This cancer survivor has dedicated his life to securing lives of abandoned children
Mark Rego is a popular pub quiz master in the city of Bengaluru, Karnataka. He is the life of the party, dancing and joking with patrons as he takes them through his questions. But he is more than an energetic quiz master. Mark was diagnosed with cancer seven years ago, an incident that, according to him, changed his entire outlook on life. “I made a bargain with God,” he told the BBC.
Wanting to make a difference in people’s lives, he now helps raise funds for a number of charities that work with underprivileged children, orphans and cancer patients. According to Mark, “giving away your spare money” is not really charity.
He spends a lot of time at the Jeevarathni Foundation – a home for destitute children in Hosur, near the border between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Whenever Mark enters the lovely old colonial farmhouse where the foundation is located, the children come running out to the playground. They are mostly from poor backgrounds, some are orphans and others have parents who are unable to take care of them. A few were rescued from the streets where their parents had left them to beg.
As soon as they see Mark, the children demand an impromptu music session, and he is quick to oblige. Meena Prochanska, who runs the charity, told the BBC that Mark has been a big influence on the children. “Many of them want to grow up to be like him; especially all the little boys want his outlandish hairdo,” she said.
Image: (L) Fuelling Dreams ; (R) BBCMark, who enjoys an excellent rapport with the children, promises the boys that he will make sure that they get the spiked, bleached hairdo like his, but only if they do well in their examinations.
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