The influence of commitment

An elderly woman in Kanungalakudi village near Madurai in Tamil Nadu showed me that real commitment can bear fruits beyond the boundaries of their own communities. One of my colleagues was asking me to visit his village as there were sex workers and it would be good to support them. After almost 2 years, I said yes and visited the women. There I met a woman who was in her 60s who was in tears as she spoke about the women in her village. Young girls are dying of HIV. There is so much sexual activity happening through compulsion. The next point she said was something which made me wonder and admire her passion for what she was doing.

Siaap had worked with them 10 years before and she was a peer educator at that time. Even after Siaap stopped, she continued to meet women and give them condoms.

I was so inspired by her commitment to what she was doing and her love and compassion for her people, especially the women. She wanted a CBO to be formed for the women in that area so that they could provide services for the women in a sustained manner.

I thought that the best way to appreciate her or to honour her contribution was to support her in establishing a CBO for her community. From that day, I began providing support for her group. They have now collectivized and are ready for registration. Now there are 2 young women who are providing HIV/AIDS related services. They have had their elections with the support of the Federation and Siaap. The collective participated recently in the federation AGM meeting. One of their board members shared that she would one day become the president of the federation.

This is my lesson from the story. Committed people not only inspire others outside their community but they also play a key role in motivating fresh/new energy to come into the organisation. And those motivated people can also go beyond the boundaries of their own organisation to influence other organisations.