Moving ahead with will power and Asraya

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, Navneeth N Nair from Alathur in Palakkad knew nothing about the complexities of the disease or the seriousness. He was just a small child then.Now, exactly three years after her death, Navneeth was honoured by the NGO Asraya for the excellent results he scored for his tenth standard exams. A student of the BSS Gurukulam at Alathur, Navneeth got A+ in all subjects.Navneeth has a definite aim now to go to AFMC, Pune, for medicine. “I like armed forces and I like medicine. I have been browsing the net about AFMC and that is where I want to be,” said the teenager.Being his mother’s companion on their very frequent visits to the Regional Cancer Centre here throughout the two years she was under treatment, Navneeth’s studies had suffered because of the travel and the financial burden of the treatment. It was his cousins and members of Asraya who helped him along the years after his mother’s death.Asraya has been helping a number of students whose parents were victims of cancer. “Many of us have been emotionally adopting these children. But apart from that we are financially helping as many as 386 students of various classesthis year,” said J Lalithambika IAS, patron of Asraya, at a get-together of cancer-afflicted families.The meeting was organised by Asraya to honour the students who scored good marks in class 10 and 12 examinations and also to guide other students from cancer-afflicted families. The students who failed are also taken into Asraya’s fold and advised how best they can overcome the situation.“We sit with them, look through their marksheets and give them a sort of career guidance. We have one student, Arun, who completed school, went for entrance coaching and now has managed to get a merit seat at an engineering college by his sheer willpower,” said Padmini, an Asraya volunteer.Last financial year alone, Asraya spent as much as Rs 26 lakh for children’s education, most of which had come from philanthropists and well-wishers. The financial help, mainly in the form of tuition fee, is sent directly to the school or the educational institution where the children are studying.As many as 15 children who availed of Asraya’s help are now employed in various sectors such as nursing, computer applications, polytechnics, ITC and teaching profession. Two of the students are employed abroad.The last Saturday in the month of May is the day when all of them from various parts of the state try to come together, as they did on Saturday at the Snehasangamam. And the Cosmopolitan Club at Muttada, like always, refused to take any money from Asraya for renting out their premises for the annual get-together.This year’s meet had RCC superintendent Ramdas as the chief guest. Krishnanunni Harikumar, one of the IAS toppers from the state, who attended the meet to inspire the youngsters, even sang a song for them.