Tamil Nadu: Changing lives one road at a time

Erode: Wrapped in a cotton saree, Jayalakshmi is roaming in the room of a care home in Salem. She wipes saliva from a girl’s face while feeding her. This Sri Lankan woman, who once suffered from mental health issues and was rehabilitated by the Atchayam Trust, is now caring for children with intellectual disabilities.
P Naveen Kumar (30), founder of Atchayam Trust, a rehabilitation center for destitute people, can never forget the night he met Jayalakshmi for the first time. “In 2021, I was strolling near Erode GH when my eyes fell on a disheveled woman lying in the dark with injury marks all over her body. When I tried to approach her, she was nervous and nervous. When he tells how she was afraid of him, his voice becomes hoarse. “This is because most of the men used to beat her when she rejected their sexual advances. I waited patiently and took care of his wounds with the help of other caregivers and the police.
After being orphaned at a very young age, Jayalakshmi married Rajasekharan. However, her husband soon left her. Unable to cope with the death of her infant, Jayalakshmi went through depression for a short period. She was abandoned on the streets and soon became the victim of multiple sexual predators and brutal abuse.
The Atchayam team gave him the necessary psychiatric help and admitted him to E Comwell Trust where he is currently working. This is one of the many day-to-day events handled by volunteers of the Atchayam Trust, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates people abandoned by their families on the streets of Erode. They have rescued and rehabilitated more than 1,500 people in the last 10 years.
Naveen said, “We have successfully rehabilitated 1,270 out of 1,500 destitutes. Most people have met their families and most of them are working. Some of the people rehabilitated through Achhayam help us save others. Born in Pathampara village of Tiruchi to a disabled father and a mother suffering from acute rheumatoid arthritis, Naveen was brought up by his grandmother. Left to fend for himself most of the time, Naveen would clear weeds from the fields for Rs 4 in the morning. After school, he would run around clearing cow dung from the stables in the two-hour period between school and tuition.
He soon joined the mechanical engineering course at Kumarapalayam College. In his second year of college, Naveen was walking towards his hostel when a disabled man begged him for money. He gave her the 10 rupees he had saved for dinner. When Naveen asked the man why he begged, he replied that because he was disabled, most people looked down on him and would not give him any job.
Also Read – Fish prices double due to shortage in supply in markets
Naveen remained awake the whole night on an empty stomach and remembered how his villagers used to bully his father because he had a crippled leg. He imagined that they would be begging as they had no other means left. That night, he read Vivekananda’s books and decided that he would create ‘Yashakam Illa Thayagam’ (a society devoid of destitutes and beggars). “I kept asking for help, but most people advised me to first save my parents from their poverty.”
With a new purpose, Naveen who was an average student till then, passed out as a topper in 2014. He got a job as a private lecturer and donated a large part of his salary to charity. Soon, they realized that most of the money was used to buy drugs or alcohol. The second issue was how even after rehabilitation they would be forced to beg again.” Most of them will go back to the streets even after getting jobs. After doing more research and seeking clarification through RTI, Naveen realized that there are no generalized schemes for beggars.
“From Achayam’s point of view, there are 10 types of beggars, which include addicts, disabled, abandoned and the elderly. We realized that a major reason for relapse was lack of confidence due to being ignored on the streets for so long. It is these desperate people who become homeless. So, we give them a bath and a makeover which makes a lot of difference, a baptism of new life in a way,” he adds.
Atchayam Trust has since been helping the mentally challenged, the elderly, the destitute, those abandoned by their families and those living alone due to illness. At present 20 people are working in the trust on salary. A total of 40 volunteers work to uplift the destitute people. Besides them, 400 volunteers support the financial needs of the Trust.
The turning point was in 2018 when Naveen received the National Youth Award from the Ministry of Youth Welfare and Sports Development. The very next year he also received the State Youth Award from former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
By 2020, he had 20 children in Manikampalayam, Erode, to set up a shelter.