Through our newsletter we keep sharing with you the encouragement which we receive from time to time, as well as the stories of a few of our patients.
 Hands-on Corporate Emotional Involvement
A good news that we wish to share is our association with a corporate company called Valuelabs in Hyderabad, whose CEO upon seeing many mentally afflicted destitutes on the streets of Hyderabad, was visibly moved, looked us up on the Internet website, got in touch with us and sponsored the entire trip of our team in our ambulance to Hyderabad.
He had his staff assist us in picking up of the destitutes, follow up on their improvement, visit our Karjat centre and finally help us reunite the recovered patients in Andhra Pradesh and in other states. Sponsoring us all the way through.
All in all a brilliant hands-on involvement.
We feel really charged up with such interactions and literally feel that we have opened up a satellite centre of our activities in Hyderabad.
We have since then undertaken over 20 trips to Hyderabad and picked up, treated and rehabilitated over 200 mentally ill destitutes from Hyderabad itself. All costs borne by Valuelabs itself. And are about to setup a full fledged rehabilitation centre in association with them in Hyderabad.
Other Emotional Milestones
A male patient from Orrisa was rescued and reunited with his lost family after having spent 16 long years on the road. His parents and other relatives could not recognize him for a while.
A male patient of Pune after missing for 4 years was reunited and as an expression of gratitude the patient’s family donated an ambulance to the institution in 2007.
A male patient was reunited in Uttar Pradesh on the day of his sister’s marriage, after missing for almost 4 years.
In the course of the journey Shraddha rescued 3 females with children from the street successfully reuniting two of them in Haryana and Maharashtra respectively. Due to the inability to locate the third family, Shraddha decided to help provide shelter for the same and the mother-child have both been shifted to a NGO dealing with such cases.
Sheru Mistry's Personal Thoughts
Shraddha’s mission, in spirit, resembles that of
Mother Teresa’s. From the time a mentally-ill
destitute is picked up from the streets, till
his/her reunion with their families- (who may be
spread anywhere across the length and breadth of
India) – not a single rupee is charged. It is
ENTIRELY FREE. Those rare ones refused by their
families after cure become permanent inmates of
Shraddha. Despite agonizing and time consuming
efforts, those rare ones become family-orphaned
for life. To such as these Shraddha becomes a
“caring home” for life. They will live here
frugally, but cared for in Shraddha’s sheltering
walls. At times Shraddha feels the last rupee will
soon be over, but its vision and commitment never
wavers. OF FREE TREATMENT. Of reintegrating lost
lives into the productive mainstream of life. And
God always comes to the rescue of Shraddha at the
last moment with last minute donations. The
mission goes on and on. With courage within, and
God overhead. This rarity of concept and the
sincerity with which it is practiced by Founders
Drs. Smitha and Bharat vatwani completely won me
over. For fifteen years, I searched for a rare,
one of its kind project. I found it at last, in
Shraddha. I visited Karjat many times. Interacted
with patients. Admired the dedication of its
staff. And the rarity of its founders.
I knew beyond doubt this was the unique project I
had been searching for fifteen years. It would
fulfill the lifelong dream of my mother – a
project worthy of the waiting and matching her
pure and noble vision. I financed two entire units
humbly for Shraddha. It is my privilege to have
done so. One units is in fulfillment of my
mother’s life’s dream of serving the poorest of
the poor. The other is my tribute to my sterling
and precious father whose contribution to my life
is low key and immense. I am not a corporate nor a
member of any Club / Association. I have limited
financial funds collected over a lifetime of
services and personal thrift. But I am proud to
hand over a huge portion of my meager finances to
Shraddha. As I said, it is my privilege to do so.
I humbly suggest to anyone who comes across this
appeal to contribute, big or small, to this rare
and worthy project. Every donation will be
immensely appreciated. It will be received
gratefully and utilized completely for these
Children Of a Lesser God.
To end, I would like to share my thoughts in
verse:
|
No effort is
ever lost,
Every wavelet on the ocean tossed,
Aids in the ebb tide or the flow,
Every kindness,
Lessens human woe. |
Dear Friend,
The year gone by has been the best year of our lives as far as job satisfaction and actual charitable work goes.
After appropriate treatment and recovery, we have reunited 212 mentally ill roadside destitutes with their families in different states & distant corners of India. This far surpasses our earlier dream objective of reuniting one destitute every alternate day of the year.
