Taare Zameen Par

Hi Everyone... I had promised Vimal that I would write about some projects we have done in our Rotary Club. Like a true SVCian I must stick to my promise.

Gopal and myself were introduced to Rotary in 1999 by one of our friend. As both of us were very keen on doing our little bit for the community we joined the club. Since then we are with the club and actively participate in the community projects. Last year Gopal was the club president and it was a God given opportunity and a memorable year which we will cherish throughout our lives. We have our regular on-going projects viz. conducting health checkup camps, blood donation drives, participating in National Immunization days(polio), dental check up camps for children in labor camps and municipal schools, tree plantation drives etc. Apart from these regular projects this year we had opportunity to do some very unique projects. Working for children and the elderly has always been something we loved and this year we did some good projects for them. I shall write about 2 such projects in this post.

Uran is a beautiful place surrounded by many villages. It is about one hour drive from Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. Sweekar is a school for the special children(we avoid calling them mentally challenged) at Uran. Being a backward area there is little awareness about care and education for these children. The school authorities do their best to spread the awareness and convince the parents to send such children to the school. The Children are taught to manage their daily routine activities, to read and write. They are also given vocational training depending on their capabilities. There is a marked improvement in them over a period of time. After lot of struggle there are about 30 students of age group 6yrs to 16yrs. Some children are not able to attend school because of no proper transport from their homes which are spread over a large area. The families are very poor and cannot afford the transport cost.

We managed to donate a mini bus. This will definitely help improve the attendance. This will also help to spread awareness that such a school exists in their area. The major donor was M/s Balmer and Lawrie as part of their CSR(corporate social responsibility) program. Part of the cost was borne by our club and one more club at Thane. We identified and executed the project. We also equipped the school with a Occupational Therapy Unit. This will help the children in the treatment of the physical disabilities. A full time Occupational therapist is made available.

I appreciate the hard work put in by the teachers. We were overwhelmed by these children who gave a beautiful dance performance even with their physical and mental disabilities. Their innocent smile brings tears to the eyes.

They surely are our Taare Zameen Par.....