Inspiring women in distress to turn over a new leaf at Prajna Counselling Centre

For Suma (name changed) and her friends, Prajna Counselling Centre has not only been a refuge in tormented times but also a place that has helped them begin a new lease of life. The women here owe a great deal to the organisation that helped them work towards empowering themselves, giving a new meaning to their lives. The Counselling Centre, which has been working towards empowering neglected women, has now completed 30 years of service to the society.

Established on April 16, 1987, the organisation is a brainchild of social worker Prof Hilda Rayappan. On the occasion of completion of three decades, a new building ‘Dodmane’, (meaning the big house), has been constructed at Murkadapalke in Moodbidri giving the inmates of Prajna Counselling Centre a new home.

The centre was started in 2001 to provide refuge for girls deprived of justice. It was set up with the assistance of the department of Women and Child Welfare. Girl children, under the age of 18 years, identified by the district Child Welfare Committee have since then been provided shelter in the centre.

Earlier, the centre operated in a rented building in Marnamikatta. Ever since its inception, protection, education, vocational training and rehabilitation has been provided to 245 girl children. At present, 36 girls reside in the centre. Most of the inmates have rejoined their families and others have been carrying out various jobs. Eleven girls have got married.

Helping hands
It was Prof Hilda Rayappan’s ambitious dream to construct a building to house the inmates of Prajna which got fructified with the help of contributions from donors. Donor Eric Correa donated two acres of land. With financial assistance of Rs 1.5 crore under the BMZ/KKS scheme of the German Government, a building was constructed by contractor Maxim Correa and Architect Christopher Norohna.

‘Dodmane,’ spread over an area of 4,000 square feet, has two floors with a visitor’s room, rest room, reading room and library, counselling room, room for patients, kitchen and dining hall, toilets and staff room situated on the ground floor. There are four rooms in the first floor which can accommodate 15 people each. The centre has seven staff members including a supervisor.

A warm shelter
Saraswathi (name changed), a class VII student said she has been living in Prajna Counselling Centre since 2013. The old building in Mangaluru had space constraints. Utmost care has now been taken by the centre to give protection to the inmates, she said and thanked the donors who were responsible for ‘Dodmane’ becoming a reality.

Another inmate Radha (name changed), who is studying in second PU said that she wants to pursue higher education. She has been with Prajna for the past six years. The organisation gave her courage to achieve her dreams.

Prajna Counselling Centre has also been implementing various programmes to help bring to the mainstream drug-addicts, socially backward and physically challenged people. Hilda Rayappan completed her post graduation in Masters of Social Work in Roshni Nilaya, Mangaluru and then

obtained a UNO scholarship and studied Psychoanalytic theory and women empowerment in various universities abroad. She came back and worked at her alma mater as a professor. She set up a small counseling centre that shaped up into Prajna Counseling Centre. She said the centre has seen its fair share of ups and downs in the last three decades but has risen above them thanks to the help lent by many people.