Bhavada devi memorial philanthropic trust 'SENEH'
About Us
Background story
“Bhavada Devi Memorial Philanthropic Trust “SENEH” is a Public Charitable Trust working for the benefit of the Ignored, Disregarded, Overlooked, Oppressed, Depressed, and Underprivileged and Deprived section of the society especially women of North East India.”
North East India has the lowest per capita holding of cultivable land in the country. Recurring floods which inundate vast areas every year further shrink fertile land availability because of silting. Being primarily an agrarian economy, with hardly any discernible industrial growth, the condition of the common man in the countryside is appalling. Large influx of Bangladeshi immigrants in last millennium has further shrunk the availability of cultivable land in the state.
The immigrants have occupied the fertile riverine areas that were the main sources of agricultural income to the indigenous people. The indigenous peasantry that lived for generations on the bounties of nature are no match for the hardy Immigrants. The state of the economy of the North East States can be gauged from the fact that the GDP of the undivided state, which was more than ten times the rest of the country seventy five years back, has shrunk to one of the lowest now.One of the fall out of this state of affairs is the gradual disintegration of the traditional family values and social ethos and probably even the harmony.
Consequent to this state of affairs, two groups of populace of the states can be considered as the worst sufferers:-
First and foremost, the old and the infirm since their children in many cases, are abandoning them to fend for themselves out of economic compulsions. Women in the age group of fifty and above are the ones who suffer the most, because they are mentally and physically vulnerable.
The other group is the young female adults.
We undertook extensive tours of the remote villages to ascertain the state of the women in category (A). The tours revealed the sad plight of scores of widowed old women who make their living by begging from house to house or doing sundry household jobs, for a morsel of food and shelter. Their children and relatives have abandoned them to fend for themselves. Quite a few of them have no one surviving to look after them. They suffer from myriad ailments. Both physical and mental. One in five were found to have mental problems that if allowed to continue may lead to disastrous consequences.
According to established Government statistics, Assam has the highest per capita post-natal death rate of young mothers in India. Similarly, the percentage of school dropouts of young girls because of economic compulsions is also abysmally high. In some rural areas, Where we conducted primary surveys, We found that. Their findings are summarized as follows
Ninety percent of the young adults were found to suffer from anemia.
Ninety eight percent did not have access to menstrual hygienic products like a sanitary pad. Hence use of dirty cloth was the norm. That, in all, probability was one of the major reasons for high post natal mortality of young mothers.It also resulted in them missing school every month during their menstrual periods.
In the immigrant populated areas, child marriage is rampant. The young girls are also required to look after the house hold jobs in absence of their mothers who are engaged in farming and construction jobs. This results in large number of school drop outs.
Action taken by the trust
With a view to tackling these problems, a Public Charitable Trust named “Bhavada Devi Memorial Philanthropic Trust” was registered in the month of February 2011 under the leadership of a retired Armed Forces officer at Guwahati. A number of prominent citizens of Guwahati including retired Doctors, Engineers, Academicians, Bureaucrats, Social workers, Columnists and young Entrepreneurs volunteered to be a part of the Trust.
RESIDENTS WITH FEW TRUSTEES
The Trust decided to take the cause of the old and the deprived women first. To alleviate the sufferings, and bring dignity and succor to some of these women, the Trust has opened a destitute home at Guwahati. Aptly named SENEH, meaning “Selfless Love”, the home provides shelter, food, medical care, clothing and all necessities for sustaining a decent dignified life. The vision is that in the sunset years of their lives, they can once again learn to laugh and sing and live together as a family, all ABSOLUTELY FREE. The land and the building was donated by the same retired Armed Forces Officer. The trust has established the following criteria for eligibility for residency at the destitute home.
She should be above Fifty.
She should have no shelter or roof of her own.
She should have no means of sustenance.
She should have no son since looking after the parents by a son has been made mandatory by law
There will be no discrimination based on religion, caste, creed or ethnicity.
The building with
residents sitting on
veranda/waving flags
Innovative self-help measures
A lot of thought was given to deciding how the day-to-day affairs of the Destitute Home will be conducted. A novel approach is being practiced from day one. The residents do all the household jobs themselves. The able-bodied are entrusted to do the cooking for all by turn. The others help with cutting vegetables, cleaning utensils etc. The same is the case for cleaning, sweeping, swabbing and other housekeeping jobs. They are also encouraged to practice hobbies such as knitting, weaving, embroidery works, singing, pickle making etc as per their capabilities. The products are then sold and the money generated is spent on their entertainment. These include once-in-a-year picnics and visits to places of attraction in nearby areas. The aim is to make them live like sisters. The able-bodied are required to help the infirm and the sick. They also are required to offer morning and evening all religious prayers and compulsorily attend the morning Yoga practices. All these measures have resulted in the residents considering Seneh as their home. Thus a chasm in their lives has been bridged.
