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Helping Save Lives

Valsad, India, 19 May 2012 - Padma Thakur(right) lost her 8-year-old physically challenged child due to a congenital Illness in 2007. Her husband held her responsible for the death and divorced her. Years later when she got pregnant again from her second husband, she had lost faith in herself and almost decided to go for an abortion.

However, it is only after the hard working and persevering ASHA worker, Jyotsna Ben Patel, advocated endlessly with the mother to go ahead with her pregnancy, did Padma agree. Jyotsna promised that Padma would have healthy babies, if she agrees to follow Jyotsna’s advices on safe pregnancy practices. Today Padma is a proud mother of very beautiful six-month-old twins, Bhavya and Bhavi.

Padma just can’t stop praising and thanking Jyotsna. We too shouldn’t stop praising and go all out in appreciating the hard work Jyotsna is doing. As part of thank your Real Life Hero, please send Jyotsnaben Patel a bouquet of congratulatory messages appreciating her work in the remote village of Kanjanranchod village in Valsad district in rural Gujarat.

Needless to say, she would be happy and very encouraged to do more such work with more zest with hundreds of mothers in her village.

The best three selected messages will be printed on a special UNICEF card which will be handed over to Jyotsna. Some of you get to call Pushpa directly and thank her personally for the great work she and other members of self-help groups are
doing.

The amount of work that thousands of ASHA and Anganwadi workers do across India is commendable. Importantly enough, Jyotsna like thousands of ASHA workers in the country do this job majorly as part of their community service.

Unfortunately their work rarely gets appreciated and they never get their due. It is time we do our part.

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