Activities - Service to the destitute people

4. Service to the destitute people

Service to the destitute people remains an integral component of Sewa Kendra's work in leprosy. Since most leprosy patients suffer from all forms of deprivations, Sewa Kendra, by its very commitment, remains welcoming of destitute people, and its location at Gaushala has further facilitated it. While the Gaushala hospital and its outpatient clinics render free services to the patients, except for the registration fee of a few rupees, it runs two specific activities that are directly aimed at destitute people.

• Clinic at Pancha Dewal Oldage Home

Sewa Kendra runs thrice-weekly clinic (Sunday, Tuesday and Friday) at the Pahcha Dewal (Five temples) Old-age Home at Pashupati for its 350 residents including 200 females and 14 ex-leprosy patients, although the latter have explained away their deformities as scars from past accidents. Almost all of the old people in the home have been "castaways" from their relatives and communities, and have been living the life of destitute even before they were able to make to this government facility under the recommendation of their local authorities. While the government itself manages the old-age home, there has been no provision for medical support as such.  Therefore, the Sewa Kendra clinics remain the major medical lifeline for its inmates. In 2013, the caseload in the clinic was 4,617. Some 25 ex-leprosy patients who live by begging in the Pashupati area also come to this nearby clinic regularly for treatment.  When necessary, the old-age home residents too receive hospital care at the Sewa Kendra hospital at Gaushala. Respiratory disease is the most common affliction among the residents of the old-age home, thus making continuous nebuliizer support necessary. Sewa Kendra's portable nebulizer has come in very handy for this purpose. The medical facilities are supplemented by regular washing, shaving and physiotherapy services. Lonliness is something we cannot prescribe medicine for. Sewa kendra team therefore ensures that we spend as much quality time with these elderly people, sharing about their life and celebrating festivals with them, specially the ones, that break their hearts for being away from their families, specially children.

Dr. Pradhan still recalls one such incident of Mothers day celebration, where she found an elderly woman waiting for her son from dawn until dusk at the old-age home. Miserable as it was, Dr. Pradhan was determined to give some happiness to this lonely mother and celebrated a tiny event just for her. The old woman passed away after 6 months, but for Dr. Pradhan, the blessings of that crying soul still rings in her ears.

• Schooling and education of destitute children

Since destitute people constitute a significant part of Sewa Kendra's clientele, it has also been drawn slowly but steadily into the non-medical problems faced by these very poor people, mostly women. Almost all of them are migrants from rural hinterlands that continue to suffer from mounting population, dwindling agricultural land, massive under-employment, worsening food security and lack of access to proper health and educational services. Since these village women, often single or living with oppressive (and drunkard) husbands, have hard time making their ends meet, they are often unable to send their children to school, thus foreclosing on any prospect for better living in future as well. Therefore, Sewa Kendra began helping the children of such needy mothers by mobilizing donations from national and international donors to send them to local government school even as they are also provided with private tuition support in the Sewa Kendra hospital premises to compensate for the teaching deficiencies that government schools generally entail in Nepal. These children, who now number 75, are doing quite well in school, often passing with high grades in the exams. Till date, 35 students have passed their SLC exams in first division, most of whom have either settled with jobs or have persued their education. Their mothers too participate in a saving and credit group - a necessary condition for having their children accepted in Sewa Kendra - where they save a few rupees every month and use their savings for investing in small income generating activities. These supports have gone a long way in having them internalize a more enterprising attitude in life.