Fifteen-year-old Abhijith from Palakkad district in Kerala has become a hero of sorts among the "mallu" circles on Facebook. And he deserves every bit of the adulation that has been pouring in for him of late.
An initiative started by the Standard 10 student has helped save the life of his schoolmate, suffering from a life-threatening condition.
Last month, Abhijith took to his Facebook page to seek help for Archana, who was suffering from a hereditary kidney disease.
In a Facebook post published on his wall on November 22, Abhijith, who is also a budding artist, described Archana’s deteriorating condition, her family background and why she needed help immediately.
“Following a kidney failure, Archana has been admitted in the Thrissur Medical College. Her family will not be able to bear the expense of her treatment. I will ask my school for help too and will also donate my savings I made through selling my paintings. Can someone please help her?” he pleaded in his post.
Abhijith also mentioned in the post that Archana, who is a Standard 3 student in his school, had lost her father and uncle- the breadwinners of the family- very early in life.
According to him, within days of putting up the Facebook post, he started to receive donations from different parts of the world. Some even called him up and directly offered their help.
With the help of his teachers and natives, Abhijith has collected and handed over around Rs 60,000 till now to Archana's family. Archana is currently at home and her treatment is still going on.
“The world is not a small place and there are people who are waiting to do good things,” he wrote on his page on December 2 expressing gratitude for the overwhelming response to his plea.
Through his campaign, Abhijith was able to raise funds not just for Aparna’s medical expenses, but a small amount was also contributed towards settling a bank loan taken by her family. The bank, he said, was about to seize Aparna’s house for defaulting on the loan payment.
Not only are contributions still pouring in for his initiative, following him, a new campaign has been organized by a group of people to provide financial help to Archana’s family.
Abhijith's posts have been loosely translated from Malayalam.
Read Abijith's original post here :