Each One, Reach One, Teach One

When I was asked to blog on Dementia by the Secretary of RSF who was a contributor in my writing portal for Indian writers, my immediate reaction was – Research and write. I hoped to get more traffic directed to Ramosara Foundation blog and let the projects be known that will assist them in seeking financial support.

Fortunately I did not have any one in my family who suffered from Dementia, so while I wanted to assist RSF, I was not quite clear how, except pay the membership fee for constructing the old age home Vridhashray, which I felt is a noble cause, and I agreed.  She insisted I write whatever I can, absolutely confident about my competence on writing, and not considering the fact that Dementia was new to me and I had very little command on the subject.

I asked her who is backing the projects financially. Without a minute’s hesitation, she replied – “No one! We only have a piece of land to build Vridhashray and that is our first big milestone.”  I went one step further and asked how many members so far. “Just the Governing Body”, came her prompt response.

I was a little amused at the juvenile approach. I was actually not prepared for that candid response. I was hoping to hear some influential names, mention of some big donations, and some big projections for the future. I wished her luck in the venture and began my research on Dementia, my sincere effort to assist the project.

What I completely missed, in this exercise, was how easily she made one more person aware about Dementia – Me! Thanks to Ramosara Foundation, and I'm sure many people can be made aware of it.

By now I realize, that was RSF’s primary objectives – to create awareness on Dementia, and now I already know something by finding out more details about it - its first symptoms, how we can identify people with Dementia, the various stages, already keen to research more and write about it in multiple blogs – Through me and my blogs, the reach will be much more.

At times this works better - Each one, reach one, teach one – instead of conducting seminars, dwelling on books, Google to glory on a particular subject which is highly critical for everyone to know  - just letting one person have an informal chat can bring more relevance, importance and attention.

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About Lakshmi Menon

Lakshmi is author of “The Second Choice” and several children’s books. Her Malayalam Novel “Veendum Yatra" was serialized in a reputed weekly back home, in the late eighties. She is the founder of a writing portal www.industwomanwriting.com that is popular for encouraging young writers showcase their creative writes.