Penned By Board Member, Ms. Alo Pal
Reena
The voice message was confident and lucid. Reena had not only confirmed that the PCV vaccine had been integral to the Universal Immunization Program (UIP) of India since May 2017, she had also given me the schedule for the shots and the booster.
When we sat at the Sharana Social Centre a few weeks prior, we had segued significantly into her area of work — nursing in Obstetrics and Gynecology. I had told her that when I relocated to India with my infant daughter 17 years back, I was anxious about the availability of the PCV vaccine. My pediatrician had told me that it was indeed available, but expensive. She kept a limited stock and administered it only if the parents desired it.
As a mother of two, with an abiding interest and love for biology and the human body, we got engrossed in a conversation about prenatal care and immunization. She advised women on immunization and nutrition during pregnancy. Anemia was their most prevalent condition, so she prepared diet charts for them and recommended folic acid and iron supplements. She also handled high-risk pregnancies and gestational diabetes. What’s more, she advised the women on family planning — both temporary and long-term.
Primary health care has come such a long way and become so universal in India, and I was fascinated to listen to her speak about the extent of its reach.
Today, Reena works at a primary health center in Chennai. She has sent her brilliant 10th, 12th, and ANM mark sheets to the Medical Services Recruitment Board and is waiting for a reply. If accepted, she will not only be able to work in government hospitals — she can be posted anywhere in Tamil Nadu.
“She was a bright student right from the time she came under Sharana’s wing in her 5th standard,” adds Ravianand, our Back-to-School program manager and Reena’s mentor and guide.
After securing good marks in her 12th, Sharana helped Reena pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. Her final years of nursing were an intense baptism with the COVID pandemic. Her nursing school was affiliated with a hospital, and she ran the RT-PCR tests and was also a frontline worker in India’s phenomenal vaccine drive during the pandemic, administering vaccines in the Kirumampakkam and Reddiarpalayam primary health centers.
Her final year coincided with the Delta wave, and theory classes were held online due to social distancing protocols. I looked at her smartphone and asked her if her uncle had got her a phone for the classes. She said she had used his for the classes and that the one she used now was bought by her.
“My first salary — I gave to Mama.”
“And what did he say?”
“He blessed me.”
Speaking about her work, her studies, her ambitions and aspirations — Reena was unstoppable: fluent, competent, clear, confident. But, with eyes brimming with tears and the corner of her lips quivering, she glanced at Ravi the moment I asked her about her uncle.
That morning, he was waiting in our office while I spoke to Reena. When I learnt he was there, I was very eager to meet him. You know that feeling — when you have nurtured admiration and respect for a person, hearing about him from others? And then that magic moment when he’s standing next to you? That’s what happened at Sharana Social and Development Organisation, Pondicherry, that morning.
Manikandan, Reena’s uncle, personified nobility, humanity, and compassion. Unmarried then, he brought home his sister’s children and kept her dying wish to give them a good education. But education is the least of his deeds — it’s his unheard-of, unconditional love for the children that blows the mind.
Board Member Ms. Alo Pal with Reena, her uncle Mr. Manikandan, and Program Manager Mr. Ravianand.
But even that’s not it — it’s the unspoken words behind tearful eyes of love and gratitude from the children that really touch you deep. What a hero.
You can read about Reena’s brother Dinesh here.
