Rehabilitate 250 disabled children in India

Hi…

I am very thankful to present our eleventh report of the project - Rehabilitate 250 disabled children in India via GlobalGiving. Following are some of the glimpses from the field.

Through Saksham program, 33 new Self Help Groups (SHGs) have been formed in between Oct. 2019 to Nov. 2019 in Sangli and Kolhapur districts. Total 660 women have newly joined in the SHGs to empower their lives. We also conducted 04 plastic eradication awareness programs  with the collaboration of SHGs . The awareness was in the form of rally and more than 5000 people participated.

On the occasion of World AIDS Day (WAD) on Dec. 01, in collaboration with CPR District Hospital Kolhapur, Indira Gandhi Memorial (IGM) Hospital and Dist. Sub Hospital, Gadhinglaj we organized awareness programs in Ichalkaranji and Gadhinglaj. The day was celebrated with various activities like poster exhibition, distribution of Information Education and Communication (IEC) material, awareness discussions, etc.

World Disability Day Celebration

We celebrated World Disability Day on Dec. 03 in two working villages; Herle and Shiroli in Hatkanangale tehsil of Kolhapur district. In Herle village 12 CWDs, 29 PWDs and good number of school children, teachers and public participated. In Shiroli village 42 CWDs, 48 PWDs, their families and children from Shiroli primary school enthusiastically participated in the rally. The main aim of the rally was to provide awareness among people for the inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. The students were carrying the placards and shouted slogans related to the rights of people with disability. The Childline team of SMS enacted a street play related to child abuse and role of childline in such situations. We distributed Wheelchair, caliper, splint and hearing aids for the selected CWDs of new working village, Shiroli. We also honored a CWD, who got the first prize for shot put competition in district-level.

Sangli Mission Society has done flood relief work in collaboration with several organizations, NGOs and the community people. We were able to give our helping hands to people of 40 villages in Kolhapur and Sangli districts. We were able to provide the flood affected with food kits, educational kit, hygiene kit, household articles, etc. to the needy. We will be sending you a report of flood in the next report.

Following is a real story from the grassrrot…

“My name is Sandeep, 32-year-old, physically challenged person (70%), living in Kolhapur. I have completed my graduation in BA. As I grew, my curiosity towards the cause of disability also budded in my mind. But I wasn’t sure that how my parents will accept the question about the disability. One day my mother told me that the root cause of my disability is the result of their unawareness towards proper vaccination. At the time of polio vaccination I was feeling feverish but my parents weren’t aware that vaccination at the time of fever will leads to disability. I am accepting my current physical situation and I don’t want to blame or curse my parents for my disability.

In 2013 my application for Sanjay Gandhi Yojana got sanctioned, and I am getting Rs.600/- per month. I had to go to Kolhapur District Central Cooperative Bank, for receiving the particular amount. But whenever I go, I used to face lot of challenges for this. But I didn’t take any initiative to solve the issue. In 2018 I attended a meeting conducted by Sangli Mission society in my village. The meeting was about something called Grassroot Comics, at that time I was new to this concept. But team made us understand that it is a platform for discussing our (PWDs) issues through comics. They told us to think about the issues we are facing. The issue came to my mind was that, the cash counter or any other counters of the bank are built in a particular height which I was struggling to attain. So in order to fill the transaction forms and completing other process I was always seeking others help and I felt so bad about depending on others for my transactions.

SMS conducted a dissemination of all the grassroot comics in the village as well as in bank. SMS arranged an advocacy meeting with respective people to discuss about each issues and that made a twist in my life as well as all the other disabled’s life. Bank manager got sensitized about the issue facing by disabled people through the dissemination of grassroot comics and advocacy meeting. As a solution to this issue the manager appointed a Peon for helping people with disability. I am so happy that through this platform, I was able to express my issue and today it is benefitting the Persons with Disabilities”.

Wish you all Merry Christmas and propsperous New Year...

Please feel free to visit the page- https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/rehabilitate-250-disabled-children-in-india/