Shelter home writes to god to fulfil daily requirements
BHARATPUR: Donors, who come to the shelter home from various parts of the state, see the board with the requirements written on it and fulfil them according to their wish. God fulfils our daily requirements through donors.
DR BRAJMOHAN BHARADWAJ, director of Apna Ghar
A shelter home in Bharatpur district, which gives refuge to the destitute and mentally and physically challenged men and women, does not depend on government donations to meet their daily needs. Rather, they write to god to meet the requirements needed to run the home. The shelter home, Apna Ghar, located in Bajhera, 8 km from Bharatpur, has been providing shelter for last 18 years.
The management of Apna Ghar writes request letters to god early in the morning seeking food and other provisions for the men, women and children who live at the destitute home.
Dr Brajmohan Bharadwaj, director of Apna Ghar, said there is a board on which they write down their daily requirements. The request letter is revised every day to add things such as food, clothes, medicines that the home needs.
“Donors, who come to the shelter home from various parts of the state, see the board with the requirements written on it and fulfil them according to their wish,” he said. The home doesn’t get a subsidy from the government and is run with the help of donations from private firms and individuals, said Bharadwaj, who is a homoeopathy doctor, while his wife, Madhuri, is an electro homoeopathy doctor.
He said that donors from across the country donate money and provide foodgrains, oil, clothes, ambulance and other necessities to the home. “God fulfils our daily requirements through donors,” said Dr Bharadwaj.
He said that there are 2,234 destitute people at the home. There are 1,363 men, 875 women and 84 children and most are physically and mentally challenged and have been abandoned.
“The people are picked up from railway stations, bus stands, religious and other public places and are often severely diseased,” said Dr Bharadwaj.
The state government has set up a primary health centre at the home, where government doctors — Dr Mahesh Vidharthy, surgeon; Dr Pawan Sharma, physician; Dr GL Agrawal, physician; Dr RS Gupta, a paediatrician and Dr Devendra Singh, physiotherapist — treat the inmates for free. The patients, who are serious, are sent to the Bikaner medical college, while other critical patients are admitted to Ajmer and Jodhpur medical colleges.
The home has a staff of 210 persons and around 110 volunteers. The home also runs a shelter for injured animals and birds, where they are treated and feed.
“Women who have been sexually exploited and are pregnant are also given shelter at Apna Ghar. The home management cares for the women and their children and provides them education,” said Dr Bharadwaj.
There are three HIV positive women, who have been sexually exploited by miscreants and were kicked out of their homes by their families and in-laws. Some women, who are mentally unsound, have been gangraped by criminals while wandering the streets. The home has sent 15,700 people back to their houses and 2,145 have been rehabilitated last year.