Mansi Shah spent eight years in education and later worked with children undergoing cancer treatment before starting Happy Feet Home, a space supporting children and young adults living with life-limiting illnesses.
At Happy Feet Home, the focus is not only on treatment or survival. It is on helping children experience childhood, pursue their dreams and eventually build independent lives. Over the years, this work has been shaped by a team of psychologists, social workers, nurses, educators and other professionals who work together to support children and their families.
From Education to a Different Kind of Care
Mansi Shah journey into the social sector began with education. After completing her training, she joined Akanksha, where she worked for eight years in different roles. She started as a teacher, later headed a leadership programme and also spent three years as a social worker.
As a social worker, her responsibility involved ensuring children from the community attended the centres and helping families navigate challenges that could prevent children from having what she described as a decent childhood.
When she eventually decided to leave Akanksha, Mansi had not secured another job. She gave the organisation nearly 10 months’ notice because the programme she was leading operated on Sundays and finding someone willing to take over required time. Her next opportunity came unexpectedly.
Mansi Shah had volunteered at Tata Memorial Hospital for an event, where people from St. Jude India ChildCare Centre noticed the way she interacted with children undergoing cancer treatment. She was subsequently offered a role at the organisation.
St. Jude provides accommodation for children who travel from outside Mumbai for cancer treatment, allowing them to stay with their parents while receiving care. Mansi worked there for around 10 to 11 months. The experience exposed her to a gap she felt was not being addressed.
When Treatment Is No Longer Possible
At St. Jude, children were supported while they were undergoing active treatment and had a good prognosis. But when treatment was no longer possible and a child was moved to palliative care, they were expected to return home. For some children, that meant leaving a city where they had spent years receiving treatment.
Mansi saw how difficult that transition could be, particularly for children who did not want to return to their hometowns. She also realised there were no facilities in Mumbai offering the kind of continued support she believed these children needed, irrespective of the stage of their illness.
That observation eventually became the foundation for Happy Feet Home. Her thinking was simple: a child’s worth should not depend on their diagnosis, prognosis or whether they are receiving active treatment. “What matters is that the person is alive right now, and that matters,” Mansi said during her conversation with The Logical Indian.
She questioned why children living with serious illnesses should be made to feel that they cannot dream or aspire simply because their lives may be shorter or more uncertain than others.
After spending about a year and a half networking, understanding the sector and determining the kind of children the organisation would work with, Mansi started Happy Feet Home in 2014.
Building a Space Beyond Treatment
Happy Feet Home works with children and young adults from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, primarily from low-income backgrounds, who are living with life-limiting or life-shortening illnesses.
The organisation works with children living with conditions including HIV, thalassemia, cancer and sickle cell anaemia. It supports children and young adults up to the age of 25.
Its central goal is to help every child experience a safe and good childhood, receive the nurture and support they need, and eventually become capable of designing their own lives. Financial independence is an important part of that journey.
Mansi wants the children to eventually reach a point where they can take charge of their lives and illnesses, pursue their aspirations and earn a living without needing continued support from Happy Feet Home. The organisation currently operates through three main programmes: day care, home care and hospital outreach.
Creating Childhood Around Care
The day-care programme, based in Chembur, is the organisation’s largest programme. Children spend the day at the centre and receive access to various services free of cost. Nutrition is one part of the programme. Four healthy and nutritious meals are prepared for children every day.
Mental health support is another important component. Many children arrive carrying difficult experiences related to illness, discrimination, disrupted education and challenging family circumstances.
Mansi particularly spoke about children living with HIV, some of whom have lost their parents to AIDS and are being raised by extended family members. A psychologist at Happy Feet Home provides regular therapy and mental health support.
Education and vocation are also central to the programme. Some children arrive after being out of mainstream education for several years. Instead of simply placing them back into school, the organisation first assesses their basic learning needs.
For children who have forgotten reading and writing, the process can begin with basic literacy. From there, Happy Feet Home looks at each child’s interests and aspirations and helps identify courses that align with them.
A child who dreams of becoming a photographer, for example, can be supported through professional photography training. Others may pursue dance, acting, art or other fields. The principle is to give children the agency to decide what they want their lives to look like.
Medical support forms another part of the programme. Depending on their needs, children can receive assistance with medicines, blood tests, scans and other medical requirements.
The organisation also continues supporting families after a child dies. Through conversations, home visits and psychological support, it helps caregivers process their grief rather than ending its relationship with them.
Taking Care Beyond the Centre
For children with cancer who are unable to travel to the centre, Happy Feet Home operates a home-care programme.
A team comprising psychologists, social workers and a nurse visits children in their homes across Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. Their work reflects the collective effort behind Happy Feet Home, with different professionals contributing to the medical, psychological, educational and social needs of each child.
The team provides therapy, medical support and education assistance where required. Families also receive groceries once a month to support access to nutritious food at home. The third programme is hospital outreach.
