Juhi Chawla's tweet helps woman raise funds for US nanny

Nina Merchant shows her nanny Kulsum Hussainrsquos picture on her mobile right Juhi Chawla also donated Rs 25000 to the fundActress Juhi Chawla has come forward to help Nina Merchant a US citizen who is collecting money for the treatment of her nanny after midday first reported on it Chawla tweeted about Kulsum Hussain so her followers could donate money to help the 88yearold nanny Following this the donations have more than doubled Chawla also made a personal donationMerchant a US citizen now staying in Mumbai has been fighting to get her nanny benefits under social security by the US government Kulsum Hussain joined the family as a nanny in the US when Merchant was a newborn and became her Maaji Hussain was with them for 20 years In 2000 Hussain came back to Mumbai but still has US citizenship A widow who has no child she lives alone in a chawl in Mazgaon It is only under the care of Merchant that she is survivingAlso Read Mumbai Bandra woman takes on US govt to get her nanny social security benefitsIn October Hussain sustained a spinal injury an acute compression of the vertebrae when she fell down in her room It left part of the spine paralytic and she requires treatment and physiotherapyMerchant has been fighting with the Consulate General in Mumbai and the US Embassy in New Delhi to provide aid to Hussain also an American citizen under the USrsquo Social Security programme But due to lack in credit numbers the US consulate refuses to help her Due to Hussainrsquos advanced age her health condition is deteriorating and she needs money for her treatment Last year she underwent an intestinal surgery when she couldnrsquot pass stool for a month and developed haemorrhoids She had to push back that surgery owing to funds shortageWith no option Merchant started an online crowdfunding petition on Kettoorg to raise Rs 300000 for the treatment of her nanny It didnrsquot get a positive response until the actress came forward to help her outldquoJuhi Chawla might have been informed about the report in midday Later she donated Rs 25000 She tweeted about the fund raising campaign asking people to helprdquo said Merchant The tweet has so far received 187 retweets and 400 likesFunds more than doubledFollowing this the fund increased from Rs 70000 to approximately Rs 180000 in a dayldquoI have been struggling to raise money for months after the US consulate didnrsquot respond In two months I could raise only Rs 70000 But as soon as Chawla tweeted the donations surged to Rs 180000rdquo said Merchant The target to collect Rs 300000 will get over in the next four days ldquoChawla wanted to make the donation anonymously She tweeted about the cause without revealing anything Later when people started asking her to donate first before asking them to donate I revealed to them that she had already donatedrdquo said MerchantI did it out of gratitude JuhiWhen midday spoke to Chawla she said when she got to know about this lonely lady with no child or husband to take care of her out of gratitude she helped her out ldquoWe keep complaining about our life despite having everything So when I heard about her I was really surprised and wanted to help her I tweeted but charity begins at home so I donated firstrdquo said ChawlaldquoI am really glad that people donated I have asked Nina to give me the names of the people who donated so that I can thank them for their gesture We should always accept what we have in life because people like her nanny need more blessings from godrdquo she saidUS consulate called HussainFollowing the report the US consulate in Mumbai contacted Hussain to sort out the issue But so far it hasnrsquot borne any result ldquoThey had called Maaji twice but the communication was fruitless as the connection wasnrsquot clear and she couldnrsquot talk properly Later we tried to call them back but there is no developmentrdquo Merchant said