Help Poongodi Purchase a Habitable Home

Hi, my name is Deepti, and I am fundraising to enable our wonderful former maid from my childhood to purchase a home as the one-bedroom studio she lives in with two other people has a heavily leaking roof that has repeatedly caused flooding in her home and major health issues for her which are impacting her ability to earn a living.

When I was a kid in India in the 1990s, we had a maid named Poongodi who used to work in our home. She was extremely hardworking, goodnatured and kind despite living in very challenging circumstances. We moved to the U.S. when I was nine but over the years, have kept sporadically in touch with her and my parents have seen her off and on on trips to India over the years. We have occasionally helped her to the extent possible within our means, including contributing to her children's education and the upkeep of the current apartment she is living in, which, as set forth below, is no longer habitable.

Poongodi was a brilliant student growing up but wasn't allowed to continue her studies and was forced at the age of 16 to marry a man old enough to be her father who mistreated her and was repeatedly unfaithful. He was rarely around. She had 3 kids and worked incredibly hard to support them with no help from her husband, who periodically abandoned her. Through her efforts, she was able to raise her 3 kids to adulthood. Despite the tough circumstances she was living in, she made the best of her situation. Over the years, she has had to continue to work extremely hard just to keep a roof over her head and for basic necessities. She lives in a one room tenement in a slum in Chennai currently with her husband, who is now disabled, and a son who tries to help with the family expenses but is himself struggling.

We were recently informed that the roof of Poongodi's apartment has developed a severe leak to the point that there is routinely flooding throughout the apartment. They have been forced to use the few saris she has to mop up and wring out the water. She has been having medical issues including severe backaches (most likely due to the damp conditions she is living in), which in turn are affecting her ability to work. The cost of repairing the roof is fairly substantial and potentially not worth pursuing given the poor condition the apartment is in generally. I understand her neighbor is selling a house in better condition nearby at a cost of 5 lakh rupees, which is just a bit more than it would cost to repair her roof. She has no savings and though this amount is relatively modest (approx. $6,500), cannot afford to pursue this. I would love to be able to help her purchase this home to give her a chance to have some peace in her life but can't afford to give the full amount currently. I would like to help raise the money to enable her purchase this home and to address her medical issues so that she can get back on her feet.

Thank you very much in advance from Poongodi and from us!