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"I don’t have any family. I think I have one daughter, she’s with my cousin. But today I think The Banyan is my family and the people who are working here — each one, healthcare workers also — always I accept they are my family."

Mariyam Swamy, a resident at The Banyan since 2010, considers the organisation and its staff her family.

Having lost her parents and with her daughter living with relatives, she found belonging and support at The Banyan, where she works in the tailor department as a VT instructor, stitching jute bags, wallets, files, lunch bags, and make-up pouches, often collaborating with her team.

Mariyam reflects on the challenges she faced in society, from stigma around mental health to discrimination based on caste. She recounts her experiences in institutions where she felt confined, until compassionate interventions by doctors and guardians helped her regain stability.

Today, she embraces the freedom, care, and dignity she experiences at The Banyan, stating that even if family members ask her to return home, she refuses, as The Banyan has become her true home — a place of love and empowerment she says few other organisations could provide.

Reported by Outlook Editor Chinki Sinha
Camera: Romana Manpreet
Video Editor: Sudhanshu

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Transcript
00:00I don't have any family. I don't think I have one daughter. She's with my cousin.
00:05But today I think Bannon is my family and the people who are working over here,
00:09each one, healthcare worker, social, always I accept they are my family.
00:19I'm stitching over here in the tailored department like a VT instructor.
00:23I'm also one of the residents. I came 2010.
00:26I stitched like jude bags, wallet, files, and then lunch bag, then makeup pouch.
00:31Whatever ma'am gives me, this is the sample piece of money you have to do.
00:36Then I do with my team.
00:39Sometimes people, they are known except in the Kamajji.
00:42And then for every sickness, there is a reason, oh, this will be okay, this will be okay.
00:47For me, I've seen, I have seen, they don't respect.
00:50And one more also, like a caste, oh, you're a Hindu, Christian, Muslim.
00:54This is very wrong. Nothing judge anybody's caste.
00:57And like, from my side, this is for me.
01:00For me, like, like an illness, how I have faced, whatever difficulty,
01:04after my, like, mental illness and stuff.
01:07I was in Calcutta, but I'm not used to go anywhere.
01:10I have one temple over there.
01:11That is my mother's elder brother kept.
01:14I will go there and sit there, that's it.
01:16But it was going on, then my aunt took me and she put me in Pavlov.
01:20I was there after my parents passed away.
01:23Pavlov, like, I was in the thing, they put me like a prison.
01:27And then they used to, that time I was very violent.
01:30After that every time, I don't know also what being only, what they say, I'll fire.
01:34But once Dr. Chatterjee came, he said, just take out her, I want to talk to her.
01:39Then Dr. Gose and Dr. Chatterjee said, did this, what is written in this Maryam?
01:45Then I read about this.
01:47I said, who is there?
01:48I said, this is my uncle.
01:49He only put me over.
01:50Then after that, Dr. Chatterjee and Dr. Gose Roy, they have support me lots.
01:55Then all the other people, I'll give them bath, give them food, take out the fish and give them, I like that.
02:01And the last moment when Dr. Gose took me to the Paripunnatta, I was not able to be there for some reason.
02:07Then after that, again I went to, then Dr. Gose and from the Delhi, I think somebody came.
02:12Then Dr. P. K. Dutta said, see, this time you have to leave this Paripunnatta.
02:17I'm going to resign and you have to go to there.
02:20This is not your life.
02:21This is like a prison.
02:22He made me understand.
02:23Then Dr. Gose, she went and she took me out from there.
02:26And then I came to Chennai.
02:29She was my local guardian.
02:31And then after that, like I, she introduced me over here with Paripunnatta, Madam and this thing.
02:36But over here, now if any of my family members says, please come to the house.
02:41I said, not at all.
02:42Because this is my house.
02:43I have lot of freedom in this.
02:45Love, kind and caring.
02:47So much in Banya, another NGO will never give this.
02:56Friends!
02:57Bye for now.
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