Your blessings and your support have really worked wonders.
Other good news that we want to share with you :
a) 100 students of Vaze College of Mulund, Mumbai held a NSS camp and stayed in our Karjat Centre for a whole week, interacted with the patients & helped out in the activities.
b) 120 students of Konkan Vidyapeeth College also held a NSS camp and stayed in for a whole week, interacted wonderfully with the inmates and even conducted an Awareness March and a Street Play in Karjat to highlight the plight of the mentally ill. 40 of their students even came for the Republic Day flag hoisting, such was the personal equation which they had developed with the patients.
c) Valuelabs, one of the leading IT corporates of Hyderabad continued to sponsor the pick up of mentally ill destitutes. So far we have successfully assisted & treated 47 destitutes from Hyderabad itself. A brilliant hands on collaboration, with their staff personally coming for the pickup & reunions. In the last trip to pickup destitutes, the wife of the CEO personally accompanied our staff, boosting morale no end.
d) Nasik’s MVP Samajache College of Social Work, and Satara’s Yeshwantrao Chavan Institute of Social Sciences organised a one day visit for all their students to our Centre.
e) SNDT college of Churchgate, Mumbai also organized a visit for their students pursuing postgraduation in social work.
f) Two nurses from England, specializing in psychiatric nursing came for their 3 week inhouse residential international posting & training programme and stayed in our Centre. They even escorted patients to Bhopal in the reunion trips.
g) And to top it all, 10 students from Washington University pursuing a postgraduate career in social work & accompanied by their professor, put in a full day field visit to our Centre.
h) Not to be left far behind, our social workers have designed awareness posters, easily-understandable-language handbills of psychiatric illness, which they distribute freely in the villages they visit, while reuniting the patient with his family. Word spreads in the train when they travel and at the railway stations when they alight.
Grassroot Awareness & Actual Ground - Zero Work. Awareness at its very best with all apprehensions, doubts and misconceptions about mental illness removed in totality. And this nucleus of awareness is only likely to propagate further by word of mouth.
Change is being brought about in a section of society because of our efforts. Change in the attitude of people towards psychiatric illness, change towards the cause of the mentally ill destitute.
Your blessings continue to inspire us to do more.
In the hope they remain with us for all time to come.
Because Good happens only when the collective forces of the greater common good of mankind come together to the fore.
Dr. Bharat Vatwani
Founder Trustee
P.S. Sharing further good news, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) agreed to sponsor the Rs.4.82 lakh cost of Solar Water Heaters. As their slogan goes, there is a little bit of SAIL in everybody’s life. It just entered the lives of the mentally ill destitutes housed at Karjat. Praise be to the Gods above.
Dear Friend,
In a journey spanning 22 years, we believe that last year has been the most fulfilling in terms of our social work. While pursuing a cause as challenging and daunting as the cause of the mentally ill roadside destitute, very often we are laid low, if only temporarily, because of the hardships that we face. Coupled with the modern man’s apathetic approach towards human suffering, occasionally one does end up wanting to throw in the towel and calling it quits. Of course we have bounced back every time, but to be honest to ourselves, at times it has been a tough call.
But not so last year.
We picked up, treated, rehabilitated and reunited 212 destitutes in the year 2009 and so far this year we have reunited 125 mentally ill destitutes with their families. The reunions have been majorly emotional, warming our hearts and tugging away at the corners of our souls.
Reminding us that life still matters and God still cares.
And we believe that your blessings and encouragement have gone a long way in giving us this job satisfaction. Not to mention, inspired us to do more.
When good, kind hearted, like minded souls pitch in, the Gods bestow their much needed benevolence. And what would ordinarily be thought of as good luck, becomes a preordained, synchronized destiny.
We look forward to your continued blessings.
Thanking your good self for all that you have done, we remain, indebted,
In the service of the mentally ill roadside destitutes.
Dear Friends,
It has been 5 years since we started our Karjat project for the mentally ill roadside destitutes, the wandering insane as they are referred to by lay people.
Giving hardcore statistical figures we have picked up, treated, and reunited with their families in different parts of India.
