A house for the abandoned pup; a fresh lease of life for the de-addicted; a solution for endless garbage and a hug for the third gender... it is not often that people take up issues that do not touch them directly. Commonly the buck is passed, the blame game remains and life continues as before. But there are a few change makers who do not ignore the maladies that ail society and take matters in their hands. These doers respond to the call of their heart and react, bringing a change, making a difference. They stick their neck out in a set system averse to change, often battling sceptics, cynics and in the wake incurring wrath of purists and of the prejudiced. These activists are driven by sheer passion to find a solution, to help a system, a society.
Our city has its own set of youngsters - Millennials, Snowflakes, GenNext - who began small, some with just an idea and threw themselves in the vortex of work. Money matters to them but does not motivate them. They are a driven lot fired by the desire to better the world, whether it be equality in human rights, transgender rights, animal rights, environment based issues or in anti-drug activism.
Animal activist
Saumiya Somanathan
Gets calls to rescue animals at unearthly hours and it puts her on her feet at once. That’s the dedication and drive the young copywriter in an advertising firm in Kochi has. Hailing from Mavelikkara, Saumiya has created a name for herself as an animal activist. She joined the NGO Humanity For Animals (HFA), begun in 2015, by activists Aishwarya Prem and Ranjini Haridas. The group has divided itself into teams for rescue, legal action and communication required in prevention of cruelty to animals. They address stray dog menace, finding homes, vaccination and sterilisation of dogs. Saumiya’s compassion for animals, she says is the same she has for human beings. Saving a pup trapped in a gutter, finding a home for a hit and run dog are some high points in the last three months in which she has done 15 rescue acts. Her work along with the group has enabled not only awareness but built a chain of foster homes for abandoned and injured dogs. “Dogs have emotions just like us. They are loving,” she says.
Gay activist
Jijo Kuriakose
Founded and is President of Queerala, an online community of Kerala’s LGBT and sexual minorities, in 2015, in a bid to mobilise the Malayali lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Their major work is to conducts awareness programmes on sexual health, advocacy and consolidate the community mainly through social media. Jijo says that before he came out into the open the community would connect secretly. Today, with more awareness and confidence that Queerala has brought, it has almost 20,000 followers. Their helpline gets a minimum of two to three enquiries a day. Some of its important initiatives so far have been Wikipedia editing workshop to include Malayalam Wikipedia with LGBTIQ terminologies and information on the queer movement and related organisations in Kerala., Homomorphism a, a week long queer art exhibition, peer counselling workshop for queer and allies -a training workshop,on common mental health issues faced by queer community and Quest 2016 to bring forward the least represented and documented facets of queer lives in Kerala. Jijo’s efforts have brought visible change and he says that there is still a long way to go and the way forward is all about inclusion.
Waste management warriors
Team Plan@Earth , a group of seven from Aluva undertook the issue of solid waste management eight years ago. Today they work in three municipalities- Aluva, Paravur and Angamally- and three Panchayats, collecting waste from over 16,000 homes. The NGO begun by the seven, three of who are teachers (guest lecturers) have put a system in place where trained women collect dry waste door to door and segregate it. Roughly 23,000 kilos of waste a month is collected and forwarded to recyclers, a chain that extends from Perumbavoor to Gujarat. Metal, glass, paper, plastic and now E- waste are all collected, sorted and recycled. Another off shoot of the process is upcycling of certain grades of plastic, mainly detergent and masala plastic covers into sturdy and colourful bags. Attractive table mats too are made from old cloth bits. Sooraj Abraham, Rasheed M.A., Mujeeb Muhammad are the face of the organisation, the foot soldiers in their one point agenda to fight the menace of unrelenting garbage. They began this initiative after watching the growing threat from unscientific garbage disposal and began disseminating information, door to door, moving on to holding audio visual presentations to explain the situation and the solution . They initially funded themselves putting their money earned from teaching into the cause. Lately their work has received support from Corporates, as part of CSR activity, and their network expanding to employ homemakers. For their work which is making a difference the Pollution Control Board, PCB, has officially given them a license, and “that is something,”say the trio.
Anti-drug activist
Anie Ribu Joshy , at 16, heard the voice in her heart, after her father’s tragic end to alcoholism. She also heard the stories from her friends of living through domestic strife occurring due to substance abuse. Instead of being bogged down by the loss of her father and the sad plight of some of her friends she began campaigning against substance abuse, often talking to people much older than her. The response she says was slow but when it began coming she knew she was on the right track. Many gave up the habit, they said, because of her. Encouraged she started a blog destinefighter.blogspot.in and soon acquired a fan following. She began giving inspirational talks, peppered with quotes and incidents from lives of world leaders in schools and even colleges. Her youthful and charming motivational words fired the minds of the young as they heard one from their age group speak to them. She has held speeches and several workshops in schools across Kerala. Hailing from Thrissur Anie’s role models are her mother and the Prime Minister who talked about her YouTube Video against drug addiction in his radio programme, Maan Ki Baat. Anie draws inspiration from another youngster Malala Yousafzai and quotes Albert Einstein liberally in her talks.
Realising the power her talks are having Anie has begun SIPEP(Students Inner Power Enhancement Programme) that aims to rid youngsters of negative thought and embark on a positive life ahead.
