Archana Suresh, Director, Telangana Social Impact Group / T-SIG wrote the below account after meeting two inspiring people.
There are instances in life where one has to pause and understand the pain / trauma of another human being who hasn’t been dealt a fair deck of cards, by life.
I met 2 very inspiring people recently.
I was at the CSR Box Summit in Delhi in October 2023 where I met 28 year old Ritu S – an acid attack survivor.
A Summit usually has many sessions with 100s of people bustling around (this event had 2500+ registrations).
Despite the din, there she was – smiling a disarming smile at me. Ritu and I got chatting. She belonged to Chhanv Foundation in Delhi (+91 9717900302). An NGO that rehabilitates acid attack and burn survivors.
At the age of 17 (in 2012), she had acid flung on her by her cousin brother who paid INR 1,25,000/- / USD 1500 for it. Why? Because she rejected his romantic advances.
I have invited her to Hyderabad for Telangana-Social Impact Group / T-SIG (the official CSR cell of the Govt.) to explore possibilities on how to make 140 of these acid attack survivors, economically independent.
The second person I met was Mr. Sankara Raman from Amar Seva Sangam (an NGO in Chennai – +91 9944454170). He was 61 years old and diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy as a child. Wheelchair-bound, needing an attendant all the time, yet he passed his Chartered Accountancy / CA exam, in his 20s!
His wonderful wife who was standing next to him, told me how she sought him out (after seeing his interview on TV) and asked for HIS hand in marriage!
If you are still reading, we hope that you will help where you can. We, able bodied people have so much to be grateful for.
T-SIG is not going to stop till we don’t move the needle for people who need help.
