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Abhayam for visionaries
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Abhayam at Tripunithura is into social service, including propagation of eye donation. How they get funds is very different from the ordinary ways like conducting entertainment programmes. Its members give tuitions! SUDHA NAMBUDIRI learns that the organisation has grown quietly, serving the downtrodden.
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THERE ARE several organisations that are engaged in rendering assistance and help to the needy by way of support, mentally, physically and financially. Many of these are NGOs who depend on the goodwill of the society and volunteers to sustain and continue aid programmes. Very often funds are a problem. Yet each has found its own way to do its bit for those in need.
Abhayam in Tripunithura is one such organisation that has found a unique way to generate funds for its social and charitable activities. Giving tuitions. It conducts coaching classes for students at senior level, right from SSLC to M.Sc.
Set up in 1984, the Abhayam Educational Centre is the backbone of the late Prof Karunakara Menon, the educational centre gives free coaching to the deserving among the needy. Says secretary Ramachandran, "Most of the teachers are volunteers who teach their subjects. But we also have some big names. Teachers who teach in well-known coaching classes and command huge fees. Here we pay them a nominal amount that is far less than what they get elsewhere. But such is their humility that they never even open the envelope to check how much we have paid them. These teachers also accommodate some poor students for free."
The educational centre has about 500 students, some of whom are given free coaching. These are mostly deserving students yet have financial difficulties due to economic backwardness. There is coaching for Engineering and Medical Entrance exam too.
"We collect very low fees, almost one-third of what most tutorial classes take. And there is a 90 per cent pass result every year. The fee collected is used for several of our social and charitable activities," he continues. One related activity concerning education is the Educational Assistance Programme. This is for the deserving and meritorious students from the economically weaker sections of the society from Plus Two onwards. We payRs 2,000 for the Plus Two level, Rs 3,000-4,000 for B.Sc level and Rs 25,000 for Engineering which takes care of their fees and books. Some of the help for this programme comes through donations also.
"There have been instances when people have given some amount asking us to utilise it for some charity. We use it to help some students," explains the Secretary. The NGO also has a mid-day meal programme for poor students in four schools in the area. "People sometimes sponsor a proper lunch on a particular day."
Abhayam was started with 16 members and now has 65 members as volunteers, most of whom, are employed elsewhere. One of the major activities of the organisation is conducting of free eye camps. They have been designated as an Eye Collection Centre under the Eye Donation Project of the Kerala Eye Bank Association. "This was a project started long ago. We accept eyes from people between ages 7-70 years. Dr Ranjith Grover was one of the first doctors who would come at any time of the day to collect the eyes of any person who has donated his eyes after death in the early days. Now we have some other doctors too and hospitals also for conducting operations," says Ramachandran. About 181 corneas were collected and utilised for transplantation. Reeling out data he says that under the Eye Care Programme, 78 free eye camps were conducted, 509 cataract surgeries were performed and as many as 16,188 spectacles were distributed free of cost to the patients. "When we conduct an eye camp, there is no dearth of volunteers. Everybody just arrives and joins in," he says with pride.
He explains that they also collect and donate blood through the Indian Medical Association. Abhayam also conducts awareness camps on eye donation, cancer care and diabetes and has given medical aid for deserving cancer and heart patients.
One of the assets of Abhayam has been the acquisition of an ambulance, which was donated by Apollo Tyres in 1987. The ambulance rented at minimum charges is also used to pick and cremate unidentified bodies that come to the mortuary or police station. "We don't insist on payment if the people can't afford it," the secretary says.
Among other activities was the setting up of a tailoring unit where 7,708 girls have been trained so far.
In response to their activities people have been coming forward with donations, which has also helped them in buying land for their own building. Says Ramachandran, "We have never gone around asking for donations until recently. The money has come rather unexpectedly in the form of donations from individuals. Thus we have managed to start construction so that we can conduct our tuition classes a little more comfortably. Most of us have put in our money every time there has been a need." There have been hitches and there still are. But people at Abhayam haven't given up. They believe in the goodness of their fellow beings.
They are all ordinary people like you and me. But the difference lies in that they have spared a little of their time and money for the good of the society without disturbing the rhythm of the families. Without going in for any ambitious projects, Abhayam has given a lot- showing the way to many in getting back their vision, and enlightening the lives of poor and needy and even helping many earn a livelihood.
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