NAGERCOIL: Tears of joy and gratitude roll down the cheeks of V Subbamal as the 70-year-old talks about her dream home. The unmarried and disabled septuagenarian, a resident of Thirupathisaram village panchayat near Nagercoil, was struggling to make ends meet with the meagre government pension of Rs 1,000 a month.
She can’t thank enough the members of ‘Helping Hand for Helpless’ (HHH), all young students. After all, they gifted her a new home. The youngsters also provided her with all the necessary groceries. Started by four class 10 students of Corpus Christi School in Nagercoil in 2017, HHH has grown in popularity as years passed. As of now, the organisation has around 15 members and all of them are pursuing courses including medicine, engineering, architecture and the like in various colleges in Tamil Nadu and other States.
It was Ockhi Cyclone, which wreaked havoc in the Southern states in 2017, that brought a sea of change in the perspective of the four teenagers, says M Joshan Regobert, one of the founding members of the organisation.
“After seeing the uprooted trees and the extent of damage, we planted tree saplings. Later, we constructed a toilet for an economically-backward family and provided educational assistance to the needy. Initially, we were spending a share of our pocket money for social service,” the engineering student explains.
On their journey until now, he says, the team launched a campaign to spread awareness against the effects of plastic, extended medical help, sent relief materials to those hit by Gaja Cyclone and the Kerala floods in 2018. “We also extended a helping hand to those affected by floods in Thirupathisaram and Suchindram in November,” he says.
Recollecting an incident that happened during his school days, Joshan says, “When we saw a man falling into a pit near our school, we immediately pulled him out and filled the pit using concrete.” The tribals are also not off-the-radar too for the group. The residents of Pechipari hills were provided with food during the lockdown. The group also collects plastic waste, bottles and sells them to raise funds to feed beggars. The group is now mulling ways to turn widows and poor people into entrepreneurs so that they could stand on their own feet.
Another founding member, GV Chidhambara Thanu, now a B Pharm student, says their parents supported them wholeheartedly when they came to know about their initiative. Joshan and Thanu apart, the group also has SK Akshaiy Roshan and A Graham Stanes as founding members. Another member of the group, RR Ajobba Renanseya, an architecture student, says most of the members are aged around 19 or 20 and that she joined the group as she was moved by the initiatives of the four. “Seeing our service, our friends also started lending support, ‘’ she says.
Thirupathisaram Village Panchayat President R Sindhu is all praise for the group when she says they are role models for society. For Subbammal, the youngsters came to her rescue. Her ‘house-warming ceremony’ was no ordinary affair, as it was attended by Kanniyakumari SP Hari Kiran Prasad, who learned of the services extended by the youngsters.