All this flash back came back haunting to me. I am associated with an organisation which is a community driven but has an intense urge to do lot of social work. Recently they announced a free distribution of Jaipur foot. This is a brilliant indigenous innovation which provides mobility to people with amputated legs.
Process started with involving a PR agency to get the news covered in all the vernacular and English dailies of south India. What followed next was an amazing experience. We did receive near to 300 applications for getting free Jaipur feet. While seeing at the application we could see people from across all age groups, male and females, religion and caste. It was heartening to note that we would be able to help so many people at the same time it surprised us that so many helpless people did exist waiting for help.
The camp was divided in two days First was to get the proper measurements so that the exact size could be delivered after a month. Let me sum few of the cases in these two days typically on the final delivery day which I could remember for all my life.
We had a small girl aged 2 years old who had lost her both parents in the accident and lost one of her legs too, was present on the venue with one of her distant relative. Anybody could tell that she had barely learned to walk before loosening her leg. She howled when the technicians tried to fix the leg and tried to walk her around. To this day this scene hounds me and brings me a lot of discomfort. The distant relatives inquired if we could sponsor her education too, immediately there was chaos amongst volunteers to step in to pitch in individually. The commotion subsided with President mentioning that we as a community can do this and everybody can contribute to that fund. You can’t imagine how proud I feel to be part of these people who can ready to fight for helping people.
Another case was of young lad who was a auto driver again lost his right foot to the accident. He just could not imagine that he can walk almost as well as he could earlier. He came with a request if we can give him a certificate which enables him to drive his auto again. To the dismay of all we could not do that. What was heartening to note was that within hours his life was changed and he had optimism to lead a normal life, a reward no less for all of us.
There are lot of cases to and all individual more than 200 case is worth mentioning here but I will need to truncate this before mentioning one last one full of life and optimism to end this. The chief technician whom we got was from Erode and since early child hood he has managed his life with this brilliant indigenous support mechanism. He leads a very normal life, can run and is more active than most of us. What is heartening is he did not stop here and went ahead with the mission to provide the same liberation from a handicap he had when he was provide with his support system. All the patients he used to treat got a lot of confidence from him. A permanent fixed smile on his face did convey a lot about him to all of us.
We did have people from all possible cross section of society. Yes, even people who could have afforded it on their own where also there, I guess because it is more for the right place then right price.
I am extremely proud of being part of this bunch of people who make this organisation called KMS (Karnataka Marwari Samaj). The enthusiasm to help people and to even get angry if they are not able to contribute to their hearts content amazes me.
What more to say, I am sure by this yearly program we can reduce if not eradicate pains of few people.
