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Every year around 1 million children die in India due to hunger and malnourishment. I tried, but just couldn’t begin to imagine how it must feel as a parent to not being able to provide a single meal to my child for days, to see them wither away and die simply because they just could not get any food.
In 2013 alone, 31 million years of healthy life were lost to mental illness in India, with only 1 out of 10 getting any treatment at all and it gets worse with only 0.3 psychiatrist per 100,000 patients. Again, how it must feel to see my child suffering from mental illness and not being able to take her for any kind of treatment, just not being able to provide the care she needs or any kind of schooling, or even be able to understand her.
Thank heavens there are kind hearts and organizations who are reaching out and providing the care, the food, the understanding, and most importantly the love that these children, women and men desperately need. But the organisations need help and support too, given the huge challenge that they/we are faced with, and every little bit will not only help but also show that they have the support and understanding from us.
I am sure all of us at some level or the other feel the same way, that surely I can be of some help….bring about a miniscule change…surely in some little way I can alleviate the pain…
Shall we.. ? Like, really take this up and see where we can go with this ? I would love to answer any questions and hear any suggestions, thoughts, ideas (this is not just my campaign)…anything that makes a difference will be so cool…
Please scroll down and also visit https://www.facebook.com/everystepwetake to read more about the fundraiser, the foundations, how you can help…
Fundraiser…Beneficiaries:
Ananda Sagara: A home and school where under privileged children of migrant workers, who are a neglected lot, lacking education and environment, to live, study, learn and grow. With rapid growth of the city, workers are migrating from different parts of the state and country. (2013 estimate - 25 to 35% people in city live in slums). Ananda Sagara is creating an ecosystem for the worker's neglected children to blossom, teaching them moral standards, hygienic and life values and providing a home for these #BlueTentChildren http://www.anandasagara.org/
Belakku School for Special Children - A school in Yelahanka, Bangalore to look after the special needs of children who are mentally challenged and have multiple disability, and make them self-sufficient in their daily lives. http://belakkuforspecialchildren.com
Gharkul Parivar – A home and rehabilitation centre for mentally challenged girls and women. For more information visit: http://www.gharkulparivar.com/news_en.php
Fight Hunger Foundation - A foundation that has been working tirelessly to eradicate malnutrition and hunger from India. For more information visit: http://fighthungerfoundation.org/blog/scaling-new-heights
Sri Sidhhivinayak School – A school in rural India, providing rehabilitation, counseling, education and therapy to 40 mentally challenged children. For more information visit: http://www.ssvspecialschool.org/#news
For more information on “Every step we take…” please visit the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/everystepwetake
How we can make a difference…
a) by going through the websites, watching the videos, reading some of the articles, and so understanding the severity of the issue, what the afflicted families are going through and how big this challenge is…
b) by donating a certain amount or by donating for a particular activity at these foundations, or for one child and so on…(details below)
c) by spreading the plea for help amongst your friends, colleagues…post the links on your FB page, Twitter, by word of mouth, emails…
d) by maybe having a fundraiser within your workspaces with your colleagues or go it alone
e) by getting together with friends and colleagues and adopting a stricken child or by proposing the same to your employer
f) by facilitating a discussion with your employer to see if we can forge a corporate partnership
Expense based donations…
Ananda Sagara:
- Rs. 1300/- to cover variable costs for one child for one month.
- Rs. 27500/- to cover rent for one month.
- Rs. 2100/- to cover electricity costs for one month.
- Rs. 4000/- to cover salary for cook for one month
- Rs. 3000/- to cover salary for Kannada tutor for one month
Shri Siddhivinayak School for Mentally Challenged:
Yearly expense for one child: Rs. 12000 (USD 180, SEK 1608, GBP 144, Euro 168)
Study material for a year and set of uniform for one child: Rs. 2000 (USD 30, SEK 268, GBP 24, Euro 28)
Annual outing for the whole school: Rs. 15000 (USD 224, SEK 2000, GBP 181, Euro 211)
Physiotherapy Equipment: Rs. 20000 (USD 299, SEK 2667, GBP 241, Euro 282)
Fight Hunger Foundation:
Rs. 1500 (USD 22, SEK 200, GBP 18, Euro 21) can provide a food basket for a child recovering from severe acute malnutrition, which helps to ensure that the child makes a full recovery
Rs 5000 (USD 75, SEK 667, GBP 60, Euro 70) is the cost of treatment for one child suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Gharkul Parivar:
You can adopt one girl and bear their monthly/yearly expenses of Rs. 8000/Rs. 96000 (USD 120/1440, SEK 1066/12792, GBP 96/1152, / Euros 112/1344)
You can bear a one time meal expenses of Rs. 5000 for all residents (USD 75, SEK 667, GBP 60, Euro 70)
About me…
I grew up in the beautiful valley of Dehradun in the north west of India. Schooling was in St. Joseph’s Academy where more of my time was spent outside the classroom kneeling down with my best friend Sunny, rather than at our study desks. Yes, I was the original “Dennis the Menace”…so school went by playing cricket, football, hockey for the class and school teams, reading storybooks during study hours at home in the wintry evenings, cycling here and there with my brother and looking at the snow clad mountains all around us….
Moved to the big city of Kolkata for college and four years of bunking classes, watching movies, dabbling with the guitar and a failed affair later moved to Jamshedpur for work. Two years later I started on what would turn out to be many years of working abroad, starting in the US, then Singapore, Malaysia and then Sweden.
During this part of my life I travelled a lot and was always game to try some adventure sport or the other like bungee jumping, mountaineering, scuba diving, sky diving…( so this solo trek hasn’t come as a surprise to my family!)
The best thing to have happened to me during all this is Ashi, my lovely wife, and together we travelled quite a bit around the globe … from the vineyards of Italy to the fjords of Norway , from the Postojna caves of Slovenia to watching Messi score a hattrick in the Camp Nou, from the quaint cottages of Cotswald to the abandoned villages in Crete, Greece...and then to Jordan, Portugal, Germany, France, Cambodia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Vietnam…..it carries on… but it is Sweden where we found our home. Yes, Sweden, where you will find the ice hotel, the magical Stockholm archipelago, the midnight sun and the midday moon is our home now….we have an apartment in Stockholm and from our kitchen window we can see the ships, boats sailing by on the Baltic sea…. we worked there for 8-9 years before coming to Bangalore last year to take care of our ailing parents….
Any profile of mine won’t be complete if I didn’t mention that my emotions are overwhelmingly dictated by Liverpool Football Club’s fortunes!
