Nilima Venkat quits Shanti Niwas

Nilima Venkat, who has been associated with Shanti Niwas since 1999, and is widely recognised by the Kiwi-Indian community as the face of the organisation has announced her resignation from the organisation.

Shanti Niwas provides culturally appropriate social services to elderly and disabled people and their families of Indian and South Asian descent. It has been actively involved in helping its constituents throughout the pandemic, especially through the lockdowns, when the elderly were disadvantaged the most.

Starting out as a volunteer and eventually rising to becoming the General Manager, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that she has been the strongest pillar of Shanti Niwas Charitable Trust in Auckland. Having spent 20 years in Africa, she migrated to NZ in 1998 with her husband and children.

The qualified and registered social worker, who has proactively provided social/ community support for the past two decades, has resigned from Shanti Niwas.

During her tenure, Venkat, who hails from Chennai, has addressed inequalities affecting our communities and worked towards strengthening the wellbeing and social cohesion of migrants, especially the elderly and women and other minorities, to bring about positive health and social wellbeing outcomes.

Some of the projects initiated or run under her capable leadership at Shanti Niwas include day programmes in the wider Auckland region, Khushi – Elder Abuse and Neglect Prevention Service; Sneh – Emergency Home; Dosti – Visiting Service; Sakhi – Women Prisoners Support and Annapoorna – Indian meals on wheels, among others.

The news of her leaving Shanti Niwas has been a shock for many. When Indian Weekender asked why she had resigned, she did not divulge much. “All I can say is that it has been a very tough decision. I think in life, a time comes when you have to make some decisions. 11 March will be my last working day at Shanti Niwas,” she said.

She further added, “It will take time for me to get this out of my system because I didn't have anything else in my life other than Shanti Niwas for all these 23 years. Shanti Niwas has been my life…my everything for the past 23 years. I love the place and values it stood for, and I was so attached to the seniors and the people we provided the service to. I got immense love from them as well.”

Talking about her journey so far, she said, “I feel blessed to have journeyed that path, where I think not everybody gets that opportunity to serve the community. I feel that I was blessed to do this job. And I did it to the best of my ability. I'm not saying this in an arrogant way, but I humbly say that I have earned that mana [respect] from the community. You won't believe people have been calling me ever since I have announced my resignation. My phone has been continuously ringing, and seniors and community leaders are calling me and wishing me well.”

Undoubtedly since Shanti Niwas has been such an essential part of her life, she says, “I will definitely miss my seniors and the community work and the services we were providing for our seniors. Along with my team, I had taken Shanti Niwas to a different level. We started with having day programs two days a week, but today, we have five centres, and nine programs are running concurrently in a week in different parts of Auckland along with other social services.”

Venkat further revealed that she plans to take a break, but that does not mean she will be away from doing her community service. "For now, I think I need to take a long break. I will be visiting my children in Australia. Having said that, I'm so tuned to the community that I cannot stay out of the community for long. I've got the experience. I've got the context, and I know the passion for doing something for the community is strongly there in me. Let’s see what life brings and what I can do for the community."

Giving her best wishes to the organisation, Venkat signed off saying, “Shanti Niwas has a history and  legacy which needs to continue, and I hope it reaches greater heights in the service of the community.”