Dear list members, humbley request you to take time and read this article on an NGO called Niwant in Pune. Chak De Niwant! In the past seventeen years I have travelled on a unique path. It is very difficult to express in words the intensity of my experiences. Hundreds of visually challenged students walked into my life and with the help of ‘Niwant’ they now settled in life. Everyone knows about a blind school, but ‘Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya’ was established for students pursuing higher education, i.e. after Standard X. The journey of the making of Niwant was never a bed of roses. It was a war against negation, superstition and lack of faith in human abilities. A small but significant incident changed my whole perspective to life. In 1996, I visited a blind school in Pune to give a donation on the eve of my husband Anand’s birthday. There I saw a big line up of small helpless kids struggling to climb up the stairs and one of the homesick children hugged me because he thought I was his mother. Tears rolled down my eyes. I decided to give a slice of my life for the upliftment of these children and thought against the idea of taking up the job as an English teacher at the college level. The journey that followed saw the complete assimilation of ‘Meera Badve’, i.e. myself in the world of the specially sighted. The blind students had to discontinue their education after they completed their schooling. Not a single word was available in Braille beyond Standard X. Students with a rich family background could get support from their family members and continue education, but what about the others? They were children of rickshaw drivers, house helpers and farm workers. They came from strata of society that was beyond our definition of poverty and some were orphans. The syllabus for the blind students was the same as that for the sighted students and educational facilities were practically non-existent. “Is this social justice?” Niwant was like creating a universe out of void. On completion of the age of 18, the Social Welfare Department leaves differently-abled students to fend for themselves. Generally they are treated as non-productive elements by their family members who leave them in the school and sometimes they abandon them permanently. What could these children do? They were left on the street and used by society for malpractices; boys and girls for different reasons. Unfortunately these children had no sense of hygiene, culture and were struck by an inferiority complex as they thought that they could not cope with the challenges of the sighted world. They believed in charity and had not experienced the joy of earning money through self respect. They had no knowledge of the English language. Educational institutes had no faith in their potential. Eye-brows were raised and critical questions had to be answered. I had to sort out all these problems one by one. The students who walked into my life were directionless and confused about their future. They wanted to lead abetter life but did not know how to achieve their goals in life. In short, they needed a mother – teacher. I painstakingly had to give them lessons in culture, hygiene, which also included toilet training, cleanliness, feed them and academics followed later. Subject-based dictionaries with meanings in Marathi had to be created to encourage them to opt for English medium. Technology had to be brought in by replacing magnetic tapes by MP3 players, number of simple and less expensive educational tools had to be devised. Tonnes and tonnes ofcounseling went into helping them feel very positive about themselves and the world around them. Occasionally I had to use strict measures to discipline them.The social system had to be influenced to overlook superstitious beliefs that these children are the outcome of sins committed in a previous life. Educational institutes had to be convinced about giving them access to education and have faith in their abilities. Education is indeed the birth right of every child and as a society we have no right to give them begging bowls instead of Braille books. Publishers had to be convinced about making soft copies available for Braille conversion and copyright issues had to be tackled. It was a race against time. There were moments of retreat and defeat, but the willpower of my students gave me the strength to fight. A huge chain of selfless volunteers supported Niwant.Individual cause became the communal cause. Chak De Niwant!
As a result, in the last seventeen years ‘Niwant’ tried to change the social picture including discarded and unwanted members of the society in the social fold. It has helped in a holistic development of the children, one of ‘body, mind and soul’,successfully channelized their energy through a Braille library which has over 3000 Braille books (curricular and extracurricular), 17 branches of ‘Vision Unlimited’ all over Maharashtra and core teaching of all subjects through both the mediums. There is a printing press that prints more than 2 lakh papers annually and both the books and services are rendered free of charge. The children are incredibly talented. They are trained by the Shiamak Group for dance. They also draw, paint, sing, plant trees, imitate bird calls, do yoga, judo, play cricket and organize state level tournaments, donate blood, do Mallakhamb.The students also learn anatomy, various subjects in Science, Commerce, Arts,and Law, and Library Science, foreign languages like German, Japanese and French. MSW, FCI courses produce 100% results and these students top their respective career branches. They raise funds through their efforts by pursuing activities like chocolate making, Braille card writing, making paper bags andorgandy flowers. The achievements of the children are exceptional. Some of them write software and have formed ‘Techvision’, a software writing firm. They are paid in dollars by their US based client Boardwalk Tech. They are able to use Java, UBA, Google,App script, SQL servers. Josh Software being their Indian client, they are working on technologies like Ruby, Rails, Html, and Coffee script being the latest technology. They are keen to learn and evolve. To spread computer literacy amongst the visually impaired and to reveal to them the vast world of knowledge spread through the internet, we started a computer training academy called 'Insight'. Hardware training has enabled the students to dismantle the computer and reboot it! They know the inner story of the computer. More than 1500 students walked out of Niwant and are currently earning anywhere from Rs.5000 to Rs.35,000 per month. They are employed, some are married and have children but they have not forgotten their Mother institution. They have formed a club, ‘So can we’ to support their friends in need from Niwant. They donate around Rs.20,000 every year to help younger members get education. 1% club helps other needy organizations like the Autism Centre and Schizophrenia Centre. In short, they are indeed very much a productive part of the society, just like you and me! Dear friends, there are problems, hindrances, difficulties and questions in life but still ‘life is beautiful’! We can certainly create heaven around us by forming a human chain. All of us can contribute to the beauty of human existence. Let us believe that we cannot let people crawl when they can soar high in the sky. Any handicap is always at the psychological level and never at the physical level. Real effective change is brought about by doing and not just thinking. Come fill the cup with the fire of Spring. Let's work together towards a better world! Meera Badve Director Niwant Andh Mukta Vikasalaya Regards, Shiva -- Shivaji Laxman Londhe Contact no: +918888804460 Skype name: shivajilondhe87 Pune Maharashtra. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
