Posted: 31/07/2007
All of Asha's programmes are geared towards empowering communities and enabling them to take responsibility for their own health, families, homes and neighbourhoods. However, conditions even in Asha slums are such that some people are much worse off than others and need extra help. Asha staff members are trained to identify these people and to assess their needs so they can be given any assistance that is necessary.
Here are the stories of 3 of these people.
A young TB sufferer
Alao lives in the slum at Kalkaji. She's sixteen years old, but looks about six years younger. She looks extremely thin and very weak, as she is still battling with TB after relapsing and suffering for 6 months.
An Asha Community Health Volunteer (CHV), Galwati, looks after Alao's family among about 200 others in the area. She told us how Alao's father also suffered with TB, after the disease spread to the family when a man in a neighbouring slum hut became ill. Overcrowding in the slums allows diseases to spread rapidly and the family may not have known what was wrong with their neighbour at the time.
Alao's condition meant that she spent several months in bed, unable to get up even to go to the toilet. Her family struggled to care for her as both her parents worked until her father became too sick - he worked as a painter, and her mother worked as a cook and a maid. 
Galwati explained that the family had assumed that the symptoms of TB were a persistent flu or chest infection, but that she suspected TB which was diagnosed immediately when she persuaded Alao to be tested. Alao had to leave school as she was too ill to attend, but now, with Galwati keeping an eye on her and regular medication, she is beginning to recover.
Asha are providing the medicine and nutritious food that she so desperately needs in order to fight off the disease for good. Alao has been hugely disadvantaged, lost the chance for an education and nearly lost her life, but now when she recovers she will be able to work, earn a living, and perhaps have a family of her own one day.
A weak and poverty-stricken elderly couple
An old couple sit in Asha health centre at Kalkaji. An air of helplessness surrounds the two of them. The woman is incredibly frail and looks visibly exhausted by the burden of caring for her husband. She is severely anaemic and in need of a blood transfusion, he is suffering from a dementia and paralysis of his left hand and arm. His condition is caused by his work as a skilled craftsman - the tools he used caused the deterioration of his hand and now it rests gnarled and useless in his lap. He hasn't been able to work for many years. His shabby clothes flap around his skinny limbs and his expression alternates between haunted and confused.
Haltingly, the couple explain how they have five children who have all married and moved away. Now, they hardly ever see them and are unable to rely on them for any support.
.jpg)
The Mahila Mandal member explains how they helped the old man to apply for a pension from the government. He was receiving 400 rupees a month (just below 10 US dollars or 5 UK pounds) and had no other source of income. Now, Asha are giving him double that amount, in addition to eggs, milk and other nutritious food. Asha is providing their medical care free of charge and while both husband and wife are unlikely to recover, they can now afford to eat and they know that they do now have somewhere to turn to for help.
Around 20-25 of the most needy people in each of Asha's slums receive relief money until they can get back on their feet - usually this aid continues for 6 months at a time, sometimes more.
My own parents married me off at the age of 13 so I had no education. Asha gave me the training and equipment to earn money and care for my children. I’m not dependent on my husband or sons and I’m saving for the future as well.
Bimla, women's group president, Ekta Vihar
