Seetha Devi’s mission to rescue the forgotten and reclaim humanity

CHENNAI: The urge to serve the needy is inherent in Seetha Devi, passed down from her grandmother. During the 1950s, her grandmother moved to Bombay from Sri Lanka. “Living on the streets made her realise how uncertain life is. An educated woman, she started rescuing trafficked girls and safely reuniting them with their families,” begins Seetha Devi, who opens up about her journey to DT Next while en route to safeguard a child.

Personal experience

Seetha deeply feels the pain and trauma of living on the streets, having spent her childhood undergoing that lifestyle, with hardly two meals a day. After her grandmother, Seetha’s mother became her inspiration to help the needy, even when they themselves had very little. “After marrying my father, who worked as a porter at Central Railway Station in Chennai, she shifted to this city. Having been abandoned by his family when he was 13, the lanes of Moore Market became my father’s home and then ours. Even during those painful stages of life, my mother helped homeless and begging children in and around the railway station,” she says.

Broken heart turned into transformative vision

Education transformed Seetha’s journey. She completed her undergraduate degree in 2002 and chose the path of social service. Sharing a heartbreaking incident that changed her life, the 40-year-old notes: “Almost two decades ago, there were tribal settlements behind the Kannagi statue on Marina Beach. When I visited them, a father brought me the corpse of his daughter, who had been sexually abused. For children, especially girls living on the streets, if they need to sleep, their parents must stay awake the entire night, fearing for their safety. I deeply resonated with that man’s loss. At that moment, I dedicated my entire life to saving the lives of abandoned children on the streets and becoming their voice.”

She started Street Vision and walked the 42,610 streets of Chennai to rescue abandoned kids from human trafficking. Free education was provided to these young, innocent minds to help them become the transformative changemakers of the future. “I wanted to break the chain of generations spending their lives on platforms,” she adds.

Oxygen Woman of India

Seetha set up food and napkin banks for the needy. Her mother succumbed to the coronavirus due to a lack of oxygen. “The pain of losing my mother pushed me to make sure no one dies because of a lack of oxygen. Within 90 days, I saved around 800 lives with free oxygen cylinders. The cries and howling of people during the pandemic still echo in my ears. During one instance, a woman blessed me, saying Kadavul maathiri kaapaathineenga. That smile on her face was all I needed to march forward,” she shares. From an oxygen auto to a car ambulance, Seetha’s vision expanded.

Agony of abandonment

During her service near hospitals, she noticed something else, grown-up children abandoning their parents. “We rescued an old lady near the Aynavaram signal. She refused to come with us, saying her son had gone to fetch petrol and would be back soon. It was heartbreaking to see the hope in her eyes, but the reality was completely different. Now she is at our old-age care home.”

She shares another distressing incident at Vyasarpadi. “A 99-year-old man was left on the streets by his big family, who looted his property. When I tried to convince them, they showed no mercy and said they didn’t want to do even the last rites if he passed away. That broke my heart, seeing how humanity was waning. The care he received from neighbours was missing from his own family. The old man passed away the next day at the care home, after crying the whole night,” she says, her eyes filling with tears.

Where is humanity?

We often come across news of mentally unstable people roaming the streets without clothes. “I have rescued many such women. One woman, abandoned by her family after they took all her property, became so mentally ill she didn’t even care about wearing clothes. People waited for four hours for us to come and take her safely. Where is the humanity here? Unless it happens to us, we just view everything as news. It is crucial to respect fellow citizens,” she states.

A greater vision

Seetha Devi’s lifetime dream is to build a society free of child begging by 2030. Through Street Vision, she conducts life coaching and rehabilitation classes for prisoners, girls in sex work, and child beggars. “The key is awareness. To stop cybercrime, the government has come up with various plans and awareness programmes. The same proactiveness should be applied to ensure the safety of children, especially girls, through awareness initiatives in public places like bus stands and theatres,” she affirms.

She wishes to build a crematorium in Gummidipoondi, where respectful final rites can be conducted for the abandoned. Apart from this, the social worker has helped women and children in Manipur during the violence and participated in the Wayanad rescue operations. “All humans are born to serve and uphold humanity,” she concludes.

To know more about the works of Street Vision and rescue operations, contact: 9884655925.