47 destitutes in the year 2006
134 destitutes in the year 2007
156 destitutes in the year 2008
212 destitutes in the year 2009
261 destitutes in the year 2010
810 mentally ill roadside wandering destitutes in all. Work in which all of you have contributed your might, effort, worth and blessings. Work in which all of you have made us believe that you are our family, the backbone and the pillars of strength, and made us believe that we are not alone, but are a legion. Made us believe that in this crusade against the atrocities suffered by the mentally ill destitute, yours and our efforts are gradually becoming into a movement.
Innumerable visitors have started visiting the centre, innumerable residential NSS student camps of various colleges have been held over the years, collaboration with various like minded NGO’s / Institutions who care for the mentally ill has been initiated, innumerable awareness programs about psychiatric illness have been held in different villages and colleges of India, and the work has gathered momentum. Our basic objectives of removing the myths and stigma surrounding mental illness, bringing focus to the fact that mental illness is a treatable entity and bringing about a certain concern and care towards the plight of the wandering mentally ill are being addressed in earnest.
Gradually we hope that the work will multiply manifold and other NGO’s / Corporates / Institutions / Doctors / Psychiatrists / Qualified social workers / Socially minded people will independently and on their own take to this cause of the mentally afflicted downtrodden to take the struggle to the next level and our society will witness the much needed revolution towards this neglected and rejected segment of human existence.
Until then, both you and us keep plugging away. Bonded by our common compassion towards the suffering of the mentally ill. Bonded by our common value systems, our common efforts & the blessings of the common Gods above.
THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE. Simple words but from the bottom of our heart.
Dr. Bharat Vatwani
Founder Trustee
Dear Friend,
Giving you good news, we have picked up, treated, and reunited 164 mentally ill roadside destitutes in this year till June 30th making it close to one reunion a day. This has taken tremendous commitment on the part of our team, during a time when train tickets are just not available, and our staff has had to travel long distances unreserved, sitting on the floor in the train coaches, quite often next to the toilets. Gruelling task, but done with dedication and dignity. All of us believing that if the task has to be done, it has to be done at any and every cost, travel hardships inclusive. We are all duty bound, conscious bound.
Police personnel have become sensitized to the wandering insane and have escorted many mentally ill destitutes to our center for treatment. Not to mention that the police are a constant source of assistance and of phenomenal help even in tracing out the families of the patients whom we take for reunion in distant villages.
Innumerable visitors have come in, people have started coming forward with material and other donations, and the general population have started appreciating the cause and our commitment towards it.
A case in point was with Valuelabs, an IT solutions corporate company based in Hyderabad, who have sponsored the entire treatment and rehabilitation costs of 57 wandering mentally ill from the streets of Hyderabad this year alone, and are planning to set up a center on the lines of Shraddha in Hyderabad itself, with technical expertise and assistance from us.
Another interesting development was with Neptune Developers based in Mulund whose staff picked up over this span of few months 13 mentally ill wandering patients in their vicinity, brought them to Karjat, sponsored their expenses, followed up on them while they were under treatment in Karjat, and followed up even after reunion. Brilliant hands on involvement.
Two doctors from nearby Ahmednagar have also visited our Karjat center, been really emotionally moved by our activities, and are setting up centers in Ahmednagar on similar lines for the wandering insane.
A 7 day residential NSS camp organized by South Mumbai’s prestigious Elphinstone College resulted in awareness of over 100 students to the plight of these destitutes. A subsequent follow up visit by 11 professors of the same college resulted in even further awareness and sensitization and a spontaneous donation of 25500/-.
SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd) stood by their commitment and came forward with a donation of Solar water heaters for all the units costing over 2.5 lacs.
All in all good interactions during these 6 months from like minded people such as you have kept the momentum going strong and the mood really upbeat. MAKING US BELIEVE THAT OUR WORK IS NOT AN ISOLATED ENTITY, BUT INSTEAD IS GRADUALLY BECOMING INTO A MOVEMENT. WE ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS EFFORT, YOU ARE WITH US, WE ARE A LEGION.
And that desolate mentally ill man on that dark lonely street, should not consider himself alone, but instead should be made to believe that someone cares for him, and that is you and us.
Hoping that your care, concern and compassion towards the mentally ill continues to remain for all time to come,
We remain, eternally indebted to your support, guidance and encouragement
Affectionately
Dr. Bharat Vatwani
Founder Trustee
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