The Joy of seeing a Smile on any Face, due to us is Priceless.
This goes back to 2015 when I saw one of my students who had recently got her head shaved. I asked her the reason behind her shaving her hair. After all, hair is considered a priceless ornament for women. She replied she just wanted to see how people would react to the change!
At that moment, I acknowledged why couldn't we utilize these precious locks of those who voluntarily want to donate them, for some better cause.
After a good amount of research, we learned that this hair can be used to make wigs for cancer patients.
What better a cause could be!
Seeing the Smiling faces of these warriors.
I knew this could create a ripple amongst the kind species. And from there I got the inspiration to start the Education of social science and research centre. We needed a definite procedure to be followed.
Hence we have been doing this along with the collaboration of Madat NGO.
We have our social media pages on Instagram, Facebook, (earlier even on TikTok), where people can contact us, with ease.
We give them the address where they need to courier their shaved hair. After this, the hair is sent to factories to manufacture wigs.
Thereafter, Madat NGO distributes them free of cost among cancer patients.
From 2017, we started extending our reach further. We have collaborated with many salons in Surat, Vadodara, and Gandhinagar where you can go and get your hair shaved for free!
The minimum hair length required is 10 - 12 inches.
After receiving the courier of the shaved hair, from the volunteer, we send an acceptance text to the sender; after 7-10 days the person receives the certificate from the organization.
In fact, the lockdown turned out to be a Golden period for our cause. We received an exceptionally positive response from women especially. The ample time gave them the space to step up and donate their hair. For a change, this even became a trend, for better reasons this time.
Around 70-80 women shaved their hair in this lockdown and sent them to us. For this one cause, lockdown proved to be a POSITIVE influence.
One of our volunteers, Shweta even gained some recognition for the same on a regional page which helped us gain the love and respect of the community. And our volunteers gained in numbers. The inspiration she acquired was a result of our collaboration with the salons.
Shweta Arya
This happened somewhere around February 2019, when I went for a haircut.
The hairstylist thought I can carry shorter hair very well. But, he was quite hesitant to ask me directly, so he texted me whether I'd like to go bald and donate my hair for a smile of cancer patients. I got goosebumps after reading this; because it's tough to imagine oneself in such drastic change in look.
Regardless, I always wanted to do something that went back to society. Hence I gave this a thought and realized apart from doing charity, I'd even recognize my ability of how far I can push myself, to optimum strengths. After doing thorough research, I finally decided to donate my hair. I was a just a bit hesitant earlier about this but when I told my mother about donating my hair,
she said, "Go ahead, its for a good cause, and then who am I to stop you."
This gave me a lot of confidence. Even my friends and family took pride in my decision.
I honestly felt so liberated to know what my actual limits are.
I realized that one of my objectives behind deciding to go bald was to let people understand that they are beautiful even beyond their looks.
Even I was concerned about my looks but I realized beauty is from the inside, it reflects in your smile.
The Beauty of Soul is reflected through the smile, the compassion, that we have for other souls.
I never expected my story to feature on Our Vadodara, the digital news page, and VNM News Channel, but my friend suggested that I should make the maximum out of it so that others can relate and join in this beautiful cause.
After my coverage there were two more donations; that moment was a moment of elation for me. I felt like, "OKAY IT WAS WORTH IT!"
Even if I can touch and inspire one being by this story to benefit this cause, I would do it!
More than the thoughts we have, our actions determine our worth as a human. How we respond, empathize to a soul in agony, and our efforts to help signify our intrinsic value, HUMANITY.
Penned down by - Sumayyah Sheikh