People who chased dogs and threw dirty water on us while proposing for establishment of an Ashram

Published Date: July 27, 2022

The best work of life is human service. The world of human service is much wider than selfishness, frustration, profit, malice and hatred. A gentle heart is not enough for this task. Fulfilling that promise requires a lot of heart. In the world of crowds and virality, there are innumerable people who temporarily serve people or appear/eat on the cover. However, those who have been living carelessly on the streets for years and who have the determination to free the street dependents by giving them a new lease of life are rare. Ramji Adhikari is that rare character. After the government became helpless in fulfilling the obligations of the state, the officials prepared volunteers like themselves. And, by establishing the Manav Seva Ashram, he made a nationwide campaign. Dil Shirish, editor for Kathalika, spoke with the founder/chairman of Manav Seva Ashram:

Manavsewa Ashram's campaign to build a cooperative, road-dependent, human-free nation by 2082 has reached where?

At the time of the establishment of the organization, Manavsewa Ashram had set the goal of building Nepal, a free nation of people dependent on the streets, by rescuing the homeless people who are in the streets and public places of the country. We are very close to it.

There are statistics that we have rescued about 6500 people in the 10-year period that we started from 2069. In the last 3 years, we have managed to provide services equal to the number of services we provided in the first 7 years. Only last year we traveled from East Mechi to West Mahakali for 45 days. Meanwhile, we rescued 758 people.

In the beginning, when we requested for help, it was difficult to get help, now that situation is less. We are also close to Manavseva Ashram as it is being developed as a place for rich Nepali people to celebrate and remember their ancestors.

How many people are still on the streets now? Has any body kept such research, official data? And looking at all these conditions, will their goals be achieved by 82 years?

Of course, I still see many people on the street. No body has its single statistics.

There are people like this when we started the organization. Even though nobody realizes that they also have human rights, at least we have made everyone aware that it is our responsibility to protect the lives of street dependent people. That's why the people on the streets have been rescued.

We are confident that we can achieve the goal. We had prepared that we can do it within 2078, not 2082. According to the same preparation, we also went to Mechi Mahakali Yatra. However, in the meantime, due to the ravages of Kovid 19, it was difficult to deliver the expected service. And we had nothing financially when we set this goal. It was just a feeling. Believing in that feeling and being optimistic that everyone's support and cooperation will be there for good work. Today we are preparing to announce about the country.

Announcing is not a big thing, but the subsequent implementation is the most important aspect. For its implementation, we have speeded up the construction of a friendly building with the Ashram's own support. By the end of 2080, we are emphasizing on the management of street-dependent people by constructing help-friendly buildings in the locations where the ashram branches are operating. At present, the building of 13 Stham Ashrams in the country is being constructed simultaneously, while the construction of the main office building in Makwanpur, Hetauda has been completed.

In addition, Manavsewa Ashram has declared Karnali province and Gandaki province as road-dependent humanitarian free provinces with the help and support of government agencies and donors.

There are four types of people on the streets now. For three types of people, Manav Seva Ashram is not the place and option mentioned above. We have served only those who have no place to eat or go.

In particular, how did the concept of Manav Seva Ashram come to the minds of these people?

Especially since the year 2066, some of my friends and I used to do various programs of social transformation and positive thinking. At the same time, in the year 2067, the parent organization of Manavseva Ashram planned to hold a week-long program in Hetaunda on the occasion of the completion of 1 year of conducting programs through the best life: eternal thought. After planning to have dinner with parents from the street one day, we started preparing for it.

For the program, with the help of Hetaunda municipality (currently sub-metropolitan municipality), 18 orphans and disabled parents who were living on the streets were brought to the program venue and after cleaning and bathing, the program was successfully completed. At that time it suddenly rained heavily.

When it rained, it was not even a situation to bring them to the road where they lived before. You can't even keep it with you. And they also used to beg to eat when there was garbage, but after washing and cleaning, now they ask who will give it to us.

We were speechless. After the water subsided a bit, we took it to the same place on the road and left it, but all night his question was painful in my heart. For whom we have lived kept playing in our mind. And with the thought that we should become a family for the people on the streets, the concept of Manavseva Ashram came about.

