"The session with Dr Kiran Martin and Robert Johanson started with Robert’s brief introduction about his BEN journey. He then introduced Dr Martin and the association with BEN which started about 7-8 years ago. Dr Martin explained about “ASHA” and how it was started in 1988 when there was a Cholera outbreak and she set out to save the lives of people living in Slums by providing medical support. Since then ASHA has grown to support a large portion of Slums in Delhi, by providing medical, financial and education guidance to these Slum dwellers. Dr Martin explained how in this journey with ASHA she sharpened her leadership qualities.
Back in 1988 when Dr Martin started her journey, she learnt that this was a big task and not something she could do individually. This meant she needed to guide and empower people living in slums who are going through problems/challenges to go up and voice their problems. To do this she had a variety of challenges such as facing goons in the slums who threatened her life, but she learned to fight them and become resilient. Next was to groom these people to speak up in government organisations which they had never done before, being persistent helped her and she was successful in achieving the outcome."
