Samarthanam- Apr 2 2007

The Vision of the Blind…
The bones of the Disabled…

A month back, I had got a mail forward from someone about an organization which needed scribes for writing the exams for blind… Already inspired to do some social work, I promptly called them up- Samarthanam, an NGO in J.P.Nagar, 2nd phase, (Near Woody’s). But they had already got enough scribes by that time. But I was already impressed by the motto of the organization- “Instead of pampering the disabled with food and shelter, we give them education.”
Last Saturday, we got a chance to be in Jayanagar.. Not sure of our next plans, my friend and me decided to call up Samarthanam, which was nearby.. We were invited, we went there empty handed since it was such a sudden plan. The idea of visiting them with nothing to donate was bothering us at the back of our heads. We reached there and got in touch with Ms. Vijaya, a lady in the wrong side of 50, surrounded by kids whom she was mentoring.. There were kids who were telling her about their assignments, about exams, marks, future plans… Great atmosphere indeed.. We never minded the fact that everyone was too busy to talk to us! There was a blind gal who wanted to get her assignment done, but her helper(volunteer) did not come that day..Vijaya was promising her to help her with the assignment herself at night… But this gal had to submit her assignment the next day and was in urgent need of help.. We offered to help her since the assignment was in English.. Man, no Webster has words to describe her happiness!!
For a few essay questions, she had typed the answers in her computer and taken a printout. We needed to format them and write it by hand. Initially we found that, while her spoken English was good, her essay was quite disorganized. Later, we learnt that it was the first essay in her life, and that’s y she was scared. BTW, it was Neela’s Foundational English paper in Ist B com. She was doing a correspondence course in IGNOU. Soon, we finished her first assignment and were inspired to do the second. We had divided work in this way: While I read out the questions, help her understand, and extract her answers, my friend writes them down for her.
Her second assignment was a reading comprehension and grammar. Since she was doing that fresh, I had to read to her the comprehension, help her understand and answer.. Their grammar was quite a high standard and Neela was not quite comfortable at it. But once I gave her an example, she managed to answer the rest of the exercise, awesomely well!!! All the time, she told us “I was so scared how I am gonna finish this assignment.. U came like God”.. She meant that each time she said..We wanted to leave at 7.30 PM, which meant we’ll not be able to complete her assignment.. But when Vijaya asked “Is there anyway u could complete?”, we didn’t have the heart to say “NO”.. We wrote her assignment till 9.30, in the process helping her understand her lessons, and entertaining her too…Her determination & dedication were amazing.. They were reflected in the kind of anwers she gave to her lessons..
One example: Use the word “Vital” in a sentence.. Her answer: Education is vital for everyone. This was the way she looked at everything.. We sure had a lot of lessons to learn from her.

One thing that I loved about this institution was attitude..Nobody asked us to spend a penny for them. Instead they offered us tea, paayasam, and invited us to their dinner with love.
They prayed in the evening with nobody to force them.. It was heart rendering to see kids with crutches climbing up the stairs for their prayer.. They prayed before dinner.. They were always busy doing something.. They knew the value of time- much more than us.. The best thing is that when we went there, we never developed sympathy for them.. We never felt sad..We were simply astounded by the greatness of their attitude and abilities..

This is an organization which helped educating the blind, the physically challenged and the poor who had the will to study. It helps them find jobs.. A great task carried on with great sincerity.. I am sure we have a few hours every month to give those humans.. To teach them..To help them with assignments.. Be the scribes for their exams- like the scores of people who already volunteer…

Hats Off to Samarthanam!!!