We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing one another.” ~Luciano de Crescenzo
PaGaLGuY forum has been touching lives in one-way or the other. First it was through CAT discussions, then through PG meets and now, through the community initiative taken by various members of the community in various cities across India.
The PaGalGuY volunteers have been working selflessly towards improving the lives of their counterparts in different cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Recently, there has been a spur of activities at the capital, Delhi too. At Mumbai, we have formed the MLCS – Mumbai League Community Service (Wing)and have associated ourselves with NASEOH – National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped. This initiative has taken a good form and now, every Sunday, a group of 5-6 volunteers are working towards familiarizing the NASEOH members to the world of Computers & Internet. The small effort to touch upon the basics has gotten our dear NASEOH friends completely hooked onto the world of computing and surfing. Now, the NASEOH members are not only comfortable with computer usage but also the quite knowledgeable about e-mailing, chatting, search engines etc.
NASEOH India believes in creating opportunities for the
disabled. Established in 1968 as a voluntary organization, it
is committed to assist the disabled by providing education,
free vocational training in printing, computer application,
tailoring etc and also in finding suitable employment
opportunities in open sectors. NASEOH organizes medical camps
in rural areas to identify the disabled who are in need of aids
like calipers, braces, tri-wheelers, Jaipur foot and
educational aids such as hearing aids. These aids are provided
free of cost to the needy disabled to assist them in their
daily livelihood. PaGaLGuY volunteers were indeed happy to be a
part of one such medical camp conducted at Murbad, a small
village on the outskirts of Mumbai. Thus, being associated with
NASEOH has started opening new avenues for delivering
community/ voluntary services. This not only allows us to work
towards betterment of some lives but also leaves us more
fulfilled and complete.
“Screening Camp for Mobility Aids for the Disabled” was organized by NASEOH and was sponsored by Rotary India/ International Foundation. In this camp, the locals were screened for various deformities and some kind of relief in terms of medicine, exercise, utility vehicles, and mobility aids were suggested. With a doctor on board along with a physiotherapist, the camp sure had a lot of support from a handful of volunteers. There were 3 volunteers from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Volunteers from PaGaLGuY were Allwin (Pagalguy), Sajiv (Erudite), Tabrez (Mailtabrez), Wayne (Wayne) and yours truly (Simba)
Though a monsoon day, the camp was able to attract 200 odd patients from surrounding areas and nearby villages. The ailments ranged from minor physical deformities to major mental illnesses. All the patients being well below the poverty line, this free camp surely was a blessing. We happily assisted the organizers in registering the various patients and giving them sequential numbers to allow the doctor to diagnose every person in an orderly manner. Registration took into account all the demographic details. Though, language was a big impediment to some volunteers, support and help poured in from the all sides including the locals. Indeed, the language of love and care is universal. We were very helpful in assisting the actual screening procedure. They made sure that all the patients were seen and taken care of by the doctor. The doctor on his part was very philanthropic and treated each case depending on its uniqueness and severity. Some of them were given medicines on the spot, whereas some of them were given dates for the corrective surgeries. For people who could benefit neither from the medicine nor the surgery, aids to assist them in everyday lives were given. These aids in the form of calipers, tri-wheelers etc. will be built at NASEOH by its own members. The exact number of these aids was taken and will be built within a month. These will be fitted to the respective people free of cost during the next follow-up camp scheduled sometime next month. We do look forward to be a part of the follow-up camp too.
Being a part of the camp has been a wonderful learning experience for all of us. Working at such grass-root levels teaches us more about life and allows us to feel lucky to have abundance of comfort and opportunities in our personal lives. Indeed, We look forward to help more people but we also look forward to more volunteers who can make a small difference to the world we all are living in. As one of the organizers rightly said – “To achieve anything in life, you need to be ‘pagal’ (crazy/ mad)”.