Years ago Thoppil Bhasi wrote the story of Sarojam who becomes an outcast when she contracts leprosy.
Six months later when Sarojam comes home cured of the disease, no one believes her — she cannot stay at home anymore. Sarojam’s tale may just be a story but many like her exist in society and their plight is heartbreaking.
Like the woman in Kannur, who came home cured of cancer after six years, and was not accepted by her brother. It was Dr Arifa K.C. who brought in help and arranged for a shelter for the orphaned woman. It comes as no surprise for the doctor who has been engaged in humanitarian services despite her busy life as an oncologist.
It was while trying to connect poor cancer patients to philanthropists across the world that she stumbled upon the path of social networking.
“There are a lot of people who cannot afford even the basic treatment for cancer. They need financial help and social rehabilitation. There is only so much you can do at a personal level. That’s when I thought of taking advantage of the online network,” says Dr. Arifa. So on the one side she created a bank of financially sound people who wanted to help, and on another, poor victims of this deadly illness.
“The interesting part is that neither party knows one another. The contributors do not know who they are helping and the patients do not know who helps them.”
Dr. Arifa names an engineer-cum-poet Babu Ramachandran from Mumbai who has been one of the biggest contributors. “He helped an 18-year-old girl from Kasargode overcome the disease and she started going to school again but she has never seen or heard about Babu.”
The doctor is also the director of the Centre for Film, Gender and Cultural Studies. She has been instrumental in taking film classics to community libraries in villages and writes articles about films and gender issues.
“I am just one of the facilitators of discussion groups on cinema and gender issues in such scenarios,” adds the humble doctor. She has also worked in endosulfan-affected areas. And after all this work, Dr. Arifa still finds time to write poetry.
