My dear friends,
It has been a busy time for BRIDGE the past few months with several hospitalisation cases to attend to, school/college admissions to take care of, and several rounds of counselling sessions to arrange for our BRIDGE families.
I wish to share with you the tragic case of one of our gritty ladies (Sumathy didi about whom I had written earlier) who had survived a series of tragedies in her life — the death of her husband followed by years of financial struggles which improved when one of her sons (two sons: one is mentally challenged and bedridden) started to earn for the family. The happiness was short-lived when he came under the wheels of a public transport bus and lost his life. The lady was again thrown into a deep pit struggling to eke out a living and taking care of her mentally challenged son. Two months ago, she lost this son too. What followed was another tragedy when last month Sumathy didi had a stroke and remains paralysed. We have done all we could to give her the best treatment in a good hospital. Our volunteer kept visiting her and attending to her for almost a month. Since not much progress was noticed, we have taken her to a palliative care centre run by religious nuns where she is being well taken care of. We keep visiting her as often as possible.
I have another tragic case to share. This is about Harikumar from Mumbai. His family consisted of him, his wife, and their only son who had been the answer to their family’s struggles as he had started earning as a software engineer. As fate would have it, one day, a little over a year ago, he did not wake up from his sleep. To lose the only son at the young age of 27 to a heart attack was too much to bear for the parents. Hari never recovered from the shock and he had been suffering from various illnesses thereafter. He suffered from lung and associated illnesses. Last month he had to undergo surgery and many people, including BRIDGE, pooled in money for the same. Unfortunately, he did not survive the surgery. His wife Sindhu is completely devastated. We are in touch with her and request your prayers for her mental recovery.
Another breadwinner of a family with two girls — one doing her Plus 2 and the other nursing — had to undergo knee surgery a year ago which became complicated following an infection. Two weeks ago, he underwent a second surgery with funds from BRIDGE and other sources and is now recuperating.
During the past couple of months, we have part-funded the education fees of several children. Here is an overview:
Mallikarjun from Dakshina Kannada, who had lost his father during Covid, cleared NEET with a fairly good score and received admission in an Ayurveda Medical College Hospital, Nelamangala (outskirts of Bangalore) under govt quota. Although it was a govt seat, he had to shell out around Rs 75,000 in the first year. The money was arranged with the help of BRIDGE and our associate organisation, the Bangalore-based Kind Heart.
BRIDGE also part-funded the engineering college fees of a promising student from Tamil Nadu Guna Darshini whose father had deserted the family which now consists of her mother (a housemaid) and another sister. I am hopeful of a bright future for the girl who is good at her studies.
Spoorthy is another bright student from Marathahalli, Bangalore, whose breadwinner mother struggles to educate her two girl children with her small job at a More supermarket. BRIDGE has been funding the school and PU education of Spoorthy. She has now been admitted to Gopalan College of Engineering and Management in Whitefield, Bangalore, for further studies.
BRIDGE has also part-funded the nursing fees of Shins, an orphan whose education from school BRIDGE has part-funded over the years. He has now joined Basaveshwara Medical College in Chitradurga, Karnataka, last month.
Joyal Jain is another hotel management student BRIDGE has supported. His breadwinner father had met with an accident in Kozhikkodu a few years ago and is incapacitated to work.
We are also supporting an MSW student in Bangalore by paying her hostel fees. The girl had been at the point of a mental breakdown having faced sexual abuse from someone in her extended family. We have assigned a BRIDGE volunteer to be with her constantly to provide her mental support. Btw, this volunteer had been one of the BRIDGE beneficiaries in the past and now works in a good firm. She is now part of BRIDGE as a committed volunteer.
BRIDGE has joined the efforts of our associate Kind Heart to repair the dilapidated house (shanty would be the right word) of a blind old lady Nanjamma whom they had found on the streets of Bangalore.
I am afraid the mail has become very long and I don’t wish to take more of your time. But I thought you would like to know the difference we are making in the lives of the less lucky among us. Besides the financial support we offer, there are many intangible support we offer to many. Like listening to the personal agonies of our families, many of whom have told me that they feel relieved and at ease after talking to us. With your prayers and encouragement, you are also part of this BRIDGE-building mission.
Thank you and God bless all!
Shibu
A BRIDGE Over Troubled Waters
The Anchor for the Anchorless
Ph: 9739218181