NGO comes to the aid of mothers, children

Child In Need Institute works in eight districts of W Bengal.

Several NGOs promote schemes where people can sponsor a child's education and upbringing. But a scheme where you can adopt a mother and save the child too in the process is hard to believe.

The Child In Need Institute (CINI), which works in eight districts of West Bengal, makes such offers in order to raise funds to run its intervention programmes in poor communities where it supports poor mothers and children.

Sponsors can pay Rs 12,500 to help one mother. So far, 500 mothers have got sponsors. CINI works in Kolkata, 24 Parganas (S), Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, Midnapur, Birbhum, and Tamluk and is often supported by local panchayats.

At the Kolkata centre, CINI has rescued Kusum, a 22-year-old illiterate woman, who had been isolated by her villagers because they thought she was under some evil spell.

"I was very weak and would faint on and off. My villagers could not find a cure to my illness and thought I was under some evil spell. My two-year-old son too was suffering," Kusum said.

Kusum was identified by a CINI worker and brought to the OPD (Out Patient Department) of the organisation. Both the mother and the child were admitted to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC). At the time of admission, the child weighed only 6.2 kg and was severely malnourished.

At the NRC, she was extensively counselled on her superstitions and eating habits. Like all other children at the NRC, Kusum's son was also given nutritious food and within a month he improved.

Similar was the situation of Nilima, an illiterate 25-year-old woman. When she was pregnant at the age of 20, she was anaemic and needed medical help. A trained birth attendant of the locality brought her to CINI and ensured antenatal services were given to her from a government health centre.

She had a rare blood group and required monitoring. But her mother-in-law was against a hospital delivery. "I was told that there would be complications during my delivery. But my mother-in-law preferred the traditional home delivery," says Nilima. CINI counselled Nilima's husband and convinced his mother for a caesarean operation.

Another case was that of HIV-positive 10-year-old Farida (name changed). Living in a village in South 24 Parganas, she was referred to CINI through the local panchayat after her father died of AIDS. Farida was brought to CINI and given the necessary support.

Now CINI is expanding. According to S Chaudhuri, director of CINI, "We carried out projects in various districts of West Bengal to educate poor women and children about their rights and supported them in every possible way. We now plan to increase our presence in Kolkata."

CINI receives grant from its counterparts in Italy and the UK. Depending on the scale of work and the population of the area, CINI usually spends Rs 35 lakh on one locality over a period of five years. The local panchayat of the concerned area also contributes by giving grant for the activities of the organisation.