Hyderabad’s NGO ‘Second Chance’ Rescues and Rehabilitates the Destitute

God gives second chances, Jasper Paul makes them happen! In 2017, Jasper Paul founded an NGO in Hyderabad called ‘Second Chance.’ The NGO works to rescue the homeless who suffer physical injury, mental trauma, and social abandonment. With a 20-persons strong team, including Jasper’s wife, Teresa, and few volunteering doctors, the NGO has rescued and rehabilitated over 1500 abandoned persons living on the streets. It has also reunited over 300 missing people with their families. The NGO’s aim is to serve the destitute, homeless, needy and poor with love, personal care, dignity, and respect thus showing the LOVE of GOD to them on a one-to-one basis.

The Realization

It all began when nineteen-year-old Jasper Paul, the Hyderabad-based student and motor enthusiast, met with a tragic highway accident in 2014. The car was smashed beyond recognition, but Jasper Paul luckily escaped unhurt. According to Paul, “I never thought I’d make it. But I managed to survive without a scratch, even though my car didn’t make it. I knew I didn’t just get another chance only to waste it again.”  

Paul knew God had given him a second chance – but he did not know, for what or why until a few weeks later. As he passed by the Secunderabad Railway Station, he came across a 98-year-old woman. She was lying on the road injured and literally rotting with a maggot-infested arm. He knew she needed help and immediately carried her in his arms to the nearest Government Hospital. Unluckily, the hospital staff refused to touch the old lady’s wound, so Jasper Paul himself sat down to remove the maggots manually with an earbud. He shared a video of the woman on social media that went viral. Soon help poured in, and he found her shelter at an old-age home. She recouped and remained there until the day her family from Telengana found her. 

That is when the realization struck – Jasper Paul had found his purpose! 

The Idea

“Since that day, I knew I wanted to serve these people on the streets. I started working with many old age homes and volunteering my time to rescue people, feed and clean them, and also learned the local language to engage with them,” says the social activist. He devoted all his time rescuing and rehabilitating the ill, abandoned, and destitute.

Initially, it was hard to sustain or manage all the rehabilitations by himself. But, Jasper Paul’s hard work and transformational stories soon began doing the rounds, and people came forward to help him. 

The Foundation

In 2017, he founded the NGO – Second Chance. The NGO receives three to four SOS calls a day from the local police, social welfare departments, and the general public. They request Second Chance to shelter abandoned persons suffering from malnutrition to terminal diseases.

Currently, Second Chance has three rented shelter homes in Hyderabad, where the NGO ensures the inmates live a dignified life. These shelter homes house about 150 destitute people. The Second Chance 20-strong team takes responsibility for any and all assistance required through the life span of the sheltered inmates and even performs the last rites of those who pass away in solitude. 

From strength-to-strength

Second Chance is now collaborating with crowdfunding platforms like Milaap.org, Ketto, and Donatekart. It is also considering expanding to cities like Visakhapatnam and Adilabad. “While I don’t want my kind of homes to exist, in the sense that people should take care of their parents, I want to build a huge shelter home for the destitute after buying our land,” says Jasper. 

And that is not all – Jasper Paul is also building Second Chance Mission Hospital for the poor to provide them with free treatment. “I want to build a paradise for them, where they can have a world of their own so that they can enjoy their last moments of life,” Jasper concludes.