Iswar Sankalpa: a home for people with special needs 

An NGO called Iswar Sankalpa has a mission to provide shelter and healthcare to people with special needs. The NGO has re-united more than 100 people with their families and given a new lease of life to many. Laboni, Counselor, Iswar Sankalpa said, "A person with mental illness is also a human being. The characteristics they show are something we also display daily during certain moments." 

This belief has broken the many walls of stigma, fear and isolation for the homeless people with mental illness. Apart from rendering psychiatric help, Iswar Sankalpa has helped restore their sense of self-worth with unconventional therapeutic methods like cooking. The NGO has re-united more than 100 people with their families and given a new lease of life to many. Sarbani Das Roy, Secretary, Iswar Sankalpa, said, "They don't have an identity, they don't have a ration card or voters ID because they are homeless. It's not that they are culrpits." Many lost and isolated women have wandered into the city from different parts of the country. Manju Debi, as she is known, doesn't know where she came from and no one understands her language. But some like Meena have managed to pick up the pieces. A mother at 17 years of age, she had to part with her two children whom she gave birth on the streets. Today she has put her past behind her. "I miss my mother a lot, I often think of home and nag them to take me to my family. But then they say why don't I stay with them. They love me so much," Meena said. Everyday, Iswar Sankalpa volunteers and doctors scout the streets to rehabilitate such people through community-based treatment. When they found Abdullah on the streets in 2007, shopkeeper Nihar was appointed as his care-giver. "I love being here, he is like my chacha, I spend the whole day at work, I feel good," Abdullah said. 101 people have been restored to their families, but some like Manju Ram from Kashmir and his new friends have found this day centre their home. A low priority area and a neglected demographic are some of the daunting challenges for Iswar Sankalpa. "When we first started, we would walk into the police station and they would say we have more important things to care about than a homeless woman who has got raped, so please spare us, but today when we walk into the police station they hear us," Sarbani said.