At least thirty-six carers from different areas of Hazaribagh district gathered here on Sunday to celebrate the launch of a new programme for the carers initiated by Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra and British charity, Carers Worldwide. Satish Girija, Secretary, NBJK, said that they will be working together to improve the lives of people who care for those who are disabled or mentally ill.
He welcomed Dr Anil K Patil, Founder & Executive Director of Carers Worldwide. All too often these carers lead isolated lives as they need to stay close to home to look after their loved one. Many of them have their own health problems, and have little time to deal with those. In addition, carers are not able to go out to work as they are caring for their loved one all day and every day. This means that these families are experiencing extreme poverty. Dr Anil K Patil opined that carers are invisible community, sometimes invisible for themselves. So this is the first thing that has to be changed.
NBJK and Carers Worldwide plan to form self help groups of carers where they can come together to share experiences and give support to each other.
They will be engaging the services of a professional counselor who will give time to the carers on a monthly basis. They will also be helping the carers to access local doctors to take care of their health needs. Assistance will be given to the carers to help them identify a suitable income generation activity, says Dr Anil K Patil.
Satish Girija said that initially, the project will run for one year, but it is expected that with the needs of carers being so great in this area, the work will continue for a long time after that NBJK will execute the project in partnership with three other NGOs like Stri Shakti, Anupam Mahila Chetna Samiti and lok Utthan Kendra working in Katkamsandi, Katkamdag, Churchu and Sadar blocks of the district.