Happy 14th Birthday, Anjum!

Since it's already September 21st in Kolkata, India, it's time for a Happy Birthday post for my sponsored child Anjum! Anjum turns 14 years old today. I just began sponsoring her last week, so this is both an introductory post and a birthday post.
A day or two after I began sponsoring her, I sent Anjum a birthday card with some neat stickers that I coincidentally received in the mail as a gift from another children's charity the day I began her sponsorship. I also looked online for how to write "Happy Birthday" in Hindi, and I carefully wrote this in her card. I hope I did it correctly, and didn't accidentally write something bizarre!
The photo to the left was taken on September 14, 2010. I'll do another post with all Anjum's past photos, but for now I'll say that she looks much healthier in this latest photo than she did in her earliest ones. Another sponsor pointed out that her appearance- she looked much older than her years when she was seven, eight, nine years old- may have been due to malnutrition.
Anjum is only about 2 inches shorter than me- she's 5' even. She weighs 76 lbs, which seems teeny tiny for 5 feet tall, but I'm basing that on American standards of weight which are of course heavier.
Anjum lives with her parents, Mohammad and Nurasa, both of whom are daily workers. The family income is about $51 per month. Anjum is the youngest of eight- she has three older brothers and four older sisters. Her brothers are 25, 22, and 17. All are named Mohammad. Her sisters are Sajaha, 27; Sabana, 20; Sabnam, 18; and Sultana, 15. The eldest, Sajaha, is married, but still listed on the family report, so her husband and any children must also live with the family. The family speaks Hindi.
This extended family lives together in a house of one multi-use room and a kitchen. The walls of the home are brick, the roof is tile, and the floor is concrete.Cooking is done on an earthen stove, water comes from community faucets, and the sanitary facility is a community latrine. Electricity is available but I don't know if it's regulated or unregulated.
Anjum attends school, where her favorite subject is languages. She likes to play with friends and draw. At home, her chores are general housework. Anjum attends the Sahay project; her sub-project is SAH1102. That must be quite near Shamrin's sub-project, which is SAH1105.