Driven by the principles of kindness and empathy, Prabhaben Shah has been helping the society since the young age of 13. She went on to work in various social sectors like education, health, women empowerment, natural disaster relief operations and during the wars with neighboring countries.
Today, we bring to you- Prabhaben Shah and her inspiring story!
In January 2022, she was awarded with the fourth highest civilian award of the country – the Padma Shri for her immense contribution she made throughout her life.
For Shah, kindness was always about selflessness and giving back to the community. She did exactly that all her life and applause and appreciation continued to come her way!
Prabhaben Shah from Daman was 12 when Mahatma Gandhi launched the Quit India Movement in 1942 at a Congress Session in then Bombay.
Being associated with Bardoli’s Swaraj Ashram from an early age, Prabhaben took a vow to contribute to the freedom struggle and slept on a jute sack for nearly six months. In a symbolic gesture to boycott foreign goods, she used charkha to make khadi out of cotton in school. She is a revolutionary in her own fashion and right.
Turning 93 on 20 February 2022, her spirits are as high as when she had established the playgroup or Bal Mandir in Vapi district in the 1960s to begin with.
Prabhaben became a catalyst for change when she was in Class 7 itself, after she decided to marry her husband Subash from Gujarat at a tender age. Soon after she wanted her kids to graduate, however, in the 1960s, there was no school in the state. She taught her daughter and other children in the neighborhood herself and later hired teachers. To fund the school and salaries of teachers, she even started working in a Khadi Ashram as a clerk.
Two years later, another transfer took her to Daman and there too there was no school. So, instead of directly starting a school, she decided to start a Mahila Mandal and opened the school through them. In 1963, she officially formed the Daman Mahila Mandal and began its operations with several other women.
The initial meetings of the Mahila Mandal were kept at her house so that the rural women could freely express themselves and through these discussions, Prabhaben educated them on basic education and healthcare. Through crowdfunding channels, the Mahila Mandal established two English and Gujarati medium schools each.
As years passed, more and more women joined the Mahila Mandal and the community grew through the schools as well. Prabhaben and her team went one step ahead and opened a credit society to loan to women who wanted to start small-scale businesses like papad making, sewing, grocery store, etc.
Alongside empowering the women, the organization also kept an eye on other projects like helping the needy. Another remarkable contribution came in 1965 when they opened a vegetarian canteen in a government hospital for patients’ relatives who traveled from afar.
Between 1965 and 1971, the Mahila Mandal led by Prabhaben was very active in raising donations for the soldiers and the martyr’s families. During the two wars, Prabhaben and other members knitted sweaters and sent them to the soldiers fighting on the borders. The women conducted similar cloth bank projects during the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984, the devastating Kutch earthquake in 2001 and more recently the Kerala floods in 2018.
Over the years, Prabhaben Shah has worked on several issues and improved the lives of many individuals, from children to women. Her zeal to be kind and help the community is what makes her an award-winning social activist and a prodigy.
The journey, she says, was not easy as in the beginning she had to run the Mahila Mandal with very little money available. But she grew with time, hardwork and an agenda of spreading the Kindness Revolution within people!
Prabhaben is entering the 93rd spring of her life this week and is retired now. She teaches her further generations about community, society, social work and the importance of kindness!
We wish Prabhaben an evergreen and healthy life and hope that many people keep getting inspired from her story.
She is a living legend in the field of social work and activism! Here’s to Prabhaben and her kindness!
