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After marriage, I moved to Africa in 2006. I was confident of getting work there as in India; I was Head of Communication in Ambuja. But for almost two years, I was unemployed because the work permit was strict and the scope of work was low there. Waha foreigners ko job milna almost impossible hai unless aap phle se job leke shift ho rahe ho. Nevertheless, Africa opened up my eyes to development towards the social sector. So, I started volunteering for the UN and other NGOs. It was easy as volunteering doesn’t need a work permit.
I worked on various projects, and one of them was working with the Kenya police for peace. I had done my thesis on ‘How to promote peace through Social Enterpreneurship’. So the Kenya police asked me to implement the thesis in their ‘Peace Cop’ department. The challenge was to handle the fight between the two communities to avail the resources and maintain peace among them. We worked on building small businesses in the community, and gradually the conflict settled in. I feel, ‘agar aapke pet me khana hai toh aap jhagre k bare me nahi sochte ho unless aap greedy ho.’
In 2019, I shifted to Pune. I had the vision to do something for our country. I started with ‘Gikoni Foods’. Gikoni means ‘Kitchen’ in the Kenyan language. Kenya taught me so much! So the name was a token to stay connected with Kenya. The idea was to serve North Indian foods through the kitchen. The business was doing great. We didn’t use plastics or added colours to food. Khana Matke me jata tha.
But then the dreading Covid-19 came. The second wave was deadly, and it was disastrous for Pune. Unfortunately, I also got positive. By god’s grace, I recovered, and on 20th April 2021, I made ‘Kichidi’ from the ration in my home. Lag bhag 50 dabbe bane hoge. I took the food outside Sasoon Hospital, and the food was finished within two minutes. Matlab logo ne aisa jhapatta mara khane pe ki mai shocked reh gaye. Kuch log toh aise the jinhone 3 dino se khana nahi khaya tha.
And that moment laid the foundation of our community kitchen. I went home, cooked more food with whatever ration and returned to the hospital to feed more people. Meanwhile, I tweeted about my initiative, and you won’t believe it; within two days, more than 17,000 people retweeted my tweet, 32 people came to volunteer, and we had enough funds to feed around 250 people for the next seven days. The support was immense from all over India and beyond. I got popular as ‘Dabba Didi’ around the Sassoon Hospital.
We didn’t limit ourselves to food only. We fulfilled other needs like blankets, mosquito repellent, and ambulances. We even did cremation for those scared to go close to their dear one’s dead bodies. The commitment of the cremation workers felt unreal. So we made a rule to offer gifts to them on festivals kyoki waha khusiya batne koi nahi jata hai aur sabse muskil kam whi log karte hai.
To support disabled children, we’ve started an initiative called ‘Wheels Of Hope’. We avail wheelchairs to them. Until now, we’ve helped around 356 kids and’ll continue to do so!
To conclude, I would like to say, ' As a community, we’ve too many challenges to fight with. And no government alone can tackle all those challenges. So, everyone should step in and do something. I’m doing my part. Hope you contribute too!
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