"Many nights I went to sleep on an empty stomach because......."

‘Many nights I went to sleep on an empty stomach because my mother spent her daily wage for drugs. My parents were drug addicted. . I left my home when I was eight years old. I started working from very early age so that I can survive in this big world. I lived in street and worked with my grandma (with whom I have no blood relation, as homeless we used to share the same platform to sleep at night). She sent me to a night school. I am very happy to be here with these people who love me, value me. When I show my grandma that I get 100 out of 100 in exams, she does not understand anything. But I know from her tears that I am capable of earning our dream’

• Bonna (12), a child labour