From palliative care for cancer to sustainable travel — the top Social Stories of the week
This week, SocialStory brings you stories of hope, which makes you think of and uncovers an unseen India.
From people who have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place to a startup that nudges you to be more mindful about the way you vacation, this week’s SocialStory explored several intriguing stories.
How this 68-year-old supports over 100 children affected by HIV/AIDS in India
Mangal Shah runs a residential unit called Palawi under Prabha-Hira Pratisthan, an NGO in Pandharpur, Maharashtra, for HIV-positive children. At present, the organisation is taking care of nearly 125 HIV-positive children.
Popularly known as Mangaltai, she has bravely navigated stigma to work with people living with HIV/AIDS right from the ‘80s, driven by sheer determination.
Bringing better education to rural India
Harsh Podar, Director at Podar Education Network, writes about why the franchise-based model could act as a solution to bridge the gaps in schooling in rural and semi-rural areas.
He opines that establishing and running a school requires funding, infrastructure set-up, maintenance, careful recruitment, financial planning, and the know-how of operations and marketing to begin with.
In this model, the franchiser would have to have a particular focus on branding, quality control, and consistency, and all-round sustainability of the franchisee. An intervention of this kind could help impact India’s overall education scenario.
A sustainable way forward for travel
Ritu Mehrotra, Regional Manager, South Asia at Booking.com, shares how more travellers are now leaning towards responsible travel, which leaves less of a carbon footprint.
In line with this, stakeholders within the travel industry are also making the move to go green and support local communities.
This palliative care institution treats advanced-stage cancer patients
Based in Bengaluru, Karunashraya offers palliative care for people with cancer through medical, emotional, spiritual, and social support, completely free of charge.
Having started operations in the ‘90s, it has tended to over 25,000 patients and provided a support network for their families.
The organisation is also training young girls from lower socio-economic families to become nursing aides and creating employment opportunities for them.
Meet the startup curating eco-friendly travel experiences
Founded by Suman Sukumar,
is a travel platform that encourages people to explore more eco-friendly homestay options that also support local communities.With 10 years of experience in the travel industry, Suman realised that many like him wanted to access sustainable experiences without going through multiple platforms and websites, and so he started curating them.
In line with a surge of interest in eco-tourism, Knowhere Travel Co. looks to change the conventional idea of travel and spark conversations around making it more sustainable and ethical for everyone involved.
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Edited by Suman Singh