Bengaluru:

From finding adoptive families for destitute children to providing creches for kids of migrant workers, child welfare activist Nomita Chandy had an inimitable way of addressing issues that otherwise got little attention from the authorities.

Nomita, who passed away on Monday, set up Bengaluru-based Ashraya which has been providing solace to hundreds of homeless children since its inception in 1982. A tireless crusader, Nomita put her heart and soul into social work. She believed that “every family has children, but every child does not have a family. As an institution, we can give just that much of attention, whereas a family can give a lot more. Take a child from anywhere and give love; the child will flourish.”

Born on August 21, 1946, to a general of the Army Medical Corps and married to a naval officer, Nomita was instrumental in setting up private adoption centres in Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Delhi and London. These centres were the arenas where she worked to overcome the stumbling blocks that plagued the country’s adoption process. “Since my aunty was the president of SOS Children’s Village, she mentored me in social service. I worked on setting up organizations for children wherever I went as a naval officer’s wife,” she had said after receiving the Padma Shri in 2011.

Nomita set up Ashraya, one of the first private adoption centres in Indiranagar, with the help of activists Shanti Chacko and Rama Bhattacharya. Struggling for words on Monday, Shanti could only share Nomita’s message: “Empower yourself and believe you can make a difference because only then you can. Each one of us can do something for the community, neighbourhood and society.”

Nomita was instrumental in starting mobile creches in Bengaluru as the city didn’t have any such facility for children of construction workers who barely had enough food, education and safety.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / May 26th, 2015