Inside Mangav, a unique Maharashtra village for abandoned women and their children

Tucked distant successful Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar), Maharashtra’s largest district, is simply a self-sustainable rehabilitation commune, Mangav. The instauration of 2 doctors, Dr Rajendra Bajirao Dhamane and his woman Dr Sucheta Dhamane, Mangav is an hold of their NGO, Mauli Seva Pratishthan (MSP), wherein the duo offers lifelong attraction to mentally and physically sick stateless women and their children. “For much than 2 decades, my beingness arsenic a doc has taken maine beyond infirmary walls: to highways, railway stations, marketplaces, and forgotten corners of our cities wherever mentally and physically sick women rotation without shelter, treatment, oregon dignity,” says Dr Rajendra, “Many are victims of repeated intersexual violence. Some are pregnant. Most are nameless, undocumented, and invisible to systems. What began arsenic exigency aesculapian assistance gradually became a lifelong commitment.” 

It takes a village 

Today, 477 women and 43 children reside successful Mangav arsenic a community. “Most women were rescued from roads, nationalist places, oregon infirmary wards. Many children were calved arsenic a effect of rape and exploitation of mentally sick women connected highways. These children would different person been calved into homelessness and stigma,” helium explains, adding that it was a conscious determination to not tally Mauli (meaning mother, successful Marathi) arsenic a short-stay shelter. “In the aboriginal years, I realised that rescue unsocial does not lick the problem, nor does intelligence unwellness heal successful a fewer weeks. Trauma does not vanish aft structure is provided. Many families garbage to judge these women back, and immoderate women are truthful severely sick oregon cognitively impaired that autarkic surviving is impossible. Which is wherefore we supply lifelong care, treatment, and rehabilitation,” says Dr Rajendra, recipient of the THE ONE International Humanitarian Award successful 2016.

He stresses that Mangav is not an instauration successful the accepted sense, but a colony exemplary “built connected rehabilitation done information and dignity” that helium grew with Dr Sucheta, who near her vocation arsenic a teacher of Community Medicine successful a aesculapian assemblage to enactment full-time with MSP. Here, she manages aesculapian coordination, maternal care, children’s health, and rehabilitation programmes.

Baking arsenic psychotherapy 

Based connected idiosyncratic capacities, residents are progressive successful dairy and gaushala management, agriculture and fodder cultivation, tailoring and regular assemblage services. The astir caller involution is their bakery and nutrient processing portion wherever operations began a twelvemonth ago. Here, 30 women who person recovered and/or are unchangeable cook 8 varieties of cookies, and whip up cakes and pastries connected order. “They request to beryllium engaged physically and mentally, and specified initiatives besides enactment arsenic psychotherapy,” says Dr Sucheta. “We person trained them successful baking for a year. We person besides brought successful high-grade machines and called successful experts to bid the women to usage them,” she says. As for the offerings, she says the absorption has been connected creating healthier alternatives with integrated produce. “We cook 2 varieties of nan khatai, jowar flaxseed jaggery cookies, blueberry oat cookies, ragi cookies, and more, that are stocked successful section stores and we besides instrumentality festive, firm orders.”

Come July, and a cafeteria — an hold of their ongoing dairy task — volition motorboat connected the Ahilyanagar-Shirdi Highway. “Here, alongside the bakery products, we volition retail beverage and byproducts specified arsenic peda, lassi, and paneer that are made in-house,” she says, adding that cattle dung from the gaushala besides powers their gobar state plant. “Our full strategy is tally lone connected star and gobar gas.”

These initiatives, she says, relation arsenic occupational therapy with purpose, that assistance women regain routine, confidence, and a consciousness of belonging. “Some women, erstwhile stabilised, callback their earlier lives. We person had women who were antecedently teachers, bureau workers, mill labourers, and adjacent professionals. Mental unwellness does not discriminate. Society, unfortunately, does.”

Beyond medicine

Dr Rajendra explains however women scope them done constabulary rescues, hospitals, NGOs, societal workers, and compassionate citizens. “Most get without individuality documents, aesculapian history, oregon household contact.” The process begins with an exigency aesculapian stabilisation, psychiatric appraisal and medication, nutritional rehabilitation, ineligible documentation and FIRs wherever needed, and semipermanent therapy and societal adaptation,” helium says, adding that household tracing is attempted wherever feasible, but astir families garbage to judge them. And erstwhile a nonmigratory passes away, funerals are conducted “with each ineligible procedures”. “In the fewer cases wherever determination is nary different captious illness, we bash oculus donations. We bash not donate immoderate different organ,” helium says.

Their enactment is not constricted to aesculapian treatment, but regular living: feeding, counselling, handling crises, celebrating recoveries, and sometimes mourning losses. Addressing the former, Dr Rajendra says SBI Foundation and Rotary person been supporting MSP’s aesculapian infrastructure needs. “Through the enactment of SBI Foundation, we established the MAULI–SBI Foundation ICU Unit, enabling america to negociate captious aesculapian emergencies wrong our campus. Rotary organisations person supported infrastructure development, aesculapian equipment, grooming programmes, and assemblage outreach,” helium shares. 

A location for all

The adjacent section astatine MSP includes a 300-bed, 1 lakh quadrate ft foundation infirmary (currently nether construction) and probe centre focussing connected PAN-India entree nether the umbrella of the NNG Institute of Mental Health, Neurosciences, and Cardiology that the duo has launched. “This Institute volition absorption connected intelligence wellness rehabilitation, neurological disorders, cardiac attraction for underprivileged populations crossed India, and objective probe successful societal medicine and psychiatry. The nonsubjective is to span the spread betwixt tertiary healthcare and humanitarian access,” stresses Dr Rajendra, whose lad Dr Kiran Rajendra Dhamane is presently pursuing his MD successful Medicine astatine Cooper Hospital, Juhu, Mumbai, and is keen to integrate precocious cardiology services with foundation healthcare.

Encapsulating his learnings from the past 2 decades, Dr Rajendra says that portion intelligence unwellness needs medicine, abandonment needs lifelong quality commitment. “Mangav aims to springiness backmost what the satellite took distant from these women: home, routine, safety, and belonging. Our imagination is simple: nary pistillate suffering connected the roadworthy is ever told that she is idiosyncratic else’s problem. At Mauli, she becomes our work for life,” helium concludes.

Details connected msp.org.in/