Towards a Just and Humane Society

” I am Bagmani Devi from Kamarpur village in Buxar District of Bihar, India. When I got married, I was illiterate but my husband taught me the Hindi alphabet. When the Sisters from Chirag came to my house, I was so embarrassed and shy as I didn’t know how to speak. But they had confidence in me and my husband supporting me, and with great fear, I started teaching the ‘Balwadi’ children. At night I learned what I had to teach the little ones in the morning. The sisters were so encouraging that I began to gain confidence. Slowly I began to be vocal. I helped the women to form the Self-Help Group (SHG), became its leader, and started conducting meetings. It was a big leap in my life. Seeing my performance with women I was given a chance for training in Kurji Hospital. As a result, I became an ‘Asha’ (village health worker) but writing reports and conducting surveys was a big challenge. During Covid-19 times I made a survey of all the migrant workers whether they came from Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, Hariyana, etc, and reported to the block. I also made a list of those who had no ration cards among the residents and migrants and gave them to the block. It really took time and energy in COVID-19 time to do all that. Today I am happy and proud that I managed it all, not only that I have learned to give injections and take blood pressure. All this became possible because of my Chirag Sisters. “

I, Susheela Devi with Rohini Raman a staff of Chirag have helped in distributing forms to migrant labourers and filling them in. I deposited the forms to the Data Operator through Vikas Mitra so that they could get a payment from the government of Rs 1,000 in their accounts. According to government orders I helped fill forms for ration cards for those migrant workers who had no cards and most of them got the ration cards. Those who tested positive for Corona were sent to quarantine centers and I helped to give food and other needed help. I have helped in getting job cards, Ayushman Bharat cards for migrant workers. I have helped with pension payments for those migrants who were not getting the pension. It gives me immense joy that I have been able to help many of our own people in their hour of need although it was very challenging at that time – leaving the children and going to the villages to take surveys and the such. I am able to do all these work because of the encouragements and support I get from Chirag Centre