Stories of Transformation
Service may be rendered in any form; yet the act of empathising with the misery of our fellow beings and acting to alleviate it through self-sacrifice is what can deserve to be called as an act of selfless service. One may find himself to be deprived of the basic amenities in life – food, shelter or clothing and despite shortcomings of one’s own, choose to share the little God has provided one with.
It is with this feeling that the sevadal of Reling Samithi of Darjeeling District, first started building permanent shelters of those less fortunate; a certain Lalay Tamang – living in deplorable conditions under a tarpaulin used to cultivate ‘squash’ – was helped with his accommodation in the year 2004, when willing (and not mighty) hands constructed a house from scratch for him to live out his days.
Another family living under a roof, whose tiles had seen better days, was similarly helped by willing hands and smiling faces of our dear sevadal brothers and sisters of Reling Samithi, in the year 2011. Each sevadal had, despite financial constraints of their own, saved voluntarily money to provide better housing solutions for the helpless families and many more in the subsequent years.
Firm believers in ‘caring through sharing’ the sevadals have given their valuable time and labour as well, when they took upon themselves the onerous task of doing heavy repair works on weather beaten dilapidated houses, or even assembling materials and laying brick and mortar to build a new home from scratch.
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning failure. – OLIVER SANDERO
It is surely an act of sheer selflessness that has come as a blessing for many, and for the sevadals, an experience in bliss.
Since 2004, the members of Reling Samtihi have constructed and provided a reasonably sound habitat to 12 families by spending around rupees 7.5 lakhs out of their own savings along with a labour of love of more than 35,000 man-days as an offering to God, who they saw in those who suffered and weathered the harsh climatic conditions for want of proper shelter.
Certainly such small acts of kindness and service manifesting out of pure love in response to the suffering of fellow beings go unnoticed by one and all, as these are done silently only to please God.
