Protagonist For Voiceless

“I lost many things in my life. My father died in my childhood and my mother was suffering from various ailments and I didn’t have money even to eat anything, what to speak of treating my mother. It was god’s grace I fortunately met with a generous lady who promised to wipe out my tears. She extended a helping hand that helped me to lead a meaningful life. Yes, after having been provided shelter at Sampurna I forgot that I was living with my family. I am thankful to Sampurna, which provided me basic necessities of life. Shobhaji ne hamare liye bahut kuchch kiya hai,” said Veena, a girl looked after by Sampurna during her miserable days. She made heart-rending and realistic viewpoint about Sampurna which revolutionised the distinct regions of Delhi with its hard work and selfless service. The NGO is headed by Shobha Vijendera Gupta, who has been working to elevate the weak and needy section of the society since September 1993.

                Shobha Gupta has established herself as a dedicated Indian among contemporary youth who sacrificed his comfort life only for serving the society. Establishment of Sampurna is her first step that provides behavioural and cognitive skills to the weaker society. Today it is covering the entire north-west Delhi and outer Delhi. After establishment, Sampurna took its first step towards development of weaker sections by starting a Family Counseling Centre (FCC) in 1993, which is attended by more than 2000 people annually. “Sampurna is best known for the counselling services. Community-based services and awareness programmes also in function by us, which include population control, consumer awareness, health and education project etc. We have 10 centres working every day from 10 am to 6 pm and also a head office to supervise them,” she informed.

                With the sheer efforts of Sampurna, it became possible that 2000 girls and women are self-dependent now. “If we have been able to change the life of one girl, we have completed our job. Our motive is to make each and every girl sampurna including the qualitative and quantitative development of a girl,” avers Shobha Gupta.

                On asking the reason behind Sampurna’s main motive centering girls, she said that she is focusing on adolescent girls between 14 years and 19 years because she feels it is the most vulnerable group and needs lot of counselling. For, if any girl commits a mistake in this particular time period, then she has to face the problem throughout the life. Stating that these girls would one day become a responsible mother she maintained that if they were not imbibed with enough good moral values, then what would they contribute to their children? So, we are also working on that front, she stated.

                Emphasising on development of women she said that middle-aged women come to her organisation with problems after they feel neglected. They think that they have given so much to the family but they have nothing with them and this leads to frustration. Therefore to combat with this frustration, they want to come out of the four walls, so the NGO counsels them and request them to work with the NGO for the society and use their services for caring poor children of nuclear families and the adolescent girls. It is worth mentioning that Sampurna has also initiated various programmes opposing child labour.

                She concludes by saying: “My message is for the male. As the females are coming forward, the male counterpart should also come forward to encourage them like Raja Ram Mohan Roy did by eradicating Sati Pratha and should not become an obstacle for them.”

By Sonia Chawla