Dharm Shala benevolent home celebrates 100 years of service
The Dharm Shala, ‘Home of Benevolence for all Races’, located in Albouystown, Georgetown, is today celebrating 100 years of devotion to serving the needy by hosting three days of activities.
Speaking to this newspaper on Monday, the granddaughters of the resident home’s founder, Kella and Pamela Ramsaroop, spoke excitedly of the activities planned to celebrate the monumental achievement.
Kella briefly discussed the history of the Dharm Shala and said that her grandfather, Pandit Ramsaroop Maraj, and a group of men founded the Hindu Religious Society which then founded the Dharm Shala in Albouystown in 1921. The Canje, East Berbice Corentyne branch was added in 1941.
The aims and objectives of this organisation when it was formed, was to feed, house, and clothe the indigent. And for the past 100 years, it has remained steadfast in its mission. “We look after the social, the religious, the educational side,” Kella said during the interview. The Dharm Shala was in charge of a nursery school for 75 years before it was closed.
Within the two homes, there are about 40 residents benefitting from the “holy humanitarian charity” work offered by the private institution. The sole managers of the institution are the two women who have taken up multiple roles to ensure that the residents are comfortable. They are assisted by a small staff of about five persons. Pamela and Kella informed that to mark the anniversary, there will be services in both the Hindu and Christian (Anglican) religions to be held at the two locations simultaneously on April 21 and April 22. Meanwhile, residents can look forward to a scrumptious lunch (available only to residents of both locations due to COVID-19 restrictions) on Friday at Albouystown. Kella said that the residents will be treated to a delicious meal followed by black cake and non-alcoholic wine. She said that the cake which is usually served during the festivities of Christmas was deemed appropriate for the occasion. Other eatables will also be served to the residents.
Kella told this newspaper that the journey to 100 years was not easy but she believes it is a privilege to serve and that God provides them (all who assist) with a conditioned mind to undertake the task. “It’s not easy to manage a place like this. You have people of diverse personalities and I tell you, for me, my life was on the line about five times,” she disclosed. She added that persons who take up residency sometimes seem ‘normal’ but as the time passes these persons do strange things and she recalled several instances when persons have acted in an unsettling manner toward her, however, these persons are then transferred from the institution. For this reason they are very particular about the type of people who can stay. The
women explained that persons who cannot look after themselves and are psychiatric patients are often turned away, but that there are a few who do get accepted and have thus far caused no such troubles. “We have had all sorts of people, my father used to entertain all sorts of people whether they are sane or insane but you can’t do that these days,” Kella explained.
As for funding of the Dharm Shala, the women said that aside from donations from business firms and other charitable foundations, they completely fund the service. There is also a subvention from the government of $1 million, but much more is needed, they say, especially during the current pandemic.
In 1941, the Dharm Shala extended to Berbice, where a building of similar capacity to that as at Albouystown was built, the sisters explained. According to the Ramsaroops, both homes were built with a Hindu temple and a Christian chapel. They said that the thought of including a mosque was discussed but due to a land issue it was not built.
The mantle of leadership was then taken over by Pandit Maraj’s son, Harry Ramsaroop, the women’s father, following his father’s death. The younger Ramsaroop fulfilled services for many years until his passing in 2013 at the age of 97.