The start to 2018 has been great. On the auspicious occasion of Makarsakranti and Pongal, we officially launched SAKSHAM, an organization working for advocacy of Type 1 diabetes and providing medicines to those type 1s who can’t afford it.
The event started off with welcome address by Dr. Beena Bansal, the guiding force behind SAKSHAM. She correctly emphasized how SAKSHAM was a family away from our own and briefly spoke about the mission and vision of SAKSHAM. Since SAKSHAM believes in celebrating the unbreakable spirit of every type 1 diabetic, we did not have one single chief guest but every type 1 attending the event and their family members, who silently become their cheerleaders through life, were the stars of the event. And each one of them lit lamps to commemorate the event. It was a beautiful sight to see little lamps lit at every table. It symbolized light at the end of the tunnel, of brightness all around after a dark day!
It was heart warming to see people from all walks of life come out in our support. Girls from the Om foundation, which works for the upliftment of girls from urban slums of Delhi, put on a beautiful play depicting the diagnosis and life of a type 1 diabetic child in school. While its true Type 1 diabetes affects an individual at any age, its usually the young children who find it toughest to deal with. From being mocked at the school, to not being able to eat their favorite candy, type 1 diabetes is a tricky thing for the kids to understand. But with the correct support from parents, friends, teachers and family, they can have an extremely normal life. And the play by these young, bright girls from Om Foundation depicted that beautifully.
We were also joined by fellow type 1s from Yog Dhyan foundation which has been working for a long time in providing free insulin to kids who can’t afford it. It was very inspiring to meet them all.
This was followed by a live video making session where we had all the type 1 diabetics hold placards which explained type 1 diabetes as a chronic illness. It was our first attempt towards the advocacy of this disease as it gave the non-diabetics an insight into the working of a type 1 diabetic’s body.
We had a brief session where we gave our “Type 1 Champions” a chance to speak their mind, to tell their story, to inspire and get inspired. We had kids as young as 7 years old and seniors as old as 70 years sharing the platform. Besides the champions, people from other walks of life who came out in support shared their side of the story. Psychologists who were researching on chronic illnesses, corporate heads who have worked with type 1 diabetics, all together brought out heartwarming stories.
One story is of a 20 something girl who recently had a kidney transplant and she wrote a beautiful poem on how chronic illness impacts the life and how even though type 1 diabetes and kidney disease were different yet so similar. It was so beautiful that it must be shared.
CHRONIC ILLNESS
It knocks on your door
Like some uninvited guest
All of a sudden
On its face you see
Your uncertain future
With fear and fright
In your own eyes
All the rumors you’ve heard about the new visitor
Comes rushing towards you like a tidal wave
It drains your energy and leaves you exhausted
But then,
YOU FIGHT
You look straight into its eyes
Demanding it to stay outside
Because
Even if it has arrived on your door
You won’t let it move in
And merge in your daily life
You won’t let it define you
Because you are not your illness
A flower fallen,
Still has an ability
To root
grow
& bloom again.
Our diabetes educators did a fantastic job by putting up a counter to educate us all about carb counting by putting on display the portion sizes of various foods. It was very informative. With a timeline about history of diabetes and the developments that have taken place, the attendees could see how far we have come in diabetes management.
This was followed by a scrumptious lunch and a kite flying event to commemorate makar sakranti.
All in all, this was our first step towards a journey to make type 1 diabetics aware that they are “SAKSHAM” in whatever they do. And we would like to thank everybody who came out in our support.
Saksham 