Bhubaneswar: Around 80 inmates of Shelter for Urban Homeless (SUH) at Ganganagar and Chandrasekharpur celebrated the New Year with gaiety and lots of fun. They cut cakes and celebrated the Zero Year with volunteers of Odisha Patita Udhar Samiti and members of Jeevan Jyoti Yuvaparishad, who visited the shelter homes to celebrate the occasion with the inmates
Sonia Digal, an inmate of SUH, said this was the best New Year of his life, thanks to OPUS and BMC for giving them an identity and celebrate the occasion like everyone else. In the world of increasing infrastructure, technology and cut-throat competition, simple gestures of kindness and human touch are often lost in the shadows. However, ushering in hope and peace in the world, a group of volunteers Tuesday welcomed the New Year with the old and destitute in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation’s SUH in the capital city.
Matrumayee Praiyadarshini of OPUS said, “We had started celebrations from zero hour. Earlier, we had decided to involve youth organisations in the celebrations to make the youngsters realise the importance of service and also ensure that the elderly people enjoy the day with someone. We invited Odia actor Jyoti Ranjan Nayak and comedian Prayan Ojha, who visit the shelter homes Wednesday to celebrate the day with 150 inmates of SUH.
More than 300 people are staying at these seven SUHs. Aside from providing food and potable drinking water to the inmates of these short-stay homes, the volunteers also helped the needy to get the benefits of various government welfare schemes.
It is heart-rending to see the senior people living miserable lives in the shelter homes. Their faces show the pains they might have gone through. They were either abandoned on the streets by their uncaring children or they have none to rely on in their old age. While BMC’s SUH has given them a roof over their heads, i these elderly people found love and affection on the New Year eve as a group of youths came to enjoy the day with them.
An inmate of the shelter home, Sarathi Dutta, who hails from Kolkata, said, “This is the first time I have received so much warmth and happiness during a New Year celebration. I feel afraid to utter the words ‘family’ and ‘relatives’ due to my past experiences. But, today I have accepted these people as my own and I wish to live a happy life with them.”
