Kochi, KERALA :

Women Summit is the annual get together of the members and well-wishers of Women’s Manifesto, a national level NGO formed in 2014. It gives Women Manifesto Award to eminent women from different fields, who have contributed significantly to society and achieved great heights in their professions. 

New Delhi :

Manasa Yendluri, a young Telugu short-story writer and Shani S. Hameed, a physiotherapist and Founder, Director and Rehabilitation Child Specialist of Alfa Paediatric Rehabilitation Centre, received awards from Women’s Manifesto New Delhi at the Women Summit 2021. 

Women Summit is the annual get together of the members and well-wishers of Women’s Manifesto, a national level NGO formed in 2014. It gives Women Manifesto Award to eminent women from different fields, who have contributed significantly to society and achieved great heights in their professions. 

Women’s Manifesto New Delhi organised Women Summit 2021 virtually on 30 December 2021. Dr Rashmi Singh, IAS, Special Secretary-cum-Director, Department of Women and Child Development and Department of Social Welfare, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, was the chief guest of the event.

Talking to TwoCircles.net, Yendluri said, “Receiving an award from women’s manifesto is truly an honour as it not only helps women in need of guidance and support but also encourages and identifies the women of substances.” 

“It was a great evening listening to the eminent women across the nation. I sincerely that women’s manifesto and appreciate its deeds”, she added.

While sharing her proud moments with TwoCircles.net, she said, “I won Kendra Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar for 2020 for her collection of short stories ‘Milinda’.”

Manasa did her graduation in Psychology and English literature and did her masters in linguistics from the University of Hyderabad.

Her father Prof. Sudhakar and mother late Dr Putla Hemalatha were also eminent writers in Telugu. 

Most of her short stories talk about women from varied backgrounds. She focuses more on the plight of educated Dalit Christian women in the urban setup. She also has written stories on queer characters as an ally. 

Her works have been translated into English and have been appreciated across the country. 

She has also translated famous Marathi writer Sharan Kumar Limbale’s novel into Telugu. She received many awards for her stories from prolific Telugu writers.

Shani S. Hameed is another winner of the Women’s Manifesto New Delhi. 

Hameed has won this award for her initiative called ALFA. ALFA is one of the leading Pediatric Rehabilitation centres and child development established in 2012 and started its operation with a 100 sq ft clinic in Changampuzha Nagar, Kochi, Kerala.

Around 10 kids were given pediatric physiotherapy treatment during the initial year. In 2013 the centre has expanded 1000+ sq feet own centre with more focus on early intervention programs. The program includes medical assessment speech therapy, occupational therapy and special education.

While speaking about ALFA, she said, “ALFA’s vision is to enhance the quality of life for children with special needs, nurture them for a self-reliant existence and support their parents to bring them back to the mainstream of the society”. 

“With focused early intervention therapies and multidisciplinary team approaches the centre could make significant achievement in rehabilitating the children with special needs,” she added.

Alfa has been recognized for its work over the past 9 years in the field of rehabilitation, for its coordination of over 50 Alpha team members with over 100% female representation, and for its efforts to make women who have had a career break due to having children with disabilities self-sufficient.

According to her, Alfa has received numerous accolades at the state level since 2014, this year’s national recognition, Alfa is proud to be able to grow from the single-member team from Car Porch converted centre to more than 50 team members today to serve more than 200 children per day at 5 centres across Kerala.

“Now, I am serving more than 200 children who come from different parts of Kerala. Among them, 100 kids are from a very poor financial background and cannot afford treatment expenses or travel expenses. I have been providing the same quality of services irrespective of their financial capability,” Hameed said.

She also talked about ALFA’s short film on social awareness about inclusive education, which is available on YouTube.  

While receiving the award, she said “I am very excited and happy on winning the award of Women’s Manifesto in the New Year. Many thanks to the Women’s Manifesto organization and those who are behind this initiative”. 

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Snobar, TwoCircles.net / January 07th, 2022