Zeba Anam – My father suffered sudden kidney failure and was put on regular dialysis a few years back. While his condition had stabilized after months of relentless efforts, our savings had depleted. With just a few days of funds left, my father, being the only earning member of the family, showed the courage to operate a small business with the help of my two younger brothers and his friends. This venture helped us earn Rs. 15,000 per month to meet our daily household expenses. My educational aims and ambitions were not even a close priority back then. Just when we had started to believe that the worst was over, tragedy struck again. In the wake of winters, my brother met with a road accident while riding his bike to work and received life-threatening injuries. The near-fatal accident left my brother unconscious for hours and he had to be operated upon.
The memories of that day are still so vivid. I remember my parents breaking down, unaware of their son’s chances of survival. Fortunately, he was saved and is under recovery till-date. Thousands of people lose their lives in road accidents every year. When it is hard to put a finger on who’s to blame, one thing can be said for sure that road safety is paramount.
This personal experience made me take a keen interest in road safety awareness programmes and I stumbled upon the Road Heroes Student2Scholar Program. Through scholarship awareness, guidance and support, the program aims to provide financial assistance to students whose families have experienced such unfortunate incidents, by connecting them to the available scholarship providers. I was matched with ‘HDFC Bank Educational Crisis Scholarship Support 2019’ and received Rs. 7,000 which is more than my annual college fee.