THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sheeja still remembers the day with a sense of trepidation. It was March 25, 2010, and she had given birth to a baby with microcephaly -- a condition where the head is much smaller than expected. “It is a birth defect. We could not do anything and we accepted it as fate. But it broke me,” she recalls.
The years ahead were harrowing. There was shortage of money, taunts of relatives, and general disillusionment with life. “My parents and my friends helped me. I had no idea of the world; my friends gave me the confidence to face the odds with courage,” Sheeja says.
Now, 17 years later, Sheeja is not just mother to Sandra but a beacon of hope for many parents like her who have kids with disabilities.
“I met them during trips to hospitals with my kid. They were mostly from economically disadvantaged families, some with estranged or departed spouses, some without a job, some with no support to take care of their child.
There were also women who had more than one kid who was challenged. I grew closer to to them, feeling grateful that at least I had my parents who supported me,” Sheeja adds. The experience gave rise to her purpose: the Thiruvananthapuram-based Snehasandram Charitable Trust.
“The trust is to handhold these parents and help them care for their kids better. Now, we have taken the responsibility of around 15 people who are provided with small jobs that help them care for their kids. We get them medicines and diapers, and even medical aid,” Sheeja says, having just come back from arranging the funeral of a child who passed away on Friday.
“Arranging money for all our efforts is a big challenge. There are people who support us. We also seek out CSR funding. But such backing is not even close to what is required. We need a stable base whereby mothers who have no way out can come and live together caring for their kids while engaging in revenue-generating activities.
Then, there are kids whose mothers are no more and whose extended family may or may not care for them. We also want to have the facility to house such kids,” Sheeja points out. She received land as a donation but funds to construct such a facility still remains a distant dream.
“I think about institutions which work with differently abled kids from families with a financial base. But no one actually thinks about children from less affluent circumstances.” she says, in tribute to the motherhood.
