My days with Snehitha
Hitha C. S.
Service Provider - SNEHITHA,
Thiruvananthapuram District
I believe in the quotes of the Father of
Nation, Shri. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; our Bapuji, as we lovingly call him, that:
“The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
All the years after my post-graduation, I was eagerly engaged to serve this
purpose. To find inside me, a new being, as a result of human
service. Initially, it was just one place. Gradually, with my aspirations,
it became a multitude. I would like to bring to your notice that my
social-community interventions began at this stage.
My primary notions on 'Kudumbashree',
like the majority populace pertaining to Kerala, was that it had tremendous
resemblance to “Ayalkoottams” (Neighbourhood Groups) in its functioning. It
took me by surprise, when I was conveyed that it pours down financial support
to its members, and I’m glad to let you know that my mother is one in the lot
to have benefited from this scheme. As I spent more days with this social
organization of women, it was a gratifying revelation to me that,
"Kudumbashree" is not just a mere gathering, but a superior force in
women empowerment and social reformation.
One fine day, in my regular peeking
through the internet, my eyes got struck in the job notification of Kudumbashree
Snehitha gender help desk. Without any shadow of doubt, I forwarded my application,
and I was selected for this job which I continued till date and in which I hope
to nurture my career. I hardly knew anything about Snehitha in those days. My
knowledge was little, it was confined to the information that I found on the
website. When I traveled all the way from Thrissur to Thiruvananthapuram, I
never thought, that it set off a new journey in my life and I was being
embarked to a new chapter of compassion and responsibilities.
Initially, as any new city seems to a
stranger, Thiruvananthapuram too put me in perplexity. New people, their
accents, updated lifestyles and moreover spending a large chunk of time away
from my home made it arduous for me. A feeling of home-sickness. Tough times as
I like to quote it. Things were not as expected till I found a new family over
here. I met different people in the society. Here, we have to work with people
as high as government officials to the ordinary layman. That itself, I believe
is the greatest life experience I ever had. I overcame my stage fright. There
was grave improvement in my communication skills and all these contributed to
an elevated confidence in me.
An important incident that I remember is
a “home visit” that we made to the beneficiary of 'Snehitha Calling Bell
Project'. We paid a visit to the house of an HIV patient. We involved in long
conversations with them and arranged the needed help. Before joining Snehitha,
I had worked at Government Medical College, Thrissur in the service
of various medical and counseling needs of HIV patients. The previous
experience that I had as mentioned earlier came to my rescue and I was able to
provide them with exact help as needed. It satisfies me to have helped an
individual in a community, where they are forced to face continuous
discrimination in one way or another, obviously from the society.
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