Students sweep floors to help villagers see better

Updated on: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

A bunch of city students were willing to do whatever it takes – cook, wash dishes, sweep floors, and other odd jobs – to convince elderly villagers of Karwale to undergo cataract surgeries. And it took all of that, and weeks of persuading, for them to achieve just that. On Saturday, the 30 students from KC College were a proud lot as 11 tribals – mostly senior citizens – underwent the surgery at the Bombay City Eye Institute and Research Centre at Babulnath.

Two months ago, when these 30 students arrived at Karwale to organise free eye camps as a part of their village project, they found 14 elderly tribals suffering from cataract. They decided to help these villagers get their vision back. They had no idea what they were getting into.

"The tribals had some kind of Mumbai phobia. They were convinced that the doctors will remove their kidneys during the operation," said Pratik Shah, a TYBSc (IT) student who was a part of the team working on the project. "We went door-to-door for over a month to convince them and their families, told them that the surgeries were completely safe and free of cost, that they will be able to see clearly again, but nothing worked," Shah said. "Finally, we started helping the elderly villagers in their daily chores like cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, sweeping their floors, giving them medicines etc. Once we had won their trust, it was easier to convince them to get the surgery done," added Shah, a resident of Kalbadevi.

"Language was a big barrier. Most of us didn't know Marathi. So we even learnt the language to strike a conversation with the villagers," said Aishwarya Menon, a SYBSc student. But, Menon said that the toughest part was convincing the relatives. "Many of them snubbed us. Some even insulted us. They asked us why we were so bothered about their family members. We were hurt by their comments, but we eventually convinced them that we were doing it as a good deed and had no hidden interests," added Menon.

Eleven of the 14 tribals underwent the surgery. The remaining three could not be operated due to severe blood pressure fluctuation. "The students worked really hard. Each time they tried to convince a family their people skills got sharper. The best part is that they convinced everyone," said Ujjal Bhattacharya, programme manager, Vision Foundation of India which worked along with the students.

Students sweep floors to help villagers see better

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