Yours friendly, Saheli.

A woman in Distress.

  “Life has been very harsh on me”, laments 38-year-old Maya Shukla of Boston, who is suffering from a Brain Tumor for the past six years and has an abusive husband of 18 years. Maya is undergoing chemotherapy at the local hospital with very meager resources at her disposal. She has a 13-year-old daughter, who she says is the only reason she wants to live. A simple girl from Ahmedabad, a town in Gujarat, India, Maya had never envisaged such a life when she got married to Navin, a young boy from America. With incomplete college education and hardly any knowledge of English language, Maya landed in altogether new nation. Right from the beginning there were problems between Maya and Navin. Maya made some money selling gold jewellery to the Indians nearby. Navin had a job but,  always demanded money from her. For the past six years owing to her poor health she is out of business. She now depends on the funds from the Social Security Office. Navin continues to ask her for money. Maya is emotionally very disturbed and needs support from her loved ones. Despite her poor condition what she gets from Navin is a beating for no reason. Their daughter who is at a very tender age has matured all of a sudden .She cooks for her ailing mother, balancing her school and studies and sometimes also shares her mother’s beatings.

      It was during this time, when Maya came across’SAHELI’, an organization that works for the upliftment of the women. SAHELI, Friendship for South Asian Women is a group dedicated to helping South Asian women in Boston and the neighboring areas. Founded in 1996, it provides friendship, support, guidance and resources in the areas of career and economic empowerment, physical and mental health, legal and immigration issues, support for families, and social and cultural volunteer opportunities.

     SAHELI has been helping out Maya in several ways for the past one year now. It takes care of her chemotherapy, medicines and so on. SAHELI ‘s affiliated with ICC (Indian circle of Caring). Who  has volunteers who spend five days a month, helping her to take her oral chemotherapy. Girish Mehta of ICC has been talking with different doctors and is converting medical information into layman’s language for Maya. Other local volunteers of community at SAHELI provides her with food on the daily basis. They help her out with her errands. They spend several hours talking to her and giving her hope to be alive. Maya can’t stop talking about SAHELI and can’t thank enough all its members. She says,” They all have been taking care of me like any mother would.” 

 -Tripti Deodhar, Marlborough.

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