“I was working as a construction worker until one day a heavy concrete block fell over me damaging the nerve in my spinal cord, confining me to my bed for lifetime. It has been 18 years since and I haven’t gotten out of my house for almost 6 years now. However, today was the most memorable day of my life” said Aravinda of Dakshina Kannada in Karnataka.
A group of like-minded people who call themselves ‘Coastal Friends’ arranged a very unique and heart touching day out for six people who have been confined to their beds due to sickness. It is their first time organizing this kind of an event and it really made a difference to the patients.
Firstly, six ambulances were booked and these patients were shifted into them on stretchers and wheelchairs. They were then accompanied by groups of young men who lifted and shifted them from ambulance to boat and then parks and malls.
They were taken to Pilikula Nisargadhama, Tannirubaavi beach and Nexus Mall. The outing lasted the entire day. By the end of it, the families were given Rs 5,000 each to go shopping in the mall. All along the way they were all singing and dancing making the whole environment a lot more lively.
When one person in the family is bedridden, the entire family suffers. More so if it is the breadwinner.
“We planned the whole day and started getting the logistics in place since a month. We had to keep medical help close by and such other arrangements were neatly thought of and executed. We selected one patient each from Perne, Kallapu, Kuthar, Thokkottu and Ullal areas of Mangalore. The day went well, not just for the patients and their families but also to all of us who accompanied them” said Sharif Abbas, founder of Coastal Friends.
“Deepavali truly looks bright for me now, after all these years. Otherwise, it would just be another day in my bed where my mother had to come remind me that I was alive” said another patient who has been confined to his bed for 25 years (identity kept anonymous on request).
The organisers and volunteers are happy that they could do something to at least these people even if it was for a day and hope that many others would follow this in future.
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