“My story is a really lengthy one,” 69-year-old Laljibhai Prajapati warns me.
As a substitute of placing me off, this disclaimer has me intrigued. I’m lastly about to find the journey of this visually impaired stalwart in beginning a belief that has bettered the lives of over 500 senior residents within the Kachchh area of Gujarat.
Since its inception, Shri Navchetan Andhjan Mandal has been a protected area for disabled people within the state, significantly for deserted visually impaired senior residents. Left to fend for themselves by their households, these aged people discover consolation in Laljibhai’s centre.
And he takes nice satisfaction on this.
As he reveals, it began when he was 17 years previous. “My eyes had been affected by glaucoma and I misplaced my imaginative and prescient. It was nearly like I went to mattress one night time and wakened blind the following day. My life modified utterly.”
Trapped within the 4 partitions of his dwelling with solely physician’s visits to look ahead to, Laljibhai felt he was caught in a proverbial tunnel — one with out a gentle on the finish. Shedding his eyesight had executed greater than fluster him; it had additionally threatened to place a stopper on his profession objectives. He may not hope to review on the universities he was .
However the Bhachau (a metropolis beneath the Kachchh district) native admits that no adversity may make training take a backseat. “I started travelling round Gujarat; to Baroda, Jamnagar and Ahmedabad. I started finding out on the faculties there and studying braille.” The explanation to set his sights past Kachchh, he says, was as a result of his dwelling metropolis didn’t cater to blind individuals. Within the years that adopted, Laljibhai obtained his commencement diploma in arts.
So, in 1975 when he returned to his dwelling metropolis, it was with a variety of studying. “I had met so many blind individuals who didn’t have the identical alternatives I had had,” he notes. This thought led Laljibhai to formally register what had began as an thought — Shri Navchetan Andhjan Mandal — in 1997.
An prolonged hand to blind seniors
When one speaks of alternatives for disabled individuals, it’s often with a deal with youth. That is what a younger Laljibhai remarked throughout his travels.
However what about senior residents who had been dealt the identical destiny? Previous age was unforgiving to them. This epiphany led Laljibhai to suppose alongside the traces of doing one thing for the trigger. He had noticed how most of those senior residents confronted challenges in accessing nutritious meals, clear clothes, and a hygienic shelter.
“Furthermore, their bodily limitations made it tough for them to carry out routine every day duties, akin to cooking and cleansing,” he notes. They needed to consistently depend on others. To this finish, when their households deserted them, it left them with none help to show to.
This commentary led Laljibhai to start out an previous age dwelling that may be an area for the aged to dwell a lifetime of dignity and respect by a multifaceted method that targeted on their healthcare wants, nutritious meals, help with every day residing actions, and entry to rehabilitation programmes.
At present, independence is the fulcrum of Shri Navchetan Andhjan Mandal. And thru the years, its founder Laljibhai has been a ray of hope for a lot of senior residents who had been deserted by their households.
As an illustration, Chandrakant Navinbhai Gajjar. Lengthy hours spent weaving left Chandrakant blind. When he turned to his household for help, he didn’t discover it. “They began ignoring me, inflicting frustration and social isolation. It turned insufferable,” he shares. In 2017, Chandrakant’s brother launched him to Shri Navchetan Andhjan Mandal the place he says he discovered dignity in the end. “They supplied me with excellent care for the remainder of my life,” he notes.
One other heartwarming story is that of Devji Keshabhai Maheshwari who misplaced his mom at a younger age and lived along with his father and stepmother. Whereas Devji’s eyesight wasn’t good since childhood, it worsened as he obtained older. Finally, he turned to his kinfolk for help.
They helped him join with Laljibhai’s belief. Right here, Devji says he obtained the care and help he had been disadvantaged of for years. “I obtain all the mandatory services together with meals, medication, clothes, and footwear. I really feel grateful to all those that are making the previous age dwelling an ideal place for individuals like me.”
Whereas initially, there was solely a single previous age dwelling operational for blind individuals, in 2003, the belief based one other one for non-disabled aged individuals who misplaced their kids within the 2001 Bhuj earthquake.
Past an previous age dwelling
As Laljibhai noticed the Mandal getting radical acceptance from the Authorities and society — in 2006, the belief was the recipient of the Nationwide Award for ‘Creation of Barrier-free Surroundings for Individuals with Disabilities’ by Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, then President of India — he determined to increase its attain to the youth and younger kids too. Each exercise on the belief is laced with the thought of giving company again to disabled people.
One of many belief’s most profitable initiatives is the inclusive training programme. “This can be a distinctive college the place kids with varied disabilities — visible, mental, listening to, and locomotion — are taught,” Laljibhai explains. He provides, “The programme ensures that these college students are included within the mainstream.”
The three inclusive colleges — main boys college, main and secondary ladies college, and secondary and better secondary co-ed college — present the scholars with research materials in braille, audio content material, and services akin to libraries, laptop labs with a display reader, good courses, sports activities, yoga dance, and music courses. Laljibhai provides that the infrastructure is such that these college students can be taught within the mode that fits them finest.
At the moment, the women’ main and secondary college has 110 college students, whereas the secondary and better secondary college has 250 college students. Whereas the varsity empowers kids with educational instruments, the Thoughts Energy Growth Centre engages them in yoga, meditation, music, and dance remedy.
The rehabilitation and physiotherapy items cater to kids who’ve cerebral palsy; serving to them develop coordination, construct energy, enhance stability, keep flexibility, optimise bodily functioning ranges, and maximise independence.
The belief’s audio recording unit is a repository of audio CDs on varied matters starting from literature and fiction to poetry and brief tales. The Braille Press, in the meantime, is without doubt one of the satisfaction factors of the belief. “Now we have an Interpoint-55 machine which prints 2,000 pages inside one hour. All college students with visible impairment are supplied research materials in braille with none fees,” says Himanshu Sompura, secretary at Shri Navchetan Andhjan Mandal.
One other arm of the belief is the multimedia library, which boasts a big assortment of studying materials — 6,629 common books, 1,159 braille books, 1,003 braille e-books, and three,022 audiobooks.
Empowering youth with training alternatives is nice. However Laljibhai felt vocational coaching should even be built-in into the belief’s curriculum. “There’s a centre the place the youth are taught computer systems, tailoring, and so forth. The unit stitches attire for the youngsters of our colleges, and we additionally get orders from different colleges and industrial items,” he shares.
The journey has been an extended one, true to what Laljibhai mentioned. However at the same time as he insists there are miles to go, I can’t assist however admire how he turned ache into potential.
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Edited by Pranita Bhat
