On a fateful day in January, in the small village of Prataprudrapur in Orissa, a little boy in his hut looks for a coin with a candle in hand. As he crawls, the candle drops from his hand onto a mat, which quickly catches fire. The hut is engulfed by flames and in no time at all a blaze breaks out in the neighbouring hutments built of straw and wood. Four closely situated huts burn to the ground within minutes. The villagers save the child and others in the neighbouring area. They try hard to rescue as much property as possible, but in vain.

Two of the huts burnt down belonged to Ujjivan customers Rinu Biswal and Sanjukta Biswal who were away at work – daily labour and rearing cattle – when the blaze took place. Rudrapur village is located 18 kilometres from Ujjivan’s Phulnakhara branch. The families lost everything in the fire including basic essentials like clothes and food. They lost their entire household savings. Both families stayed in cattle shed; the villagers helping them with food and clothes.

Cadres from political parties visited these customers and promised help. The contribution never came. The impacted families waited a long time to get support from the Government, but had no clue on how to get the officials to help. Ujjivan staff, on learning of the situation duly informed sister NGO Parinaam Foundation.

Subsequently, Vinayak, the Customer Relationship Staff (CRS), went beyond his call of duty and met several Block-level officials along with the Sarpanch (Village Head) to persuade them to help those families. After innumerable visits and discussions, he succeeded in convincing the officials to bring these two customers under the purview of the Indira Awaas Yojna (IAY)*. Each of the families soon received an initial grant of Rs.5000 under the scheme.

*[The objective of IAY is primarily to provide grant for construction of houses to members of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, freed bonded labourers and also to non-SC/ST rural poor below the poverty line.]

Parinaam Foundation and Ujjivan went beyond providing financial aid to the families by helping them with basic household requirements and life’s necessities. The beneficiaries were present with their entire families and other supporters (also Ujjivan customers) – Rina Biswal with her 4 year old son and 11 year old daughter and Sanjukta Biswal with her husband and 3 sons (aged 12, 14 & 16 years).

The children were given school bags and school shoes, while the families were provided with clothes, stoves, pressure cookers, and kitchen utensils (some donated by Ujjian and Parinaam staff). When the 11 year old girl was given a cycle, her joy knew no bounds and she spontaneously broke into a wide smile as she rode her bike home. It was a touching moment for all of the staff.

Rina was also provided with start-up money as month’s rent for a cabin (small shop) along with all required groceries to start the tiffin/snacks business (with re-investment plans based on performance). Sanjukta was given a certified weighing scale with initial investments for their bicycle-based vegetable vending business. Her husband became emotional and recollected the time when he had to struggle to buy the bicycle, which was gutted in the fire. He said, “Ujjivan’s and Parinaam’s help makes me feel that I am reborn”. The families appreciated the support of Vinayak (CRS) who helped them at such a time of distress.
Other Ujjivan customer groups and members of the community all came together to witness the proceedings.

We are proud of Vinayak, Bimal, and Rakesh for their sense of social service and thankful to all in Parinaam and Ujjivan who helped with donations.