Distance is a factor which most people look at
when travelling and for any other purposes. But do you think it should be a
factor in getting the help and support that you need? Just because you are
located in some remote area or an inaccessible area, does that mean you would
not require help and support? In fact, we get the least support in these remote
areas. There are areas where people don’t even get basic amenities.
This is where the volunteers at the Relief India Trust come into full action.
They have people who visit these remote locations and set up help for these
people. The biggest challenge the volunteers face in this case is the
communication. It becomes more and more difficult the further the place is away
from the city. The volunteers themselves have to be ready to live at near
places to provide the help and support. They conduct health camps, training
camps on basic hygiene and so on.
The other big challenge that they at the Relief India Trust understand is the
challenge of clean restrooms. This is a basic need, and further you get away
from the city the more you will see this amenity being not available. There are
many locations still where people use an open space as rest rooms. Sounds crude
but it is true. So why would we push for this. The answer is simple, a clean
and hygienic rest room is every ones’ right and when there is a lack of it
there can be different problems arising out of this. You can get affected with
serious diseases; and women can also have the issue of safety.
One of the other factors that we consider is the
illiteracy; this is most of a reason for further deterioration in conditions.
What happens is that when illiteracy spreads rampantly in a population, the
form of support that locals give to change the living conditions becomes more
and more limited. Illiteracy, it leads them to try and banish anything that is
modern as they don’t understand it. This is the reason why the Relief India Trust has many education camps. These camps help
providing some basic education to the older population in a village and it will
also ensure that the future generations are encouraged to go out and study.
This kind of future thinking will not just help right now, but helps in the
long run as well.
There is a whole underbelly in our villages and
remote locations, people are getting victimized by the people who have better
means. Reaching out to these villages will help with fighting in one part of
this battle. It is important to understand the problems and only then we can
form a solution. At Relief India Trust they encourage such thoughts. We do not
want to fight the fire when it is raging; we want to stop the fire from its
root cause to extinguish it almost as soon as it starts. This kind of fire in
the belly attitude is what will show a better society in the coming years.
