Celebrating 12 years of our journey…

We are 12 years old! 12 years of our peaceful fight against the poverty stricken side of this City of Dreams, Mumbai; 12 years of this anti-poverty project called Mumbai Smiles (Sonrisas de Bombay) with the dream to see Mumbai poverty-free one day, and 12 years of our efforts to spread smiles on ALL the faces, without discrimination.

And so today, we want to pay tribute to our entire family and all the beautiful gestures made by our supporters, who have made these 12 years possible for us.

“Smile” should be something like a garment, in which we dress everyday and share with all those who cross our path too, because the impact it has on everyone, is huge. “Smile” has the power to turn enemies into allies, foes into friends, sad into happy and indifferent into empathatic. At Mumbai Smiles, we try to use this small, costless and priceless gesture in each of our steps that we take with our citizens on to the path of development of the slums of Mumbai city.

In our journey in the last 12 years, we have promoted multiple actions in the fields of Education, Health, Livelihood, Awareness and Advocacy, by way of multiple programs, plans and initiatives, including scholarships, awareness sessions to rid the communities of prejudices against diseases like leprosy, HIV, TB, cancer etc, health talks, medical camps, nutritional supplementation, counselling for girls and women on health , sanitation & education, as well as celebration of important days of human importance, such as International Women’s Day, Human Rights Day etc, with the aim to spread awareness and bring the communities together. And all of our efforts have been viable thanks to the support of our partners and donors, who have helped us to reach out to thousands of the lesser privileged citizens. And their smiles have been our driving factor!

We understand that there are different types of smiles given by some people too – that of a smirk or a mean one but there is one special form of smile called “Duchenne”, whose name comes from a French scientist responsible for demonstrating its truthfulness. This smile is reflected not only on our lips but on our entire face, especially in our eyes, which takes on a magical glow. The “Duchenne” mode is very common in children, whose smile is always sincere and bright and that’s the kind of smile we strive to see on all the faces of our beloved city, Mumbai.

Thank you to each and every one of YOU, who have supported us through thick and thin, and have walked with us in our journey, our peaceful struggle against poverty. Thanks a lot!