Beyond Reach

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Arranged marriages can often be surprises. Uma Preman is unhappy, marriage is not only your life But also the lives of thousands of other scores - because it was to help her with the skills and motivation of deprived Indians of access to medical treatment.

of The moment

Uma always dreamed of a perfect wedding in a traditional South Indian temple. They found it decorated with colorful Flowers and a big party on The Beach .

But it never happened.

Uma still remembers The Grey February morning 30 years ago, when her mother introduced Preman Thaikad. Uma was only 19, and Preman, was 26 Years older.

they had never met before, But she was told he was her husband. There were no celebrations and no Music - in fact, there was A Wedding .

"My Mother told me that I now Preman property. He told me that I was his wife, But I had no rights over his property," says Uma.

Preman took them into his house and left it there for The Night . She still remembers that she couldn't sleep, and just staring at The Pale , yellow ceiling and the rickety fan.

the next morning, Preman returned at 6 in the morning and asked to accompany him to a bar. He held the drink for several hours while you try sitting in silence, figuring Out The Strange direction had taken her life.

He told her that she was his second wife, But she has quickly learned that she is actually his fourth. He revealed also that he has a severe form of tuberculosis, and that their main task was to his supervisor.

Before

Uma grew up in Coimbatore , a bustling town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . As a child, she wanted to be a doctor like her Father , TK Balakrishnan.

Balakrishnan medicine for a year before his uncle asked him to drop Out and Work on his farm. He had learned the basics, and would be, to dress wounds, change bandages, and treat fevers, with the most important medicines. Uma heard that the families of the patients would often give him treats - so she began to accompany him on his tour of inspection.

"I just love food and eating and that's why I went with him," she says.

saw But One Day you have something that you understand was how serious her Father . Her Father was the treatment of a patient with gangrene. The stench, Uma says, was unbearable.

"was He with a garden Work gloves because he's not op, But he was so quiet. "

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But hated the fact that her husband spends most of his time to help others, Uma says.

When she was eight, her mother gave her money for firecrackers for the Hindu festival of Diwali - and when she came back, was missing your mother.

"later, I found Out that she loved another man and left you with him," Uma says.

Suddenly it was up to Uma to your three-year-old brother. She says that you know How To cook, But she decided to learn because they could not carry the food made by your Father for you.

"I went to the nearby houses and encouraged the ladies, to teach me. They said I would not be able to cook, because I was small," Uma says. But within a few days they had taught her a variety of dishes, and the cooking was a part of your daily routine.

"I would get up in the morning to 5 o'clock, to Breakfast and lunch. Then I go to school at 9 am. I would come back in the Evening and my brother and dinner, Take Care of cooking," Uma says.

"My friends played every night - she enjoyed her life. But I was happy to Take Care of My Family . "

she thought about her mother, though, and worry that you might never see them again.

years later, when Uma was 17, she went with some neighbors to visit, a famous temple in Guruvayur - 87 km from Coimbatore and there she met A Man who told her he had seen a woman who looked just like you.

Uma left your address with him and a few days later, a letter came in the mail.

It was from her mother.

Uma rushed back to Guruvayur , to be reunited with her, But it quickly became clear, it was a problem. Her second husband had large sums of money, then leave you and the lenders were demanding payment.

"I would see the people coming to your house Every Day to harass her for money," Uma. "It was painful to see. "

to marry her mother was the solution for you, Preman, who was wealthy enough to clear your debt. Uma was reluctant. Instead of trying to Work , But not. Then she returned to her Father , But he felt betrayed by her decision to have contact with her mother, and turned his back to her.

Finally, Uma.

"I felt worthless. I had just accepted my fate and went with Preman. "

"Every Day before he went to Work , Preman would have to lock me in The House ," Uma recalls.

"I was not allowed to meet anybody, or to go Out - not even for a minute. For six months I was alone. I started to walls. I lost my confidence and self-respect. "

As The Years Preman passed worsened, tuberculosis. The couple spends most of her time in hospitals and in 1997, seven years after Uma had moved in with him, Preman died. Although he once said that she had no right over his property, he left her comfortably off.

Uma says, she felt free for the First Time in your life.

"I didn't want him to die, But I couldn't help But feel that life had given me a Second Chance . "

Uma with Preman, the portrait in the background

It took a while for him to be clear, what do you do with this new freedom.

During her years with Preman, Uma had observed that the poor were not often able to get the correct medical treatment, not only because they could not afford, But also because they do not have the correct Information - they did not know what treatments and facilities were available.

So Uma had begun, to help you fill Out all the forms for you, direct you go to The Right doctors, and sometimes just listen to your problems.

As they left The Hospital , in Trivandrum, where the Preman had in The Last six months of his life, she was missing. But she was not completely Out of reach. There was a booth where you often as the Preman family, she says, and the person who owned it, gave her the number of people in need of help.

Soon hundreds of people call launched for the advice and the is born, as the Santhi Medical Information center. Uma had found, calls her life - she was not the treatment of people, as her Father had done, But she was going to help you get your treatment.

But you had to other people, to Uma, to acquire knowledge of self, and in the late 1990s, The Internet was not yet widely used in India. You had to travel through the country to collect Information about treatments, hospitals and places where the people could be free or subsidised treatment.

"I had to travel, because there is no hospital, replied To My letters," she says.

Even if you met with people face-to-face, often they don't take you seriously. In other Indian States, there was also a language barrier, as Uma only in Tamil language.

In The Last ten years, the Santhi center's top priority has helped people with kidney disease.

There are not enough dialysis centres in the country and the rate of kidney donation is bad. Uma has been working to change this, raising funds for the new facilities open to all.

"Our first dialysis centre started in Thrissur district in Kerala. We now have 20 centres across India. Many rich people donated for The Cause ," she says.

Uma says, convincing people to donate a kidney is easy, because you often worry about the effects on their own health.

So she decided to set an example and donated One of her own kidneys. You gave an orphan, whose kidneys had failed.

< p > Uma, the kidney allows for Salil To Live a normal life

Salil says he owes his life to her.

"I was 26 when I during dialysis. When she met me, she told me that she would donate her kidney, under the condition that I continue to Work after the transplant. "

He wanted to continue to Work - in fact, after a while, he went to Work for Uma.

Salil says Uma is a woman that truly believes in Mahatma Gandhi 's words, "you must be The Change you want to see".

"Everyone wants to change The World , But no One is willing to change," Uma says. "I changed my attitude, and I donated a kidney, But I have a brother too. "

organ donation, india, asia, kidney failure, tamil nadu

Source of news: bbc.com