A dailywage worker and farmer from Nanded in the Indian state of Maharashtra started posting messages seeking help during the Sewa International Facebook live session that was held a couple of weeks ago. Due to the multiple messages posted, the session moderator messaged to him to check what was going on. The person from Nanded mentioned that he needed immediate help and if he did not get  any he would commit sucide along with his family.

The volunteer who was moderating the Facebook live session immediately forwarded the concerned person’s  details to Sewa International volunteer located in India to follow-up. Sewa India volunteer contacted Lok Kalyan Samiti (World Welfare Committee), a Sewa’s  partner organization in Nanded, Maharashtra to find a volunteer to get in touch with this person. Within 15 mins, a Lok Kalyan Samiti volunteer from Nanded got in touch with the daily wage worker to check what type of help was required.

The person being helped by the Lok Kalyan Samiti hailed from a small village near  Nanded and he was in deep financial trouble. His mother went through a knee treatment and needed more medical assistance. His sister, a cancer patient, too needed immediate medical assistance and his wife was expecting and was due to deliver a baby soon. As this person was out of job for more than a year and his farmland was not yielding enough to support his family’s needs, he was disheartened and desperately looking for a solution to his woes.

He had borrowed some money and it increased his burden further and while searching for a solution on Facebook he had come across the Sewa International page and started posting repetitive messages asking for help.

The Jan Kalyan Samiti  and the Sewa International volunteers counselled him over the phone multiple times to dissuade him from taking his life and found a free hospital in the area for his family to get free medical treatment. They also organized a fundraising campaign to provide some financial assistance to his family. His wife gave birth to a healthy girl child recently. He thanked the Sewa and Lok Kalyan Samiti volunteers for all  the help he received and said he would help someone in the future to pay back the help he got. He also said, due to the financial crisis, he had to stop his Bachelors of Computer Application ( BCA) course in the middle and now intended to find a job and continue his education. He is pinning all his hopes on his new-born daughter and hoping she will bring good luck and Lakshmi (the Hindu goddess of wealth) in his life.