Meet 18-year-old Shalmon Sabale of Yerwada, Pune. Shalmon was the first student to join CYDA’s Youth Resource Centre (YRC) in 2018. Currently, pursuing his B.A. 1st year. He lives with his parents, elder sister and grandmother. Shalmon’s father, is a rickshaw driver while mother is a homemaker. His elder sister is a student of B.Com.
Shalmon first got in touch with CYDA during a survey conducted by the organization in 2018. When he joined YRC, he was an extremely shy and quiet student. Nevertheless, this shy and quiet boy, had big dreams and aspirations to help people and create a positive impact in his community. The only hurdle was that he did not know how to go about this journey to help the needy.
YRC helped Shalmon come out of his shell and become a confident young man. Being a sincere student, Shalmon is always punctual and has a flawless attendance record. His committed efforts have led to a well-rounded development of personality. Shalmon attends every session of Chai Pe Charcha organized at YRC and tries his best to understand various issues and opinions of different people.
During COVID-19 lockdown, Shalmon showed great initiative for volunteering and helped CYDA’s team pack and distribute ration kits for the homeless. He also helped the people to get their documentation so they could access the services provided by the government. During this time, he also realized that there was a need to work on the menstrual hygiene issues of homeless women.
He established a rapport with the homeless women and explained them the importance of menstrual hygiene. The team also distributed hygiene kits with menstrual products to these women.
Shalmon’s interest in working for the welfare of the homeless developed further. This led him into conducting a survey for the homeless and helping them find shelter. He also helped them get their documentation done by visiting the Commissioner’s Office as it was necessary for their vaccination and ration. Till date Shalmon and his team of youths have helped 500 people get vaccinated. His exceptional work was recognized by New Delhi based organization, IGSSS, which works towards the development, capacity building and enlightenment of the vulnerable communities. IGSSS presented him with a trophy and certificate of appreciation.
Today, Shalmon is leading CYDA’s core committee at YRC and is working to help others like him. He also volunteers to teach music to the students at YRC. He plays a huge role in motivating other students to actively participate in the events and meetings of YRC and leads by his own example. The shy new student from 2018 grew up to become such a poised young man that he even hosted CYDA’s youth festival YUVA Rang in 2022!
Shalmon shared his thoughts on his journey with us. He said, “Earlier I had no leadership and communication skills. I had stage fright and lacked confidence. Once I joined YRC, it all changed for better. I felt myself growing confident and was able to communicate better. I also experienced a change in my perspective of the society. Now I am more aware of issues such as human rights, gender equality, women empowerment and importance of sex education.”
Shalmon’s family is also very happy that he is involved in activities apart from academics and are very supportive towards his efforts to bring about a social change.
Shalmon is a wonderful leader to the students and members of YRC, while also being a sincere student and sportsman. His dream of helping the homeless has only grown bigger with time and he remains dedicated to see it through. He also wishes to pursue a career in Genetic Plant Breeding and we are confident that he will excel in his chosen career path! CYDA is very proud to have a talented, dedicated and dynamic young youth like Shalmon as a part of our team.
Shalmon participated in International Youth Conference on “Global Youth Making” held in Columbia Bogata, which was held between 28th November to 2nd December, 2022. He raised the issues of the youth of our country in this conference. He also outlined the challenges faced by the youth about health, education, addiction as well as crime, sex education. Youth from different countries of the world participated in this youth conference.
The secretary of CYDA Mr. Mathew Mattam & Mr. Shantaram Badgujar, Board Member of CYDA, felicitated Shalmon and wished him all the best for his future endeavour. Shalmon shared that, it’s a great honour & privilege for me to get an opportunity to visit Columbia for the first time.