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

Ruby Khan helps Farmaan get ready for school. The family rarely has more than a few hundred rupees between them. The oldest son Armaan, 17, dropped out of school to try to find work. The middle son Ajmeri, 13, dropped out when he was bullied because of a speech impediment. The oldest daughter Mehendi, 16, often spends her days helping out at a school for homeless children, but earns no pay. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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The youngest daughter of the family is just 3 months old.So all hope rests on Farmaan, a 7-year-old with enormous eyes and scraggly hair. Farmaan was the son Ruby defended when her husband tried insisting he leave school to beg. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

The youngest daughter of the family is just 3 months old.So all hope rests on Farmaan, a 7-year-old with enormous eyes and scraggly hair. Farmaan was the son Ruby defended when her husband tried insisting he leave school to beg. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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Farmaan studies at Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO working for street children, in New Delhi. In a family where education was rarely even an afterthought, Farmaan has always loved school. Asked on a recent day what he’d learned in class, he happily listed all his lessons. Then, for good measure, he recited the English alphabet forward and backward. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

Farmaan studies at Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO working for street children, in New Delhi. In a family where education was rarely even an afterthought, Farmaan has always loved school. Asked on a recent day what he’d learned in class, he happily listed all his lessons. Then, for good measure, he recited the English alphabet forward and backward. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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Farmaan (R), drinks tea as his father Nasir Khan and his mother Ruby Khan tend to their three-month-old daughter Razia. He hasn’t done much in his short life. But simply by staying in school, he’s become the focus of the family’s dreams. Both parents try to help him with homework, and Nisar now agrees that Farmaan shouldn’t start working, at least not yet. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

Farmaan (R), drinks tea as his father Nasir Khan and his mother Ruby Khan tend to their three-month-old daughter Razia. He hasn’t done much in his short life. But simply by staying in school, he’s become the focus of the family’s dreams. Both parents try to help him with homework, and Nisar now agrees that Farmaan shouldn’t start working, at least not yet. (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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Ajmeri (R), walks his younger brother Farmaan to school. Together, Farmaan’s parents have mapped out his future: high school graduation, a job, money. He is their hope. “He has to make something of himself first,” Ruby says. “Then he can take care of us.” (Altaf Qadri / AP)

Updated on Mar 08, 2019 12:07 PM

Ajmeri (R), walks his younger brother Farmaan to school. Together, Farmaan’s parents have mapped out his future: high school graduation, a job, money. He is their hope. “He has to make something of himself first,” Ruby says. “Then he can take care of us.” (Altaf Qadri / AP)

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