Vishwa Sevika Trust runs shelter for elderly women in distress in Andhra Pradesh's Ongole

ONGOLE: For over two decades, Vishwa Sevika, a voluntary organisation, has been running an old-age home for poor and orphaned women in Ongole. The shelter was founded and run by three friends, who after retiring from service, set aside  their entire time to social service.

M Lalitha Devi was a chemistry lecturer at CSR Sarma College, T Lakshmi Narasamma a bio-statistician and late P Indira Devi was a former officer at the State Bank of India. Decades ago, the trio opened a free education centre near the Papa Rice Mill Junction. A few months later, they opened an eatery and shelter that provided free food and accommodation. 

This encouraged them to start an old-age home for the poor and orphaned women in 1995. At the time, one of  their friends, Vimalamma, the wife of late freedom fighter Narahari Padmanabhaiah, donated them a building for the shelter, and thus paving the way for Vishwa Sevika, which eventually started functioning in 1997. 

"The trust was established with the philosophy 'Service to humanity is service to god'. In these 25 years, the ashram has given shelter and food to numerous old and distressed women who were struggling to survive," Lalithamma said.

The trust is running on donations, which also come in the forms of clothes, vegetables and rice. "We don’t ever ask any of our residents to pay," T Lakshmi Narasamma said. "We even offer free medical consultations to the residents and set them up with government and private doctors," Bhavani, the caretaker, said. The ashram accommodates a maximum of 40-45 people at a time.