Photo Courtesy: Anushka Maharjan

On 13^th February, blood donation program was organized by the DWIT Social Service Club and Corporate Activity Club (CAC) of Deerwalk Services in collaboration with the Nepal Red Cross Society in Deerwalk complex. The event was sponsored by Deerwalk Social Service Network.

As important the event was, a huge tent was setup to prevent the blood donors from being exposed to direct sunlight. Comfortable chairs for blood donors, desk for providing snacks after donations and the desk for filling out the form for donation was inside the tent. Blood was donated by a total of 87 members out of the 101 interested participants, which included DWIT students, employees from Deerwalk Services and many other outsiders who were present during the event.

Blood donors had to fill out the required form in order to meet certain criteria for donating blood. Many got rejected due to issues like being underweight, underage, certain diseases, medicine consumption and other issues. The two ladies who volunteered from Nepal Red Cross Society said, “We don’t want to take risks with anything. Dangerous mishaps can occur if we treat these things lightly”. Members from the DWIT Social Service Club, Urusha Puri, Kinar Dahal and Raman Maharjan, volunteered in the desk helping to fill out the forms with two ladies confirming or rejecting the willing donors. After confirmation, they were given blood bags for donating blood and other blood plasma which could be of a huge value to people in need.

Maximum of 6 people could donate blood at a time. The blood bags were kept in the mini fridge right after the blood was collected from the donor. After the blood donation, people were given refreshing cold beverages, apple and a chocolate.

It was a huge and successful event; however, what made the event more successful was the excitement of the people. Iswor Sapkota from Deerwalk Services was the first person to donate blood. Interestingly, he was the first person to donate blood in the previous blood donation program carried out by the Deerwalk Institute of Technology 8 months back. When asked why he liked the program so much, he said, “I really enjoy this. It is an art of giving. This is the least that I can do as a human being. It feels really good. Health wise I’m strong too.” He also added he donates blood every 8-10 months and it his 13^th time.

There were many first timers donating blood. Sushant Chitrakar, a student of freshmen year, was really nervous. He said, “It will be worth participating in events like this if the blood is given to people for free to save their precious lives. But I’m really scared.” Another first timer, Manoj Gyawali, was asked how he felt after donating the blood. He said, “It feels like I’m 10 kg lighter and sin free. Mentally, I feel proud that part of my body is actually going to help another human being.”

[caption id="attachment_4696" align="aligncenter" width="451"] Photo Courtesy: Sajak Raj Baidhya[/caption]

Outsiders were also well rounding up to do the charitable work. Gyanendra Joshi who was an outsider visited the site and also got interested in donating. He was from the printing press house [Sahara Cyber Money Transfer] and his press house helped printing the banners for the event. He said, “I’m impressed with the whole program and almost the all the work is carried out by the people studying in college. Before visiting the college, I didn’t sign up for it. But this environment changed my mind and I’m ready to go for it. Wish me luck!”

Prabina Neupane, one of the members of the organizing team, mentioned, "I am glad that we could complete the program successfully. It was really good to see everyone so dedicated about the event. Not only the club members, but also everyone from the college and Deerwalk Services were really cooperative." Moreover, Prasanna Pandey, one of the other members of the organizing committee, said, "A steady trickle of eager participants kept the folks of Nepal Red Cross Circle busy throughout the duration of the event. The event completed successfully with a large number of participants donating blood. It was an engaging event and we hope that there will be more participants in future events."

The best thing about the program was certainly to see students from the college carrying the program to huge success until it was completed. Every student contributed doing something, either by donating blood or by volunteering in some way. Media Club of DWIT captured all the moments of this historic event. Members from Social Service Club were working tirelessly. Friends were motivating each other. It was a community event for the Deerwalk family.

Click here to read the opinions of the donors.