Newsletter-cum-magazine of Oasis Movement YEAR 9  I ISSUE 3  I Jan 19, 2016

‘Mother of Orphans’, Sindhutai Sapkal in Oasis Programs

Girls of Gujarat Inspired by Sindhutai's Struggles

(Above Photo) Sindhutai interacting with the girls, Sheeba Nair (left end) anchoring the program
with Dr. Pravin Shah (right end) and Hiral Patel (second from right)

In the first of two programs, Sindhutai Sapkal, 'Mai' of Orphans, visited Oasis Valleys on 16th & 17th December, 2015, on a special request to come during the Girls' Special Dream India Camp. Sindhutai interacted with 90 girls, came from all over Gujarat, for almost two hours and had a heartwarming dialogue with them. In the end, girls took vows to live life with courage and never to get discouraged by problems in life.

Sindhutai also interacted with Oasis Team members, Oasis L3 Course Friends and few Well-wishers from Vadodara. She talked about her toughest moments in life and difficult decisions. Her adopted son, Vinay Sapkal, told stories of Mai's care for them. All were moved by Mai's love for her 1050 children.

Sindhutai was born on 14 November 1948 in Maharashtra. Being an unwanted child, she was nicknamed 'Chindhi' (torn piece of cloth). Her father was keen on educating Sindhutai, much against the wishes of her mother. But at the age of 10, she got married to a 30-year-old person.

She bore 3 sons by the time she turned 20. Her husband used to beat her very frequently and one day abandoned her when she was beyond 9 months of her pregnancy. She gave birth to a baby girl in a cow shelter outside. She had to set aside the thought of suicide and started begging on railway platforms for food. In the process, she realized that there are so many children abandoned by their parents and she adopted them as her own and started begging even more vigorously to feed them. She decided to become a mother to anyone and everyone who came across to her as an orphan.

Sindhutai Sapkal

She also put away her biological daughter to one organization, only to eliminate the feeling of partiality between her daughter and the adopted ones.

She has devoted her entire life for orphan. As a result she is fondly called 'Mai'(mother). She has nurtured over 1050 orphaned children. As of today, she has a grand family of 207 son-in-laws, 36 daughter-in-laws and over 1000 grandchildren. She still continues to fight for the next meal. Many of the children whom she adopted are well-educated lawyers and doctors, and some, including her biological daughter, are running their own independent orphanages. She has been honoured with over 273 awards for her dedication and work. She used award money to buy land to make a home for her children, Sanmati Bal Niketan, Pune. She moves all over the world to generate funds for the orphanage.

“मंजिल बहुत दूर है, जाना वहाँ जरूर है, रास्ता मुश्किल है, मरना मंजूर है;
मगर जो मरेंगे तो शेर जैसे मरेंगे, बकरी के जैसे नहीं”

(Above photo) Girls asking questions to Sindhutai

Some inspiring quotes of Sindhutai noted during the interaction with girls :

“जिंदगी आती है - जाती है, अँधेरे के बाद उजाला होता है । तुम हिम्मत मत छोड़ना । मैंने जिंदगी देखी, संघर्ष देखा, भूख सही, मार खाई, पर हिम्मत नहीं छोड़ी । कल की माँऐ तुम हो, कभी हारना नहीं; जिंदगी को जीना सीखो ।”

“कोई भी संकट आये, फिर भी पढ़ना; खूब पढ़ना । सब कुछ आना चाहिए, हम कमजोर नहीं है । आज मुज़े अंग्रेजी नहीं आती है तो दुःख होता है । पढ़ो तो खूब मन लगाकर पढ़ो, दिल पे छप जाना चाहिए । सोचो, क्यों पढ़ते हो? सोचो, जीना है तो क्यों जीना है?”

“डरते है तो डर खा जाता है । डरना नहीं, कुछ करना सीखो । पहले मैं नीचे देख के चलती थी तो लोग धक्का मारते थे । फिर मैंने आँखों में आँखें डाल के चलना सीखा तो धक्का मारना बंध हो गया । देख के चलना सीखो, रुआब से चलना सीखो । दुनिया झुकती है, सलाम करती है ।”

'Power of One' Inspires Surat Citizens


Photo top: Oasis South Gujarat Team members, Saloni Shah (left end) and Siddharth Mehta (second from left) interacting with Sindhutai (on right)

Photo bottom: Audience of Surat intently listening to the interaction

Second program was a public event, 'Power of One', organized at Science Center, Surat, on 18th December, 2015, by Oasis South Gujarat Team. 300 citizens of Surat attended the program. After the talk, Sindhutai interacted with the audience and answered their queries. Snehal Shah & Pratiksinh Parmar from Oasis South Gujarat Team took opportunity to inform about current activities of Oasis. Yogesh Patel ended the program with vote of thanks.

Media Reflection of Programs

  Team Alive   Alive Archives

  Alkesh Raval

  Hiral Patel

Kshama Kataria

Mayuri Gohil

  Mehul Panchal

  Sanjiv Shah

  Sheeba Nair

  Shrey Shah

To View Alive Archives,
Please   Click here>>>

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