Desperate for Help
Stories of Amrita Nidhi Pension Recipients

Kathyani is a grandmother. She is bent heavily with a spine disease and comes from a very poor family. She says that she uses most of her pension to buy things for her grandchildren. She keeps only one third for herself. This she wraps in newspaper and every night she sleeps, holding onto what she feels to be her gift from Amma. Every morning she offers the gift to Amma's picture. She says it's all she has in the world to rely on.

As Kathyani told us her story, she clung to Sharada, the pension co-ordinator, in tearful gratitude.

Ammini came to register for the first time and was very anxious to be accepted. She is forty-five years-old, unmarried with elderly parents who depend on her. She can only get odd jobs and finds it very hard to make ends meet.

Rajamani is forty-two, married with three children. She said, "My husband has developed a very bad skin disease and he can't work anymore. He is very sick now. I don't know how we are going to manage. Nothing is certain in our lives. The pension will be a great help.

Omana, who is sixty-three years old, lives with her husband and twenty-two-year-old son. She explains how her life changed when her husband fell sick. “For the past four years my husband has been bed-ridden with back pain. My son is not keeping good health. He is very sickly and often cannot go to work. I have never worked outside my home so I do not know any work other than housework.

I don't know what I can do at my age. My son helps us when he is in work but most of the time it is very difficult; then we pull on because other people help us.” Omana was very happy to receive Amma’s pension.

Kankamma’s husband was a fisherman but cannot work anymore because of his bad health. She herself is a heart patient and they live with their grown-up son who is also a fisherman. Kankamma said: “Our family depends on the sea for a living. During the rainy season there is no work; then we have no income at all. Due to many years working as a fisherman, my husband has severe back problems and can no longer go to sea.

The monthly pension given by Amma is a great support to us financially. It is also such a moral support to know that it will come to us every month, irrespective of the season of the year. We will at least have this in our time of need.”

Ramya and Ammini face their hard lives with courage. Ammi is a widow, and Ramya's husband cannot work because of asthma. They say the pension helps them to buy medicines and pay for things their children's study.

The ladies are relieved to tell their problems and to know that someone is interested. Afterwards, the ashramite who heard their stories said, "Some ladies were so sad yet so brave. This work makes me appreciate everything single thing that I have ever received in my life."

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