Inspired Individuals

Naomi grew up in Mumbai, India. For the past 20-years she has lived in the United Kingdom but is now in the process of relocating back to Mumbai in order to further develop the ministry. Naomi has always been sensitive to, and rigorous about, ensuring that projects are relevant and inclusive of beneficiaries. She respects the dignity of children and families to speak for themselves and strongly believes in giving a hand-up, not hand-outs. In the UK, Naomi has been active in lobbying for the UK government to implement an International Children’s Day and in continuing to raise the profile of poor people living in India, where so much international focus for the MDGs has been on Africa. She is a strong advocate, with a quiet but powerful voice. She has a vision for the type of change she wants to achieve and has worked tirelessly on an almost entirely voluntary basis to achieve that change. Her recent decision to move back to Mumbai with her family highlights her commitment to alleviating poverty in India, and Asia more broadly. Naomi exercises a very high level of integrity in everything she does, driven by her strong Christian beliefs. She is an open and honest person who shows commitment and support for the communities she is trying to help and for the people (whether staff, volunteers or trustees) that work with her. "In this age where many charities are dominated by ‘egos and logos’ Naomi could not present a greater contrast." - Isabel Turner (Chair of Trustee Board, RCT)

Mumbai, the commercial capital of India, has a teeming population of 15million people, 60% of the population is under the age of 25 years and 70% of the population live in slums. India oscillates with South Africa in being the nation with the highest number of HIV positive people in the world. “These needs can sometimes be so overwhelming that they numb us into inactivity. However, when we do not speak for those who are unable to make their voice heard, our silence is the main enemy of change & social justice.” - Naomi By empowering children with skills and an education one can help them transition into adulthood as responsible citizens. When one ignores their desire to be self-sufficient we relegate them to a life of dependency or delinquency.

Naomi's approach has been to facilitate self-empowerment by bringing both street children and working children together for collective action. The resultant children-led programs ensure high commitment from participants and focus action on the needs identified by the children. This includes: . Financial stewardship through the children's savings bank initiative. . Skill acquisition through apprentice programs. . A mobile medical unit to administer healthcare to children at key contact points. . Capital & skills training for small business enterprise. . Training in moral development & access to mentoring groups. Naomi established Rachael's Children's Trust (RCT) in the United Kingdom in order to help raise finance for these initiatives and has established a partnership with New Life Fellowship in India. New Life Fellowship currently has over 50,000 active members in the city of Mumbai and many thousands more across India. In Mumbai, New Life is a network of 500 local congregations, functioning with a unique ministry ethos of 'Many congregations - One church' In Mumbai, RCT partners with New Life; who currently provides early education programs to 4,000 children from the slums and other children's activities like Joy Clubs. New Life also enables adult education programs, community development initiatives and borehole wells for clean water. The plan is to expand the "pilot programme" to all 500 churches in the New Life Churches in Mumbai by 2020 thus creating a movement of change agents that will serve the needs of 100,000 children across