Mukaluvilayil Samuel Sunil aka M.S. Sunil is a favoured name in the social-service sphere of Central Travancore. Her altruistic contributions to the poor and the needy have earned many prizes and this academic-turned-social worker has utilised all the prize money for building homes for the homeless.
A student in the MSc Zoology class, who lived in a tent pitched on the wayside at Kodumon was what made Dr. Sunil construct a small house for the student with the help of the National Service Scheme (NSS) on the three cents of land provided by the Kodumon grama panchayat in 2002. The house was completed at ₹1.17 lakh. Teachers and well-wishers contributed ₹98,000 and Dr. Sunil spent the remaining sum. And that was the beginning of the popular charity home project of Dr. Sunil who has provided safe shelter to more than 175 homeless families so far.
To the beneficiaries of the her home project, Dr. Sunil is their guardian angel.
1,000 homes
This 59-year-old retired head of the department of Zoology at the Catholicate College told The Hindu: “constructing at least 1,000 houses for the homeless poor is my dream.”
Construction of the 180th house on 600 sq ft of land is progressing at Kalanjoor, near Konni. Farm-worker couple Shyni and Suresh, their three children, and elderly mother living in a make-shift tent are the beneficiaries.
Supporting 25 orphaned children in the district and supplying rice and grocery kits every month to 200 poor families under her new project, ‘Karuthal’, are her other charity schemes. “Community service is my passion,” she says.
Recipient of the Naree Sahkti Puraskar, the country’s highest civilian honour for women instituted by the Union Ministry of Woman and Child Development, in 2018, Dr. Sunil utilised the award money worth ₹1,00,000, the ₹25,000 cash award she received from The Hindu Group, the prize money of ₹65,000 received from the Syro Malankara Society in Bahrain, and her own contribution for constructing the 100th house at Mannadissala in Pathanamthitta.
The 150th house was constructed with the fund provided by her son, Prince Sunil Thomas, who is currently engaged in a project at Dublin University.
Dr. Sunil said she accepts well-accounted contributions from people who are genuinely interested in her charity home project. Each house on 600 sq ft costs ₹3.5 lakh.
Her latest endeavour is Jeevamrithom, for providing drinking water to poor households.
