Muscat: When Saraswathy Manoj, a homemaker and an online social activist in Muscat, logs in to her Facebook (FB) account, she looks for committed responses rather than mere likes or pokes. For the last four years, because of the committed responses on her FB posts, she and her friends have been able to bring positive changes to the lives of so many individuals in Muscat and in India. Saraswathy and her friends often receive a diverse range of requests, and have always succeeded through their online help mission in helping the needy. The requests range from a wheelchair for a physically-challenged person, need for organ or blood donors, to arrange medicines for patients battling for life in hospitals, or providing shelter and clothes for victims of natural calamities. At times, they have even dealt with pleas for a job hunt from a qualified person. Even by being at home and networking online, we have been able to reach out to people who are in distress. All we need is a strong mind to do so, Saraswathy, who runs an FB account and coordinates with three more similar accounts, told Times of Oman in an exclusive interview from her home. I learnt the goodness of helping those who are in distress from my father. He was a priest in a temple and I saw that he never said no to those who are suffering. It inspired me a lot, said Saraswathy. Saraswathy and her friends run mainly three pages -- We Help, Thanal and Blood Donors Kerala. We Help and Thanal focus mainly on charity, and Blood Donors Kerala focuses on arranging blood for needy patients. When I reached Muscat to join my husband Manoj, who works as a finance manager at a company in Ghala, I was sitting idle. By accident, I came across an FB page run by one Vinod Bhaskar, a state transport employee in the south Indian state of Kerala. Through his FB page, he was coordinating help for the needy. I joined him online. Slowly, we were able to bring in changes. More and more positive changes made me push the boundaries, said Saraswathy, who is also a recipient of the Bharat Scout and Guides Award from the President of India during her school days. Now, her FB page and the three other pages have more than 50,000 friends. At any time, at least 100 friends are online in different parts of the world. So it is easy to get help. When dealing with cases in Muscat, we have been able to get help from other GCC countries as well. It is a blessing that there still are people who are committed to society and lend a helping hand without expecting anything in return, she added. Before going online Saraswathy and her friends were coordinating help through cell phones. Before we set up the FB page; we used to coordinate through group messages and phone calls. Those days we were able to help only a few as there were many limitations. Now, the FB pages are quite helpful, said Saraswathy, who is supported wholeheartedly by her husband and daughter. Saraswathys daughter Krishna Priya, who is a Class IV student at Indian School Darsait also helps her in updating the pages, and posting requests.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 00:27:22 +0000
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