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>>Surekha
Sadafuld
Mathkuli Village
Writer: Rugaba Kanani;
Editor: Jenny Chen
Meet Surekha Sadafuld, a
woman that embodies perseverance and radiates hope to those that
appear to have no
way out.
Born into a low caste and the
last of four female siblings, Surekha was already limited in her
opportunities to find happiness and success. The experiences
she encountered would make her prospects even dimmer. At
fourteen years of age, Surekha was forced to quit school, marry
an unkind man, and live with abusive in-laws. In addition to
the daily violence and insults inflicted on Surekha, her husband
attempted to take her life on three separate occasions. The
psychological trauma from those events led Surekha to believe
that ending her own life (as well as those of her two daughters)
was her only path to escape a life of misery.
Her life changed when she was
introduced to the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (“CRHP”).
CRHP saw value and undeveloped potential in Surekha and asked
her to join their program as a Community Health Worker (“CHW”).
At CRHP, Surekha gained a new outlook on life and her sense of
self-worth was restored. She recounts, “Initially, I was like a
frog stuck in a dry well. I had a very small perspective on
life, and all I felt was the dryness. All I saw were the walls
that surrounded me. When it rains, that situation changes and
the frog is able to swim up and jump out of the well. It then
sees how big the world really is. Once I started working with
CRHP, I began to see life in a different way.”
Armed with her new
perspective and the training she received at CRHP, Surekha was
able to systematically improve the health of her village while
breaking down caste distinctions and dispelling harmful
traditions that were affecting the people of her village.
Surekha’s commitment to better pre- and post-natal care has led
to a dramatic reduction in infant and mother mortality, and an
increase in the number of healthy (high birth weight) babies
being born. With her dark past behind her, Surekha sees much
hope in the future of her family and village. As she watches
her teenage daughters becoming fully educated she is delighted
by one’s desire to become a doctor and the other’s aspiration to
become a police officer. After ten years of working with the
residents of her village, Surekha finds joy in the fact she no
longer needs to be there every day as so many have become
knowledgeable about basic healthcare. As for her own future,
Surekha plans to keep learning—specifically in the field of
mental health—so that she can continue helping those in need.
Like Surekha, many of the
Community Health Workers deployed by CRHP have had their own
lives changed in powerful ways and are anxious to “pay it
forward.” CRHP has impacted the lives of thousands living in
rural India and through the expansion and knowledge-sharing of
the CRHP model, the organization stands to truly help change the
world.
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