November 14 - Children's Day in India! A very special day for me, not just cos' I love kids, but cos' it is also my Dad's Birthday! :)
That it was started by Mr. C. M. Kathavarayan, a visually impaired person. When he was a child he once suffered from high fever and became totally blind due to the usage of local medicines. At the age of 10, he joined a blind school in Whitefield, Bangalore. He completed 10th grade in eight years. He continued his education and completed B.A, M.A and B.Ed. He specialised in teaching the blind and worked as a high school teacher for the visually impaired. He taught teacher trainees for ten years. His desire to do something more led him to take voluntary retirement in the year 2000, after serving 25 years teaching the visually impaired, and start WARDS. Ever since he has been striving hard to realize his dream.
This is not my first time with differently-abled children. I still remember my first visit to a orphanage about 5 years back. I got back home, and I cried. I have visited many such places after that, atleast once a year. But what hit me below the belt here is that, WARDS is too small. They have extremely limited facilities. A really small building, with a few plastic chairs for us to sit with our mouth wide open, as these children danced their hearts out to hit bollywood numbers. After each dance, one dancer in particular went around collecting feedback ("Was my dance good?") and each time a colleague of mine said, it was amazing, his face was filled with innocent happiness.
Frankly put, WARDS needs your help! They did not ask for it! No, instead they gladly shared tea and cakes with all of us, thanked us for coming, and waved goodbyes as we left with our hearts heavy. But WARDS definitely needs your help!
They make a lot of very pretty products that you can buy from them. You can even convince your workplace to let them setup a stall and help them sell some stuff. Donations are welcome too. Or you can even volunteer to help out, atleast on weekends.
So what made 14 Nov' 2011 so special that I had to blog about it - Organized by my workplace (who are also sponsors), I spent a few hours with the kids at WARDS - Welfare Association for Rehabilitation of Disabled and Society!
That it was started by Mr. C. M. Kathavarayan, a visually impaired person. When he was a child he once suffered from high fever and became totally blind due to the usage of local medicines. At the age of 10, he joined a blind school in Whitefield, Bangalore. He completed 10th grade in eight years. He continued his education and completed B.A, M.A and B.Ed. He specialised in teaching the blind and worked as a high school teacher for the visually impaired. He taught teacher trainees for ten years. His desire to do something more led him to take voluntary retirement in the year 2000, after serving 25 years teaching the visually impaired, and start WARDS. Ever since he has been striving hard to realize his dream.
This is not my first time with differently-abled children. I still remember my first visit to a orphanage about 5 years back. I got back home, and I cried. I have visited many such places after that, atleast once a year. But what hit me below the belt here is that, WARDS is too small. They have extremely limited facilities. A really small building, with a few plastic chairs for us to sit with our mouth wide open, as these children danced their hearts out to hit bollywood numbers. After each dance, one dancer in particular went around collecting feedback ("Was my dance good?") and each time a colleague of mine said, it was amazing, his face was filled with innocent happiness.
Frankly put, WARDS needs your help! They did not ask for it! No, instead they gladly shared tea and cakes with all of us, thanked us for coming, and waved goodbyes as we left with our hearts heavy. But WARDS definitely needs your help!
They make a lot of very pretty products that you can buy from them. You can even convince your workplace to let them setup a stall and help them sell some stuff. Donations are welcome too. Or you can even volunteer to help out, atleast on weekends.
Contact WARDS:
Phone: +91-080-25260285
Website: www.wardsbengaluru.org
Email: info@wardsbengaluru.org
Website: www.wardsbengaluru.org
Email: info@wardsbengaluru.org
All donations made to WARDS are exempted under section 80G of the INDIAN Income Tax Act and they are registered under FCRA to receive grants from foreign countries. But they most definitely do not look like they get very many donations! They could really really use your help! Do what you can!!!
The least you can do is spread the word...
As I walked out of WARDS with their pamphlet in hand, I read the words on the front page - "Brotherhood based on Equality is the Supreme Goal of Human Society". So true! Yet such a far away dream!!!
God Bless WARDS!!!
The least you can do is spread the word...
As I walked out of WARDS with their pamphlet in hand, I read the words on the front page - "Brotherhood based on Equality is the Supreme Goal of Human Society". So true! Yet such a far away dream!!!
God Bless WARDS!!!
:)
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ReplyDeletemind blowing:)thanks again for all those who participated!
ReplyDeleteThanks much, Shruthi... :)
ReplyDeleteInspiring, touching.. - I have no other words to express
ReplyDeleteThank you, Prashant... :)
ReplyDeletesuch a thoughtful gesture
ReplyDeleteno better way to celebrate the day than this
bless you
Thank You, Sujatha... :)
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