How an accident led Chennai woman to become a lifeline for hundreds

Chennai: For Prema, 1999 was the year life came to a standstill. Confined to bed after a devastating accident that took away her mobility and her work, she was dependent on others even for her daily needs.”The pain had become a long, dark tunnel with no visible exit, and I prayed to God to take me away,” she recalls.

Then, in that moment of absolute despair, she heard a voice.”Suddenly, I heard a loud voice telling me, ‘You should live for others.’ I did not know where the voice came from. At that moment, I decided to extend a helping hand to the poor and the needy,” Prema says.

That voice became her compass. Though she had been involved in social service from a young age, the accident gave her suffering a purpose. She decided to stand beside those who had nowhere else to go.

She began her work under the banner of ‘Leading Light’, with a sharp focus on empowering single women – widows, divorcees, separated women, unmarried women and those abandoned by their families. To widen her reach, she founded and registered ‘Nesam’, a charitable trust, in 2001.

More than two decades later, Nesam has become a shelter for women like Valli and P Sasi. Valli, a 49-year-old cancer patient and widow, returned to India after her husband’s death abroad. With no family to care for her, even hospital visits became a struggle.”Whenever I went to the hospital, doctors asked who would accompany me and take care of me. Members of Nesam came forward to help me,” Valli says.

For 56-year-old P Sasi, Prema’s support came when she faced physical and mental abuse from her husband a decade ago.”I had no place to go and did not know where to seek shelter. I will never forget the support Prema gave me at that difficult moment. She encouraged me to survive and face life. Today, things have improved. My children are married,” Sasi says.

Today, Sasi herself has become a pillar of Nesam, helping rescue abandoned women and children. Nesam’s work extends far beyond individual cases. Under Prema’s leadership, the trust organizes health check-up camps, blood donation drives, eye check-up and eye donation camps, and maintains a network of emergency blood donors. For the past 26 years, it has also been organizing summer camps every May in low-income neighbourhoods and fishing communities.

Through Leading Light, Prema also works to make women financially independent. Bi-monthly meetings are held where women discuss their problems and find collective solutions. Vocational training is imparted through community centres functioning in Valasaravakkam, Saligramam, Kodambakkam, Tambaram and Royapuram.

Looking ahead, Prema has a bigger dream.”We are looking for a place to provide free accommodation to patients who come to Chennai for treatment,” she says, while also urging the state government to establish fully-equipped cancer hospitals in every district and provide free treatment.

More than two decades after that voice pulled her back from the brink, Prema has built a quiet army of hope – offering women and patients not just charity, but the assurance that they have not been forgotten.