STORY OF HARDWORK AND COMPASSION

●    Immunization and delivery of other health and nutrition services (MCHN), second thursday of every month is fixed in her AWC and she ensures          all the preparations as well as reaching the beneficiaries in time. Mostly the team work and community engagement is such that everything now        goes as per the schedule so that no one is generally left out. She attributes it to the meeting held in the panchayat with the Sarpanch Manju              Devi, who invited her to the SIDART meetings. There she learnt the importance of collective working and community involvement. 
●    In the discussions regarding the services, she further said that the complementary nutrition / feed (Purak Poshahar) is provided to pregnant         
      women, lactating mothers of infants and young children. Beena ji also added that it is very difficult to convey that the feed is just an addition to        the food that they already eat but with the support of SIDART team and Sarpanch Mrs. Manju Devi ji she was able to educate the beneficiaries         about it.
●   Along with the basic services, Beena ji is actively engaged in health and sanitation as well as menstrual hygiene through UDAAN yojana. Sanitary       napkins are distributed to girls and women in the village, she also ensures that with the distribution process necessary education on menstrual           health and hygiene is also provided to young girls by experts and teachers of the school along with her and her helpers, ASHA and ANMs etc. 
●   She mentioned that Community based events are also to be organised at AWC and she ensures smooth working of them. Some events like               Godhbharai rasam, Annaprashan, Suposhan Diwas are held at her AWC.
●   Discussion and awareness camps on voting rights are also organised (Voting pe charcha) and she ensures that everyone is present at such events       so that the people can be aware about their rights.
●   Amavasya meetings are also held at the centre in which they talk about the Health and Hygiene of infants and children, what is a nutritional        proper diet for an infant and mental ability of a child and what a child is good at.
During our conversation Beena ji agreed that malnourished children are there in the village and she will not hide this fact. But she also added that she with her helpers and ASHA workers take necessary actions about the same by providing double ration to the caregivers and family members of the child so that the child is fed in the required amount.
She also added that some families complained about the taste of the purak poshahar provided by the AWC and that the children are not eating it because of the taste, so when she called at SIDART office for help she was informed that you have to go along with your helper and Asha Sahogini to demonstrate to them the right way in which it is to be cooked and fed to the children, and some recipes that can make it a bit tasty so that the child can enjoy eating it. Dr Pramila brought to her notice that nowadays dal chawal are being given and they are to be coped by grinding them as Daliaor dal as Atta and then may be halwa can be made out of that which is most liked by the children otherwise if Dal Chawal is also cooked it has to be cooked deep and mashed properly along with seasonal vegetables so that the required nutrients reach to the child and the growth and development of the child is not hampered rather enhanced by the feeding through the Anganwari centres

After the whole conversation with Beena ji the interviewee felt that she is not an ordinary AWW but have taken the learnings form SIDART team time to time and  is working with all her compassion and zeal to bring about a change in the society and in the lives of the people of her panchayat and Anganwadi area, who are directly and indirectly linked with the AWC.