Here, the organisation’s team visits hospitals and conducts activities and therapy for children undergoing treatment. The idea is to make an otherwise overwhelming hospital environment less stressful by giving children opportunities to play, listen to music, participate in activities and simply relax. Therapists also engage with the families accompanying the children.
Together, these programmes allow Happy Feet Home to support children not only at one physical centre, but across different stages and settings of their lives. The work is sustained through a team effort, bringing together people with different skills and responsibilities around the needs of each child and family.
When Someone Finally Asked Ram About His Dream
One of the clearest examples of the impact Mansi describes is Ram, a young photographer who came to Happy Feet Home after having largely given up on his childhood ambition.
Ram remembers becoming interested in photography while he was in eighth or ninth standard. He would use his father’s basic phone to photograph flowers and other things around him.
Later, he borrowed cameras from friends and tried photographing different subjects. He even approached a wedding photographer in his neighbourhood and asked to learn photography, but was told the camera was too expensive to hand over.
When Ram told his father he wanted to pursue photography, he was told the family could not afford it. He was expected to complete school, find a job and support himself.
So, he gave up on the dream. That changed when he came to Happy Feet Home. One day, someone at the organisation asked him a question he had not heard before: What was his dream? Ram told them about photography.
Happy Feet Home enrolled him in a three-month basic photography programme. After seeing his potential, the organisation helped him apply for a one-year Diploma in Commercial Photography and Filmmaking in Delhi. When his professors told him he needed his own camera and laptop, Happy Feet Home provided the equipment.
With the support, Ram began exploring street, fashion, product and event photography and undertook internships alongside his studies.
After completing the course, he returned to Mumbai and began working on his own shoots. He also worked with influencers, apartments, trusts and others. He eventually developed an interest in filmmaking and cinematography.
An opportunity later came through a scholarship route at Whistling Woods. Ram reached the final stage of the selection process, but his experience there became complicated after his HIV status was discussed.
Ram said he was uncomfortable with the idea of the institution informing other students and parents about his illness without his consent. He ultimately decided he did not want to continue there.
Mansi supported his decision. Instead of measuring success only by admission into a prestigious institution, Happy Feet Home allowed Ram to decide whether that environment was right for him.
Today, Ram is pursuing another opportunity through a fully funded programme at the Lighthouse Academy of Storytelling in Goa. The six-month programme will be followed by a three-month internship. For Ram, the journey has been about more than learning photography.
It began when someone gave him space to imagine a future beyond what he had been told was possible, with the support of a team that helped turn that aspiration into a tangible path.
A Different Idea of Growth
After 12 years of running Happy Feet Home, Mansi’s focus remains on ensuring that the children currently supported by the organisation become empowered and financially independent in fields they are passionate about. She also wants the organisation to reach more children by expanding its hospital outreach.
At the same time, Happy Feet Home does not plan to establish multiple centres. Mansi said the organisation intends to remain a one-centre organisation while being open to helping others who want to establish similar initiatives.
The aim is to share the experience, knowledge and systems required to build organisations that can provide comparable support. For Mansi, the larger objective is therefore not simply to make Happy Feet Home bigger. It is to make the idea of such support more accessible.
From One Child’s Needs to a Life of Possibilities
Happy Feet Home began with Mansi recognising a gap in the care available to children whose illnesses could not be separated from the rest of their lives. Its work now extends beyond medical assistance into nutrition, mental health, education, vocational training, family support and dignity.
Ram’s journey illustrates what that broader approach can mean. A boy who once believed that photography was an unaffordable dream was eventually able to pursue professional training, receive equipment, complete a course and begin building a career around his passion. His story also shows why support for children living with serious illnesses cannot be reduced to medical care alone.
Sometimes, care can mean asking a child what they want to become and then bringing together the people, resources and support needed to help them find a path towards it.
For Mansi, that is ultimately what Happy Feet Home is trying to create: a space where illness does not decide the boundaries of a child’s aspirations.
The Logical Indian Perspective
Happy Feet Home’s work highlights a dimension of childhood illness that can easily be overlooked: children living with serious or life-limiting conditions continue to have dreams, interests, educational needs and aspirations.
Mansi’s journey from teaching and social work to building Happy Feet Home reflects an approach that looks beyond immediate care towards the larger question of what kind of life a child can build with the right support.
The organisation’s work also demonstrates the importance of collective effort. Psychologists, social workers, nurses, educators and other team members contribute in different ways to ensure that children and families receive support across medical, emotional, educational and practical needs.
Ram’s experience further demonstrates the importance of agency. His photography journey did not begin because someone decided what career would be suitable for him. It began when someone asked him what he wanted to do, followed by a team effort to help him pursue that interest.
Supporting children with serious illnesses therefore involves more than meeting their immediate needs. It can also mean creating the conditions in which they can imagine a future, develop their abilities and make choices about their own lives.
What can change when children are given not just care, but the freedom and support to pursue their dreams? Share your thoughts.
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