Ramji Adhikari Founder/Chairman Manav Seva Ashram, Nepal

What has been done from the Ashram nationwide today, was it supposed to happen or not?

We had faith. If not, why would we have given the country a 13-year period to build a road-dependent, human-free country? We were always confident that if we live to save someone else's life, then one day everyone will realize this and we will achieve our goal.

How many rescues, how many reunifications have been done since the establishment until now?

1) Districts in which Manavsewa Ashram services are currently being conducted: 18 districts

(Apart from this, preparations are being made to construct a building in Jhapa district and start the service)

2) Operating ashrams (centres): 22

3) Assisted persons rescued from the road and provided services: 7178 persons

4) Persons with family reunification after reformation: 2750 people

5) People currently serving in various branches of the Ashram: 1470 people

6) People who were cremated at the ashram: 780 people

7) Community rehabilitation: 616 people

8) Voluntarily left the ashram after treatment: 2101 people

Ashrams across the country, fist donation, volunteer support, how are you running?

Manavseva Ashram's main source of service income is donation. Since the establishment of the ashram, we have been operating the service by adopting the ideal of not accepting the conditions of donor agencies. In order to facilitate the service of the ashram, humanitarian minds have made the ashram a place to celebrate and remember ancestors.

The organization is running with the help of charitable donors who come to celebrate birthdays, wedding anniversaries, anniversaries of the organization, engagements, children's weddings, pasni, various festivals, as well as provide food to remember their fathers and volunteer. In the last 2 years, the government at that level has also contributed to the service.

The activists, sadhaksadhikas who are in the service of the ashram are devoted 24 hours a day as volunteers. Some technical staff, health workers, security guards have been in the service of the ashram for 24 hours with some salary based on their needs.

Even now, people are seen on the streets in all cities. How many more people are homeless on the streets these days?

People are seen on the streets. This is not a new thing. Seen before. At first, no one cared. Now you are getting interested. This is the biggest success of our service.

However, saying this does not mean that all the people on the road should be rescued. It seems that the above mentioned is to clarify the understanding in the public mind that the people seen on the street are all street-dependent people seeking help.

In our understanding and experience, there are 4 types of people on the road. First, the real helpers who have no one, nothing, which is being served by Manavsewa Ashram. Second, the working class who earn daily living by picking kawadi goods. Third, people who are leading their lives by making demanding professions. We have the experience of some people buying 4 houses in the capital of a country like Kathmandu. Fourth, those who are always on the move, don't like to stay in ashrams that are not settled but have a habit of moving around.

Manavsewa Ashram is not the above mentioned place for other 3 types of people when we classify it like this. However, he has led a difficult life on the street. No place to go, mentally or physically weak. There is not a single number of such people who cannot do anything, but there are currently around 1,600 dependents in the ashram. I don't think there are more than that number on the road.

Based on your long experience, what are the reasons why people come to the streets? Please tell me in detail.

- Being rejected by the family.

- When he becomes mentally weak, his family will bring him to the street.

- Living a sedentary lifestyle due to mental illness.

- Family conflict.

- Using children to beg for families.

- To live a life of purity in the name of freedom.

- To make a profession only for those who ask for it as a profession.

- Living alone without family and relatives due to various accidents.

In our understanding, especially as mentioned above, people who are really looking for help come to the streets for financial gain. However, in the case of real cooperation, we have found some kind of mental problem in the people who are in trouble. In this too, some people are rejected by their families and come to the streets due to street struggles. When someone becomes mentally ill, the family takes them to the street and leaves them. Some cannot stay in one place due to mental illness, so they spend their life on the streets. Similarly, some quarrel with their family and come to the street and start enjoying it. In this way, people of different nature come to the street.

Similarly, we saw some people of different nature. Begging children by their own family members or any other gang and use the income for themselves personally. We found a similar example in Pashupati temple area. Mothers watch from a distance and force their children to beg.

People are spending money for self-satisfaction, we are getting satisfaction from service.

