Arjun’s Story: The Power of a Network

Arjun’s Story: this story is from a village called ‘Pasoli’ in Dehradun. Pasoli has a population of about 500 hundred people. The people who live here are dependent on farming and cattle rearing.  Most families have migrated from Jaunsaar a rather remote mountainous region. The Mountain Children’s Foundation (our partner in India)  has been working with children in Pasoli to create a kind of children’s group  calling ‘Bal Sangathan’ where both boys and girls discuss things like their rights and responsibilities, nutrition, their education, health and anything else that affects their lives and wellbeing.

Arjun and his family were among those families who had migrated to Pasoli. He had a large family of three brothers and six sisters, and his father worked hard as a daily wage earner to provide for his family.  One day, Arjun suddenly found he could not breathe, and fell ill.  Because he was part of the children’s group (the ‘Bal Sangathan’), everyone was alerted to his condition, the NGO adults of the Mountain Children’s Foundation, ever vigilant, visited his home and arranged for a doctor to see Arjun who concluded that Arjun had a heart problem.  Arjun had to go to the large hospital in Rishikesh, a town some distance away, where he would have to have surgery that would cost more money than his family could afford.  They received the devastating news that without this operation, Arjun’s life would be in danger.  

But the MCF had a secret weapon: their network.  They approached the Head, or, ‘pradhan’ of the village, who arranged for all the necessary documents and credit lines and food security cards that the family were due by law, and reached out to the pradhans of the neighbouring village as well. The MCF also helped with medical bills.   Soon Arjun was able to have his surgery, was able to apply for a scholarship and is now a healthy student of engineering. He is on his feet and has a future. 

The MCF believes in making the system work so that it is sustainable.  Arjun and his family have access to food and health and MCF does not need to ask donors to support Arjun as he and his family are connected with the social security systems provided by the government. It took a network of knowledge and relationships, begun through the Children’s Group, to lift Arjun high enough that he could see the future.