‘Today, youngsters don’t have the willingness to share and care,’ says Samyuktha Manu, founder of Jeevadha Charitable Trust

In the heart of Shornur, a small village nestled amidst Palakkad district’s lush greenery, lies a beacon of hope. Samyuktha Manu, the driving force behind Jeevadha Charitable Trust, has dedicated fourteen years to uplifting the lives of the marginalized and underprivileged in the community. With a spirit of compassion and an unwavering commitment to social change, she has transformed countless lives, making a profound impact on the fabric of the village.

What was the motivating factor behind the establishment of Jeevadha Charitable Trust?

Even though I had the habit of performing small deeds of charity right from my childhood times, they were not goal-oriented I would say. A few years ago, I had a small booklet of Swami Vivekananda quotes in my bookshelf. One day when I started reading it, a quote happened to strike me with such an intensity that I went on thinking about it every now and then. The quote was – “Get up, and put your shoulders to the wheel — how long is this life for? As you have come into the world, leave some mark behind. Otherwise, where is the difference between you and the trees and stones?” To be frank, that thought didn’t allow me to sleep at all and I started contemplating on how to make my life more meaningful and mark a signature in this world before I leave this body. This very single thought led to the foundation for Jeevadha Charitable Society on March 8, 2010.

How do you recollect the initial years of Jeevadha?

Jeevadha was initially recognized as a Women’s organization aiming at the welfare of women and children. I still remember watching children play cricket in the after-harvest fields during those initial days. Later, I became one among those children and took initiative to buy a bat. Gradually we formed a girls’ team as well. In our village, women never used to come out of their households. In such a scenario, our organization was a kind of revolution flagged by women and children with environmental and developmental goals

Briefing the main activities of Jeevadha Charitable Trust, how do you evaluate the progress of the organisation in the past 14 years?

As I mentioned, we started as a women’s organisation which later became a charitable society and now Jeevadha has taken the form of a trust. We started by building doors for a cancer patient’s house and I still remember the relief reflected in their eyes after the completion of that work. Of course, that was a wonderful beginning and till date, we have built 6 petty shops for deserving people to earn a livelihood. The organization now provides pensions for 33 people and supplies new dresses and Onam kits to the deserving. We have completely undertaken the education of 3 children. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we could cook and supply food for more than 100 people. We have also started a chain for providing goats to households and later collecting lambs from those beneficiaries so that other households can also be benefitted. Jeevadha is also conducting weekly drawing classes and training sessions for martial arts like Kalari, Kung-fu and Karate which helps in the holistic development of children. Jeevadha has marked imprints on the agricultural realms as well, and in relation to that, we are keenly focusing on the annual distribution of Karkkidaka kanji (medicinal porridge) to the villagers. Actually, we do it in a different way by arranging health care classes during the Malayalam month of Karkkidakam and imparting knowledge on the health benefits of Karkkidaka kanji. Every year, we are distributing Karkkidaka kanji to nearly 250 people in the village.

Your work serves as an inspiration to the entire community, proving that even the smallest acts of kindness can create ripples of change that extend far beyond the limits of a small village. Could you please share some memorable moments or milestones of Jeevadha in the past?

Jeevadha became popular among the public because of our summer camp conducted for children during their annual vacation time. After 9 years, we had to put a temporary break to the camp following the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a hard fact that today, youngsters don’t have the willingness to share and care. This attitude needs to be changed starting from the grassroot level and hence, we decided to invest so much time and resources on children. During the camp, we introduced light cooking sessions for them which helps to understand the responsibilities taken by their parents. We let them visit the homes of the underprivileged and make the children offer some help for those people so that they can understand how lucky they are, compared to the lives of such people. We used to conduct one-day outings to scenic places for small adventure activities like trekking and introduced to them a little bit of mild meditation practices for self-control. The camp was very much welcomed by parents and even now, many parents are insisting and encouraging to restart the annual summer camp. Also, in our village, many trees stand up as the mementos of our early group activities. Only with an overwhelming happiness can we watch those trees which we cheerfully planted some 14 years back.

It’s quite admirable that your dedication towards Jeevadha runs deeper than mere philanthropy. Could you please comment on the inhouse team of Jeevadha? There must be some people who stood consistently with this organization, if I’m not wrong.

Of course, but just a few people I may say. Other than six to seven members, there were not many team players who were consistent enough to run the day-to-day activities of the organization. Lack of participation of youth is a major problem that we’re facing now. It’s quite painful that the youth is not willing to undertake responsibilities, and this is one key reason for which we concentrate mainly on the personality development of small children so that they can become eminent team players once they hit their teenage thresholds.

Here stands Jeevadha as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and a reflection of the transformative power of compassion. In this context, where do you want to position Jeevadha in the next 5-6 years?

Being a farmer, I aim to build an old age habitat for seniors which allows them to be the part of a diverse and vibrant environment consisting of birds like hens and animals like cows and goats. Jeevadha is also targeting to generate employment opportunities, especially for seniors in villages who are willing to work from their own homes and make use of their idle time to earn some personal income so that they don’t have to depend on their offsprings for monetary requirements. The organization also aims at imparting holistic education to the upcoming generation and providing scholarships to those children who face financial difficulties in securing quality education. It is also a need of the time to honour less-known personalities who have contributed much to the society and Jeevadha is already on it. We have also extended our activities and services so as to benefit our neighbouring villages as well. Apart from all these, I have a personal wish to congregate a travel group which can conduct trips either to leisure or spiritual destinations.

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