Goodwill Ambassador
How a little girl selflessly helped everyone
The city of Madurai in South India was locked-down on 24 March 2020 due to Corona.There the migrants living in Madurai had to go to their villages in Tamil Nadu. Because of the circumstances, everything happened all of a sudden. Everybody among us has witnessed that Corona period. From that point on, a large number of destitute laborers were making their way back to their villages, the children were wailing in hunger and they were walking without slippers. Everybody was in extremely poor condition.
A young girl named Nethra from Madurai witnessed this sight during that time. This innocent person’s heart was rocked by what she saw. The thought of so many people struggling consumed her thoughts. She was restless and unable to sleep the entire night. What can I do to lessen these people’s suffering, was another question that crossed her mind. She approached her father while thinking this.
Mr. C. Mohan is the name of her father. He is a hairstylist, but his pay for this work is not very high. His daughter’s dream was to sit for the UPSC exam, so he worked incredibly hard, day and night, for many years, depositing a difficult Rs 5,00,000 towards her education. Netra begged her father to give the underprivileged workers the same sum of money he had amassed for her education.
Nethra’s father could not understand what to answer. He said with a heavy heart, “How can we help those people, we do not have that much money. Somehow, we have made a small deposit for your education. And if I give you this money, where will I get the rest for your education ? Don’t worry about it, the daughter told her father right away. Give it all up to that god and use the funds you have raised for my education to assist these indigent individuals.
The yearning of Netra’s heart touched her father’s heart and he could not refuse. And then Netra gathered the people around her and formed a group and made food packets. Provided all the poor people with food, clothes and all the necessary things for those people.
The atmosphere also resonated because so many people’s hearts were touched by this work that was done from the heart. This echo was picked up by numerous publications, individuals, and even the Indian nation’s prime minister, Mr. Narendra Modi ji, who expressed his admiration for Nethra’s work. In a press article titled “Mann Ki Baat,” he discussed Nethra and described how the young girl gave away all the funds raised for her education to the underprivileged, showing no regard for her own interests. When the UN learnt about the situation, it appointed Nethra as its goodwill representative for the underprivileged.
After all this, when Nethra was talked to, she said, “I did not understand what is happening, I just started doing what my heart said. Our intention was only to help them all. Now this appreciation and the recognition has filled me with a new energy to serve the people”. She said that she felt honored to address the world at the United Nations Forum on ‘Poverty Eradication’. The Tamil Nadu government made all Nethra’s education free.
