Though their rare AB+ blood type was a match, the student at IATA Hospitality Management in Sikkim Manipal University had just donated blood the day before, and in the face of difficulty, he realized there must be hundreds of other people struggling to find matching blood to save the lives of loved ones.[break]
“We liked Aayush’s main concept of providing blood and we decided to mobilize it,” says Rishi Aryal who is studying at the National College of Computer Studies (NCCS). And so in an effort to help people find blood, the Facebook group Blood Bank was born.
Within months of the group being made, Blood Bank boasts over 3,000 members with Aayush Shrestha, Ashish Niroula, Rishi Aryal, Shishir Sharma, Yogendra Shrestha, Jayesh Raman Dahal, Aashish Dahal, Narayan Bhandari, Rupal Aryal, Srijan Rajbamshi, and Sumit Poudel working behind it.
Rishi says, “There are 11 of us friends working together. We’re studying in different fields like computer, science, and hotel management, but regardless of the field you can still help people.”
How it works is rather simple. “We work as mediators helping people connect to each other. The group has documents by blood types, so if you can go to the list and contact people with the blood type you’re looking for,” informs Ashish Niroula, who is also involved with the group. Essentially, the group has compiled a list for a walking blood bank.
“If that doesn’t work, you can post on the group’s wall, or we can help try to find people,” says the 21 year old studying at Lord Buddha Educational Foundation.
The system, though a little shaky, has proven to be effective. “We first realized how well this worked when a 3-month-old baby needed blood. We posted it on our group and others must have posted it elsewhere on their Facebook. Later we found out that within one day, the family had received over 800 phone calls to donate!” shares a happy Ashish.
With direct involvement from the group administrators, approximately 35 people have benefited from the group. Moreover, there is good reason to believe that far more people have found blood through the Facebook platform.
“There’s no need for us to be involved in every part of the process. Based on the feedback, it seems like many other people have looked through the lists and contacted people themselves,” says Rishi.
Ashish offers his theory on why the group has gained popularity. “If there’s a need, it becomes clear. For this, we took the initiative on a simple thing and others have helped. To have this many members in such a short time, it’s probably because people like what we’re doing.”
Despite all of the positive responses, the young men sense areas that need to be worked on.
“In the beginning, even I didn’t know what blood donations were. But then, we got involved and realized that there’s no negative side to donating,” says Rishi who believes that posters alone aren’t enough to get people to donate.
“People just aren’t aware. What we need are proper classes where you can educate people because in order to give, first you need to feel safe and then you need to know what you’re doing.”
Besides being under the impression that a lot of youth lack awareness, Aayush offers another explanation for the hesitation youth display. “A lot of them are afraid of the needle. They’re just scared and so they hesitate. But when you give blood, when you help during an emergency, you just feel good.”
So far, the group of friends has focused on blood. “Working with blood is a quick way to help. Organizations like Red Cross are doing a lot, but the blood there is insufficient and we try to help with the low stock,” says Ashish with a smile.
But seeing the determination and motivation they have, it’s no surprise that they’ve already started looking further into the future.
“If you want to help, you can start in your own community, and your tole, and then you can think ahead,” says Rishi, who explains the new organization that he and his friends have just started.
“Currently, we’re in the process of registering Youths Empowering Society (YES),” says Ashish. Still in the infantile process, YES lacks full structure and specific plans.
“We want to help in any way we can – with children, child labor, elderly people. If there’s anything that comes our way where we think we can do it, we’ll do it,” he says with hope.
Till date, all of their efforts have been voluntary and some issues in the future are anticipated.
“There will be problems. We’re all from middle class families and there’s always the issue of funding. We don’t have set roles, either. But we work together and we’ve been able to do something. So I have no doubt we’ll be able to deal with the problems as they come,” says Rishi.
If anything, all 11 members are committed to the difference they want to make in society. As Aayush says, “After taking responsibility, you can’t back out. We’ve done some good work. But we all want to move ahead, we want to do more.”
If you would like to join Blood Bank, go to www.facebook.com/groups /181384518587834.
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