BRIDGE IMPACT

Touching Lives, The BRIDGE Way

In a short span, BRIDGE has touched the lives of several families. Please note, we have taken a conscious decision not to publish photographs or names of individuals BRIDGE has helped as we want to respect their dignity and privacy. They are in their situation by chance, and not by choice. So we will steadfastly honour their privacy.

Family, Interrupted

Sushmita walked… no she ran. She was worried she would collapse on the way. Her heart beat faster than the number of steps her legs were taking in a minute. She called out the names of all the saints she knew on her way to the hospital. She prayed to her God… “Lord, please, please keep him safe. Take my life if you must, but please spare his…” But God had other plans. One look at the motionless face of her husband made her realise that her world had come crashing on her. She collapsed… When she woke up, she saw her three little children huddled around her and darkness all around…

Faith Accompli

For Malini, life was a string of tragedies hung around her neck. The first strike came when she realised that her first born was mentally challenged. She also had a second son and the family of four could hardly make both ends meet with the meagre earnings of her daily wager husband. The second strike came when she lost her husband to TB. Not one to give up, she worked as maid and educated her second son who began to work and earn. Just when the family thought that it could manage, tragedy struck again when she lost this son in a road accident…

More Stories in Brief

Here are just a few of the numerous stories of families touched by BRIDGE. If we have to report all of them here, we will need pages after pages. These are presented here just to let you know that if we come together, we can change adversities into opportunities and help many families cross over troubled waters safely through the BRIDGE we have built for them.

Filling the Vacuum

Aruna lost her husband in September last year after a prolonged illness following kidney failure. She and her daughter live in a one-room house in Bengaluru. Her daughter studies in Class 10. Aruna works as a nanny and struggles to make both ends meet. After visiting their home and understanding their situation, BRIDGE talked to the school management of her daughter to waive her fees in view of the family’s distress. The principal agreed to waive the fees but not the books and uniform expenses. BRIDGE has paid for these by donating Rs 10,000 to the family. BRIDGE is closely monitoring the progress of her daughter through the school and continues to assist the family.

Mylasandra Orphan

BRIDGE was introduced to a little boy in Mylasandra, near Electronics City, Bengaluru. This boy lost his mother in an accident. His father deserted him soon after and married another lady and lives somewhere near Gulbarga, north Karnataka. The boy is in the care of his mother’s elder sister who lives with her married daughter who also has a daughter who has a heart ailment and survives with the help of pacemaker. BRIDGE volunteers visited them and found them living in abject poverty. BRIDGE has sponsored the studies/uniforms/books of the boy. BRIDGE also supplies the family with provision and good clothes on special occasions.

Tailor Made

BRIDGE was introduced to this deaf and dumb family in Kerala’s Idukki district. Not only that both the parents are deaf and dumb, but both their children, aged 8 and 3, are deaf too. One of the children is able to speak with the aid of an instrument. This struggling family from Kerala was looking for funds to buy a sewing machine as the lady in the house is a trained tailor. After discussing the situation, BRIDGE helped the family buy a sewing machine by contributing Rs 25,000. This should help them earn a steady income. BRIDGE is in touch with the family through our representative in Kerala.

Twin Tragedy

This family from Jalahally, north Bengaluru, was going through a crisis situation when it was introduced to BRIDGE. The family lost its breadwinner two years ago following a cardiac arrest. The family now consists of his wife and two children. The children were in college when they lost their father and their mother just didn’t know how to pull on without her breadwinner husband around. Neighbours found her a small job and the family managed to survive and the children continued their studies. Until tragedy struck them again in the form of the mother being diagnosed with advanced stage of breast cancer. Even as they resigned to the situation and the mother began the chemo treatment, she collapsed in St John’s Hospital in Koramangala, Bengaluru, with lung infections and doctors raising doubts about her surviving the ordeal. By this time the family had run up huge medical bills. This was the situation when BRIDGE was introduced to the family. BRIDGE volunteers gathered around the children, organised financial help for the family to clear the hospital bills and started monitoring the situation. BRIDGE is in touch with the family and has promised the family all possible help.

Nitya & Sons

Nitya lives with her two sons in a chawl in South Bengaluru. Her husband deserted her around two years after their marriage. Later on, he became an occasional visitor who demanded money from her which she earned while working as maid in a few houses nearby. In the meanwhile, she bore him two children. After he attacked his children in a fit of rage, Nitya called his bluff and asked him never to come to her house. Her children are now studying in Grade 10 and 8. She was introduced to BRIDGE by one of our volunteers. After reviewing her case, BRIDGE has offered to part-fund the expenses of her children’s studies.

We Mean Business

These two ladies lost their husbands in accidents some years ago. They both have two school-going children each and living out of the largesse of Good Samaritans. But such help started drying up and they were staring at a dark future. When they were introduced to BRIDGE, we suggested to them that they start a small venture after we learnt that one of these ladies was an exceptionally good cook. BRIDGE offered to help them start a small business of making pickles and other special goodies to be supplied to local bakeries and neighbourhood families, etc. We have financed the venture by giving them an interest-free loan of Rs 50,000. This is in keeping with the BRIDGE philosophy of empowering families. Today the two families are happy as they have a small but regular income from their little venture. The families are being monitored and assisted by our representative.

Left in a Lurch

BRIDGE came across a family in Dasarahalli, outer Bengaluru, that lost its breadwinner leaving the burden of running the family and education of two children (a son studying for Plus 2 in Kempe Gowda College and a daughter who is a Class VI student of Schoenstatt St Mary’s School, Nagasandra) in the hands of his wife. She tried her hands at tailoring to make both ends meet but was unable to earn enough to pay the bills. She has now secured a small job in a kindergarten. BRIDGE is paying the fees of the children.

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A BRIDGE Over Troubled Water Trust

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