Jisso had called me couple of weeks back and told me to visit this institute by name 'Akasha paravakal" when he came to know about the financial struggle that they are going through to make the ends meet . It's a place where the mentally ill street wanderers are picked up from the streets, 'the children' as they are referred here, are adopted, bathed and groomed lovingly.
Sherin and I visited their Ashram near Jalahalli on Saturday and spent some time with them. They have around 120 residents (all men - picked up from streets and majority of them mentally ill). It's heart touching to hear some of their stories and difficult to describe in words the helplessness and the despair that we experienced. I'm posting some of the pics here that I took from their album where it shows the condition of the people when they were picked up from the streets and the transformation.
Good news is that there are dedicated people and the volunteers in the Ashram, and are giving them amazing care (psychological, emotional and spiritual). They live with them, eat with them and pray with them. Here's how their daily time table looks:
They told several stories about Fr George Kuttickal. who started the first ashram of "friends of the birds of the air" in 1994. This whole week end, I have been reading and researching about him and I'm really speechless. As Sherin mentioned, there's no priest like him.
They talked in detail about how they operate, about their expenses , source of funds , donations, services by volunteers etc. They clearly are struggling financially as they need at least 4-5 lakh per month as they have 120 residents and a bulk of the money goes for the medicines/treatment. Currently, they have close to 70K due at the vegetable shop and around 1 lakh at grocery store. Nice thing about these shops/vendors are that they never stopped the supplies even when the dues piled up. They are not getting any support from government and the periodic audits they do are just making things worse.
Riya and I visited their another branch today (Near Thannisandra ) where there are 45 women residents and situation is no different here.
Having seen and analyzed their situation, Sherin and I feel that we should definitely help them and immediate help could be to clear their dues that they are having in various shops. We will personally go to these shops and will close it.
I've got details of the medicine that they need and I'm discussing with Riya's dad/brother to see whether there is a way we can make the medicines available to them in a much cheaper cost (they are in to whole sale distribution of medicines).
Shyju, hope we can get some fund released from you pre-degree group also for this ?
Request each one of you to visit this place when you get a chance. You definitely are going to change your perspectives/priorities after the visit. Riya and I have decided to work closely with them and help them in what ever ways we can in our personal capacity.
Sherin and I visited their Ashram near Jalahalli on Saturday and spent some time with them. They have around 120 residents (all men - picked up from streets and majority of them mentally ill). It's heart touching to hear some of their stories and difficult to describe in words the helplessness and the despair that we experienced. I'm posting some of the pics here that I took from their album where it shows the condition of the people when they were picked up from the streets and the transformation.
Good news is that there are dedicated people and the volunteers in the Ashram, and are giving them amazing care (psychological, emotional and spiritual). They live with them, eat with them and pray with them. Here's how their daily time table looks:
They told several stories about Fr George Kuttickal. who started the first ashram of "friends of the birds of the air" in 1994. This whole week end, I have been reading and researching about him and I'm really speechless. As Sherin mentioned, there's no priest like him.
They talked in detail about how they operate, about their expenses , source of funds , donations, services by volunteers etc. They clearly are struggling financially as they need at least 4-5 lakh per month as they have 120 residents and a bulk of the money goes for the medicines/treatment. Currently, they have close to 70K due at the vegetable shop and around 1 lakh at grocery store. Nice thing about these shops/vendors are that they never stopped the supplies even when the dues piled up. They are not getting any support from government and the periodic audits they do are just making things worse.
Riya and I visited their another branch today (Near Thannisandra ) where there are 45 women residents and situation is no different here.
Having seen and analyzed their situation, Sherin and I feel that we should definitely help them and immediate help could be to clear their dues that they are having in various shops. We will personally go to these shops and will close it.
I've got details of the medicine that they need and I'm discussing with Riya's dad/brother to see whether there is a way we can make the medicines available to them in a much cheaper cost (they are in to whole sale distribution of medicines).
Shyju, hope we can get some fund released from you pre-degree group also for this ?
Request each one of you to visit this place when you get a chance. You definitely are going to change your perspectives/priorities after the visit. Riya and I have decided to work closely with them and help them in what ever ways we can in our personal capacity.
they will continuous help. Are we looking at monthly help or one time?
ReplyDeletehmmm...even i've been thinking about it.... may be start with one time... and then we will see.... I'm thinking of getting some fund from outside our group as well...lot of people have shown interest to help when they came to know about what we are doing...
ReplyDeleteLet's start with clearing some dues and can explore how can we support them on continues basis.
ReplyDeletevery touching, lets do continuous help as well if need to do one time initially.
ReplyDeleteMonthly help is also required. They get around 1.5 lakhs regularly from other people but that is not sufficient.
ReplyDeleteI am also thinking we should help them. Let's first start by clearing some dues and see what best we can do for them in future. I know we won't be having sufficient fund for their extensive need, but atleast we can start with something !
ReplyDeleteI am okay with any decision this group takes on helping them to the extend possible.
ReplyDeleteShould possibly think of any help externally also ( Arranging a corporate CSR) to provide a monthly help if possible with all the members connections, Or any other alternative to help them sustain in the long run.
Thanks for the quick response dears ! We have been able to raise around 2L (50k from our group and rest from outside) as of now.
ReplyDeleteYesterday morning we went to the Ashram (Trithva) that takes care of women and have given groceries worth 7K (My friend Praveen took care of that expense) and we went to other Ashram (Thirumugha) and cleared the due of 50K ..They still have another 60K due in that shop alone.....
I will share the receipts and rest of the details later....
-pulicken
We have raised close to 2.3 L now (50k from our fund and rest from outside).... I had taken my friend Praveen and his family, when we went to the ashrmam last week and he is also actively involved now...
ReplyDeleteThese are the specific ares where we are trying to help and this is how we have split it as of now between our group and his...
They still have around 4-5 Lakhs INR dues in various shops (grocery, vegetable etc) for the 3 ashramams in Bangalore. Have to raise fund to clear all those dues if possible [Our group - 50K given, trying to raise the rest from outside]
They need some immediate help as they are running out of stock (groceries, vegetables etc) in the Ashram where they take care of women. We already bot and delivered required items for couple of weeks. Will buy more if required and also planning to buy groceries/chicken/vegetables etc for Easter (for all 180 in 3 ashrams) - Praveen/Our group]
The only open space that they have in women's ashram (it's just a house with 45 people !!) is their terrace and they are not able to let the women inmates use it as there are cases where some of them jumped from there (these are mentally ill women). So, they need a grill to cover the sides of terrace. I've already got some one from our church who will give us a estimate and we will take care of the expense [Our group]
We need to try and get a regular fund flow to these ashrams (even if it's a small amount). Totally,they have close to 190 inmates and they will at least need 5-6 lakhs minimum for the day-to-day stuff including medicines [Praveen - Planning to do more (Monthly milk + water , Water purifier etc ]
Trying to see whether we can get them medicines at a cheaper rate [Our group - looks like it's NOT feasible because of GST and other billing related issues]
Dress/Nighties for Women inmates [Praveen]