What is the role of the three levels of government in the rescue and management of street people?

In the first 7 years, we had the guardianship of the local government in housing rent in some places. The organization had not expanded so developed. If you look at it from a perspective, it is written in the Local Government Operation Act that people who have no one will be the guardian government. It has not been implemented as it should be. However, government assistance has also been received in the last 3 years. Based on the audit report of the financial year 2077-078, 60 percent of the support has been received from donors, while 40 percent of the support has been received from the same level of government. This ratio is not only for rescue and management but also for building construction.

Running a human service ashram is not an easy task in itself, how difficult is it to do this extraordinary work?

This work is very difficult. But, at the same time, it is also enjoyable. To have the good fortune to be the children of parents who have been rejected by their family members and ended up on the streets feels like a great act in itself. When the little ones call each other "daddy" and "mommy", they experience intimacy.

Perhaps if the concept of Manavseva Ashram had not come, we would still be living as my son, daughter, father, mother, we would have been happy in a family of 4 people. But today, what would be a greater task than being able to rejoice in a family of 1600 people?

Also, those of us who used to count urine in the direction of our own parents were definitely not easy in the early days to count urine in the direction of people who are not related to us. There was also a situation where there was nothing to cook in the ashram, when people went to ask for help with sacks, some people would throw a dog at them, some would splash them with dirty water. Now that situation is slowly changing and the number of people coming to help is increasing.

Is the joy of self-dedication in an ashram a pleasant matter?

The greatest thing in life is self-satisfaction. I see many people spend time and money to gain self-satisfaction. It is understood that one's economic and academic success is taken as complacency. However, after devoting his entire life to the service of street-dependent parents, brothers and sisters, their happiness is more connected to our happiness than his personal life.

It is happiness and self-satisfaction. Nothing compares to happiness and success.

How much will your personal and family life in this religious world suffer from the future of yourself and the hundreds of volunteers under you?

Sometimes it hurts. When we think about the family members who are attached to us rather than for ourselves, sometimes the thought of how to do it comes to mind. We have also realized that money is not everything, but many actions are impossible without money. We have also got many parents who give ideas for actors. The parents have established the actor welfare fund with the aim of making it easier for the actors when they fall ill and in difficult situations.

We could not earn wealth, but we have parents who support us in times of trouble. We are dedicated to service with this positive thinking.

We have been spreading the message that parents are living gods and goddesses. If you cannot make them happy, there is no point in going to the monastery and offering prayers.

People became all mechanical because of money and technology. Forgetting to say we, people seem to say only me. Will the campaign to promote humanity in Nepali society be meaningful?

The concept of Manavseva Ashram came while we were carrying out humanitarian activities. That is why we are also conducting the Humanity Promotion Campaign together with the Manavseva Ashram.

The society has become such that people do not hesitate to kill their own family members for money, they do not hesitate to leave their own parents on the streets. However, in the meantime, we have been conducting programs under the Humanity Promotion Campaign in many schools and colleges. Such programs have also been conducted in government agencies.

If we can develop the human spirit in the students studying in schools and colleges and if we stand by the government, we will definitely succeed in this. However, one thing is that in the name of education, we are keeping children away. It makes them feel close to their parents and family, accuracy is decreasing. It is also important for parents to pay attention to this.

Those who have houses, properties, bank balances of millions, but humanity is not visible. Mothers and fathers are left in ashrams, children are left in a state of neglect, or they ignore such humanitarian charity work, what do you want to say to them?

We have been saying it. Through the humanitarian ashram, we have been rescuing the people who have come to the street, and we have been spreading the message that parents are living gods and goddesses through the humanitarian promotion campaign. If you cannot make them happy, there is no point in going to the monastery and offering prayers.

If it was only money and bank balance, no one else in this world would be as happy as the rich people of the world, but the happiness index measured by using various modern mechanisms is also saying that the person who left all his wealth and went to the mountains is the happiest person.

We are also going to say that through our campaigns.

“Some go to Kava, Kasi – some go to four places

Alok Niranjan is inside the house – what is his business outside?”