After Dorris Francis, FedAOA, the apex body of AOAs in Ghaziabad, has now stepped up for Ganga Devi.
Ganga, 24, who works as a domestic help, has been running from pillar to post for the treatment of Shreya, her four-year-old daughter, for the last six months. She has been diagnosed with holes in her heart. Breathlessness, weakness are things that have become normal for this little braveheart -- sometimes, she even faints.
Doctors, who diagnosed her, say she needs immediate surgery that could cost anything between Rs 2.5-3 lakh. FedAOA is now carrying out a collection drive for her.
Abandoned by her husband six months ago, Ganga shifted back to her father’s place in Kanavani village near Indirapuram from Bihar's Bhetia. Her father, Premanand Das, a rickshaw-puller, has been spending his meager earnings on Shreya's treatment. Together, they have already spent Rs 1,24,000 on their only joy in life.
Ganga Devi
Unfortunately, Ganga was soon left without a job, as her daughter’s treatment would require her to be absent from work frequently. Recounting her struggle, she says, “My employers asked me to stop coming... they asked me to return only after my daughter got well.”
There were times when Ganga had not even the money for food.
And then demonetisation struck.
The cash crunch forced even residents willing to help her to back down. Electronic transfers were also out of question, as Ganga had no bank account, and could not open one in the absence of any ID or address proof. Her father had to sell his land and take loans from money lenders at exorbitant rates to be able to continue Shreya’s treatment. “They charged an interest of 45-60 per cent,” he recalls.
It was this point that Ganga was introduced to Alok Kumar, a patron of FedAOA, by a friend. Kumar had been instrumental in rallying support for Dorris Francis, who was diagnosed with cancer recently.
Kumar knew she needed a bank account urgently. He approached Kewal Lakhera, a councillor from Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation, for a certificate of identity for Ganga. Based on it, a savings account was opened for her at a Canara Bank branch in Indirapuram.
FedAoA-linked societies have now started collecting funds for Ganga.
The Gaur Green Vista AOA has handed an amount of Rs 3,750 collected over the last two days from the society to her. Parul Singh, an AOA member, said they would continue the drive over the weekend. “We are also planning to provide groceries, blankets and other items of daily use to her," she adds.
The collection box at Gaur Green Vista
Dorris Francis, too, has contributed Rs 50,000 from the funds collected for cancer treatment.
