From Begging On The Streets To Cambridge, The Story Of This Chennai Youth Will Inspire You!

22-year-old Jayavel looks like any of us. But his story and his journey are only one in a million.

Jayavel and his family were into begging; they moved to Nellore, Chennai; in the 80’s after a failed crop season and have relied on money from begging all their life.

All his life, Jayavel and his family were dependent on the kindness of the strangers. He lost his father when he was very young, and his mother became a drunkard.

Whatever he would earn on the streets would go into his mother’s addiction. He was one of those many children in India, who were forced into begging by their parents. Describing his conditions of living on the road he says;

“We used to sleep on one such pavement. If it rained, we would try to find another shelter in any nearby shop until the cops came and chased us out of there.”

He never dreamt of anything big in his life because this is all he had seen but one day a couple found him and changed his life forever.

Uma Mathurman with her husband run an NGO, Suyam Charitable Trust and they took Jayavel in, in the year 1999. They cared for him and paid for his education through the trust.

“Jayavel somehow inspired us. After seeing him, we believed that we could help bring a change in his life with him.”

Initially, Jayavel hated studying, and everyone in the school knew him and his family as he was living on the pavement right outside the school.

But as he realised how his life has changed and how hard Uma had been striving to educate him, his attitude changed, and he started working hard. As a result, he scored good marks in class 12. 

This inspired a lot of donors who came forward to donate for Jayavel’s higher studies.

Soon after that he cleared Cambridge University’s entrance examination and got a seat in Glyndwr University, Wales, the United Kingdom to study ‘Performance Car Enhancement Technology Engineering, which is an exciting course on enhancing the performance of race cars! 

Now, he is going to study further in Italy.

After finishing his studies, Jayavel wants to come back and take care of his mother and family. He also wishes to work with Mathuramn and the trust to help change lives of other people like him.

News Souce: IndiaToday