Making Handicraft
Prayers in Progress
Making Handicraft
Last rites performing
To date, more than 40 destitute women have taken advantage of the home. Five of them breathed their last under the loving care of the volunteers and employees of the Trust. Four died of terminal Cancer. One a long time untreated diabetic died of multi-organ failure. Their last rites were performed by the nurses since they had no one in the world even to perform the last rites.
What our intervention
meant to the destitute
All but one of the residents suffer from different ailments that require regular treatment. 10 are on lifelong psychiatric medications because of untreated mental conditions that they suffered before they were rehabilitated. An example of the apathy experienced by these residents is one of the current residents was abandoned since she is absolutely blind.
Yet another was Rescued from a remote village on the Assam Bhutan Border where she lived as a hermit since the villagers thought she was a witch and persecuted her. Three of them were brought from the streets completely debilitated because of injuries. But for the intervention of Seneh, they would have certainly perished. Yet another person delivered to us by the police was pushed out of a moving car by unknown persons. She is completely hearing and speech impaired. She is also absolutely illiterate. As a result, it has not been possible to ascertain where she is from although her tastes indicate she is likely from South India. Similarly, there is a woman from Jharkhand. But she does not remember how she landed up at Assam. The same is the case for one from Tamil Nadu. Four of them even don’t remember their names. We have given them their present names.
To tackle the problems
of the young girls,
the Trust has taken the
following small steps.
FREE DISTRIBUTION OF BIODEGRADABLE SANITARY PADS to 300 adolescent girl students studying in schools located in remote areas. The schools selected are located in areas inhabited by marginal farmers and daily wage earners. While the Government provides free education, midday meals, books and uniforms to all, most of poor girls cannot even afford a pair of sandals let alone expenditure on Sanitary Pads of their own. Some of these girls never knew such an item for menstrual hygiene existed. It required a detailed explanation about its needs and demonstration of how it is to be worn by our lady volunteers and a doctor before the poor girls accepted it as a necessity. The paucity of funds is standing in our way to increase the number of beneficiaries. This project is code named SURABHI meaning sweet fragrance
In two schools we provide Annual Scholarships as a lump sum to the girls who achieve the top three positions in their Annual examinations. The girls accompanied by their parents come enthusiastically to receive the scholarships.
We fully understand these are small steps. Unfortunately, we are handicapped due to a paucity of funds. We hope gradually more funds will
flow in and we will be able to expand our reach.
Other humanitarian activities of the trust
Moved by the plight of the attendants of the very poor cancer patients admitted to the General wards of the Local Dr B Baruah Cancer Hospital (A premier cancer hospital of the region), the trust started free bed to bed distribution of morning cup of tea and snacks in the wards from early 2019. While the hospital provides the patients free food, the attendants are required to fend for themselves. Prior to this service, the attendants were required to walk a fair distance to get a cup of tea. This small step alleviates their hardship. .This project is code named “ANAJORI” meaning bondage of love
We have also been providing free lunches to 150 attendants every Saturday. The Trustees and volunteers foot the bill by turn.
Doorstep Distribution of Food Grains
Financed by two different organizations, the Trust distributed dry rations to 1167 households situated in remote areas during the first wave of Corona virus pandemic lock down. Each packet of dry ration comprised food stuff to suffice for 15 to 30 days for a family of four. Our volunteers performed a mammoth task of distributing these food packets in areas where no help ever reached because of remoteness and inhospitable terrains.
Availability of accomodation in the home and future plans
As of now, we have permanent accommodation in our Destitute Home for 26 and a sick bed in addition. Almost every day the management gets distress calls from volunteers and police for accommodating more abandoned destitute. The extent of help that such hapless women require is evident from the fact that in the last 4 years SENEH has organized cataract operations for 36, provided dentures to 11, and hearing aids to 2. Four cases were brought back from the brink of death with our intervention. We had to stretch our resources by organizing the state of art lifesaving facilities in select hospitals. That included ventilator supports for different periods.
Planned project activities
Immediate
- To run the destitute home efficiently and selflessly
- To develop expertise to run such homes in other places of the country
- To complete construction activities to accommodate more destitute at Seneh
- To increase our reach to more girl students to provide Sanitary Napkins. Target 500 girls
- To start a new project to adopt a village
Year 2
- To establish one Old Age Home that will be open for both men and women in a rural location easily accessible. Targeted number of beneficiaries 20
- To enroll local volunteers to run the project with guidance and wherewithal from the parent establishment
- To explore the possibility of opening a skill development center for the rural youth
- To work with full energy to achieve success in our effort to adopt a village. The ultimate aim is to turn the village as one of the cleanest of the state and a tourist hub
- To achieve a target of 8oo girl beneficiaries for Sanitary Napkin project
Year 3
- Increase Girl beneficiaries for Sanitary Napkins to 1000
- Double the number of beneficiaries in the OLD Age Home
- To realize our dream of making the adopted village a success story
