Sahaita held various camps throught parts of India. Details from the events are documented below.
Dates: October-November 2009
Location: India
Pictures: MORE PICTURES from the events can be found here and here.
SULTANPURI CAMPS – 9th & 10th November 2009
Sahaita’s October – November 2009 camp schedule included camps at Sultanpuri area located at the outskirts of New Delhi. Sultanpuri was one of the vastly affected localities during the 1984 Sikh riots around Delhi. The worst affected areas are low income colonies like Trilokpuri, Mongolpuri, Sultanpuri and Palam Colony. One can still see the aftermath of the riots even today, after 25 years. The area gets no attention from the government or any health support for the people living there. The children do not go to school and neither do adults earn a regular income. The houses are a size of a small room where around 8 to 10 people live. Some of the houses don’t even have a regular kitchen, people cook their meals outside there one room houses. So, the locality has severe sanitation issues, young kids getting into wrong habits of drugs and alcohol and this causes several health problems to the locals of Sultanpuri.
The camps at Sultanpuri were organized by Sahaita and Mr. Jagmohan Singh, Mr. Kulbir Singh and other volunteers from the organization Sikhs helping Sikhs and Akhar SOH.
DAY 1:
Venue: Sun Smile Public School, Sultanpuri
Sahaita’s team reaches the Sun Smile Public School at Sultanpuri at 09:00am. The School’s classrooms were converted into clinics and the registration counters were set and the registrations began. We saw the formation of a long queue of locals within the first hour. The registrations had to be stopped by 3:00pm due to the load and people who did not register were requested to return the next day. Overall we saw 498 registered patients and another 30 unregistered, people working at the school. Most of the school children got their eyes checked. The first day we saw many elderly people walking in for check ups. Most of them had undiagnosed blood pressure and diabetes. Several men and women in their mid thirties were affected due to malnutrition. We saw few widows walk-in who were under severe depression due to loss of the men in their families either during the 1984 riots or due to drugs and alcohol. There were few elderly women who had suicidal intentions due their economical conditions. The day was hectic and busy with activity. The young boys who helped in organizing the camps did a great job. The locals of Sultanpuri were more than excited to see Doctors from America coming to their locality to help them; it was a great deal handling the crowd. At the end of the day at 06:00pm, the team was exhausted but content with the hard work put in and glad to be able to help people who needed it the most.
DAY 2:
Venue: Sun Smile Public School, Sultanpuri
Day 2 was the continuation of Day 1, by the time the team got to start the clinic there were already queues formed and people waiting. This day saw several children; adolescents and infants come in for check ups. The registrations had to be stopped by 12:00pm and we saw about 346 registered patients and more than 40 unregistered patients, who were the volunteers and the school staff. There were several kids who were seen by the doctors without being registered. Many children were affected due to malnutrition and the poor locality where there were severe hygiene concerns. This, the team got to see when we were taken on a tour of the locality and saw how these poor Sikhligar Sikhs lived in such tough conditions. No two houses could be differentiated; they were all so small and loomed over each other. The lane was so narrow that not more than two people could stand next to each other. The living conditions made us realize how badly this area was neglected by the government. The only happiness we got was to see the excitement on the young faces, the children asking questions and gathering outside their homes just to get a handshake. When I got to speak to a bunch of teenage boys, they told me how much they wish they could go to school and become doctors, engineers and scientists. They had so many questions to ask, their excitement was so evident that while the team got ready to leave, every single local of Sultanpuri was out on the street to say their goodbyes and children waving frantically at us.
What can anyone do to help ?
There are few organizations working with such Sikhs 1. Sikhshelpingsikhs and 2. website is www.forgottensikhs.org. and Sun smile Public school directly.
Our personal recommendation is please visit such areas and decide for yourself what you will like to do.
Sultanpuri map one can see:
It is on outer ring road close to Rohtak HWY on outskirts of Delhi.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sultanpuri,delhi&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.939885,56.337891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Sultanpuri,+Delhi,+New+Delhi,+Delhi,+India&ll=28.703989,77.079306&spn=0.035609,0.055017&z=14
Options for people :
- Adopt a Family….Best option.
- Adopt/sponsor a Child or children in one household.
- Sponsor one child and we encourage teenagers to do that. It cost perhaps 5-6 dollars to help one child get to school for a month.
- Help local organizations with funds.
- Help local Gurdwara for it really need help.
- Sahaita organization is always there if need to ask any questions.
Itinerary for India Trip 2009
| Month |
Date |
Village |
Sponsor |
| October 2009 |
23rd Friday |
Leave from SFO |
|
| |
24th Saturday |
|
|
| |
25th Sunday |
Delhi- Agra |
|
|
26th Monday |
Delhi - Ludhiana |
|
|
27th Tuesday |
1. Channa |
Dhaliwal Family |
|
28th Wednesday |
2. Sarinh |
Sahaita |
|
29th Thursday |
Amritsar |
|
|
30th Friday |
To Dharmsala |
|
|
31st Saturday |
3. Chinaur |
Sahaita |
| November 2009 |
1st Sunday |
4. Hoshiarpur |
Harbinder Master ji |
|
2nd Monday |
Ludhiana |
|
|
3rd Tuesday |
5. Jhingran |
Kashmir/Sahaita |
|
4th Wednesday |
6. Gurdaspur |
Gurnam singh Langer |
|
5th Thursday |
7. Padialla |
Sahaita |
|
6th Friday |
8. Machiwara |
Lakhmer/MP singh |
|
7th Saturday |
Machiwara |
Lakhmer/MP singh |
|
8th Sunday |
Off (Bal ghar) |
|
|
9th Monday |
9. Delhi |
Sahaita |
|
10th Tuesday |
Delhi |
|
|
11th Wednesday |
Fly back SFO |
|
Team for India:
Dr. Harkesh Sandhu
Ms. Supreet Maniktala
Ms. Terry walker
