Udavum Karangal© - Centre For Humane Service

Milestone Achievements

Caring for people with compassion and dedication has been the driving force behind Vidyakar and his volunteers. In the last 18 years it has been able to light up the lives of many unfortunate people. - Abandoned babies picked up from dustbin, The mentally ill who have been chained for years, sexually abused women and children and aids victims shunned by society , to mention but a few. Some heart-rending tales of the past and their happier endings thanks to the special care shown to them in Udavum Karangal, are highlighted here.

MEDICINE OF LOVE

How many times have we passed a situation on our daily lives, that defies all description? In the heart of Bangalore, a top busy complex, hundreds of people daily passed a man. He was an ordinary man - with his legs shackled by chains fit to restrain an elephant.

Basavaraj is 45 years old. His feet will be permanently scarred with the chains he ore for 15 long years. Alone in a room that measured a bare twelve feet, this literate man kept himself sane by greeting and talking to the people who passed him in his prison daily. What was his crime? Fifteen years ago, there had been a violent episode, after which his family had him chained and locked. His story is one of thousands of mentally ill patients in our country, who are treated with fear, suspicion and hatred, rather than the compassion that could help them to recovery. Thousands are submitted to superstitious cures. Others like Basavaraj, meet cruetly o brazen that it takes your breath away. As a measure of man's ability to justify the most inhuman act, this man's family showed no remorse for what they had done. When confronted by Basavaraj's rescuers, they first resisted his release, then negotiated...

Today Basavaraj is a fully functioning and well- oriented adult at Udavum Karangal. He can help himself, and others. The warmth, the caring and understanding he has received here has helped him express what even fifteen long years in shackles could not destroy - his human spirit. Treat the mentally ill with the medicine of love. Give them a chance to be fully human.

FROM REJECTION TO BELONGING

Here is Savithri's story - speaking of the bleak future that many children in our society face from their very inception. Whether they are unwanted because they were born outside of marriage, or because of a physical disability / deformity, or because they are HIV Positive, such children do not deserve to be punished for a crime they never committed.

Savithri lay abandoned, in a dustbin, with hungry dogs devouvring her legs before being rescued by Vidyakar and his team. For savithri, what should have been a moment of pure innocence and joy, this beginning was indeed a terrifying experience. But that was two & a half years ago. Today she is to go to pre-school.

With the passage of 27 months, the wound on her leg has healed - with the best medical attention and surgery as well as generous doses of love. She now feels loved, and an integral part of this caring caring and committed family. And the world is no longer such a frightening place after all.