As we were stepping out from the Samarthanam's hostel in J.P. Nagar, Bangalore, we had a sense of joy and pride: joy of spending some unforgettable time with the people there and pride for the philanthropic works carried out by Samarthanam.
More about Samarthanam: Samarthanam Trust For The Disabled was registered as an NGO on February 26, 1997 . Three visually challenged young graduates started the Trust with the initial objective of providing hostel and education facilities to visually impaired girls pursuing their studies after tenth standard. Over the years the Trust has expanded its horizon to include various projects for the benefit of physically and economically challenged students also. Besides getting them admitted in various prestigious colleges in the city of Bangalore, the trust also provides the visually challenged students with reader and scribe services. (Source: http://www.samarthanam.org/)
What are the people already doing? Commendable voluntary work is poured in for this organization by the people from all walks of life: techies, artists, teachers, doctors and many others. Volunteers come whenever they get free time and teach whatever they know.For example, there are people who teach music, dance computer skills etc. It's amazing to see that students here can learn in the same speed as others do. Talent is everywhere. Our duty is to discover that.
What did we do? My friend Jitesh knew about Samarthanam, collected related information and planned accordingly. The plan was to gather clothes from our friends and distribute it to the org. It was successful as the number of clothes collected was nearly hundred from just a few houses and in a very short span of time.
First, we were shown a video about Samarthanam. We got an overall view of the various activities conducted by Samarthanam. There were comments from CEOs, entrepreneurs and other eminent personalities praising and supporting the good deeds. After this we walked inside the hostel guided by one of the member. We saw some blind people learning computer, one volunteer teaching a group of 4 kids and some kids playing in the terrace. It's difficult to make out that some people are blind. The way some talk looking straight at our eyes and the swiftness with which they move around; unbelievable!!
We met couple of people who support this Mr. Chandrashekhar or Chandru is the heart of that place. His contributions are priceless. He can operate computer very well with the help of software for visually impaired. Another person we met was Mr. Nagesh. I think I don't clearly remember in how many fields he is an expert! Darkness in front of the eyes was never a hurdle for him. He is a vocalist and mimicry artist. He conducts stage shows and works for Kotak Mahindra. We were dumbfound listening to all these. The time spent with him was memorable. His ideas and talks are so fresh and original that the listeners will be captivated. Another inspiring character is Annamma who is serving for the past 7 years. All these people talk good and smile with joy. Isn’t this amazing when many are looking for the source of happiness in this world? Well I am also looking for :)
We spent close to one and half hour and left the place with the promise of revisiting with proper plan to teach the students.
What you can do? I will be more than happy if you had a thought of doing something from your side. You would have thought of spending an hour, helping financially or donating something useful. Whatever be it, the people in the organization will happily accept.
Please feel free to contact Samarthanam or us in case you want some information
Samarthanam: +91-80- 26592999 / 26591488Jitesh: +91 9980163165
Balu: +91 9886101840
Watch the video http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9095471016167749125
From Top Left Clockwise: Rahul, Sandeep, Sanoop, Balu, Nagesh, Rahul,Rose,Karthik, Jithesh, Priyanka, Rashmi, Irfaan
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/balu.ss/Samarthanam#
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2 comments:
"With EYES we see the obvious, with VISION we see BEYOND" says Swami Chinmayanandji.
Seriously, with eyes we limit ourselves to see obvious things, but those who are gifted without eyes, can Visualize many more things.
Yes, it's our time to KNOW the people who utilize their complete POTENTIAL with what their body is equipped with. They never regret that they cant see, they cant walk like others, but they are proud that they have got good voice to sing,good artistic mind and great will power.
We, being complete,still don't feel complete and happy and also crib for everything. Whereas, they, without the most beautifull part of the body i.e EYES, feel blessed and lead a happy life with a Smile highlighting their positive qualities. Actually, they asked us to come and teach them,but there is a lot more to learn from them.
The most touchy moment was the last part. THE MAN, who entertained us all the time with his abilities. All of a sudden, gets a call that his friend is waiting near the bus stop. Here if it were someone else, reaction would have been "Yeah Machha,give me a lift till there da". But here THE MAN, Straightens his walking stick, happily tells good bye to all of us and says will meet next time and with full courage starts walking on the road... From the front,comes a car,but he is least bothered,because he never knew a car is straight in front of him; car some how escapes from this brave man. THE MAN, not knowing all these continues his FAITHFULL steps,walks walks and walks and finally disappears from our eyesight. Tears were just flowing without our permission and the words came out of mouth were... "THAT’S LIFE!!!"
KNOW NOW!!!!
With Regards,
Ramya.
It was a nice experience and we got a great response from the committee members @ Samarthanam in our first visit.
Even though their eyes cannot see the day light, the irony here was these eyes were glowing with so much youthful radiance that it can brighten any person who meets them.
I was also amazed to see the enthusiasm each of them had about their lives. It is not us whom they have to come to learn things from, but it’s the other way round :)
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