A visit to Asmita center for Handicapped

A couple of weeks back, a small team (which organizes some social responsibility activities) from our company visited Asmita Center for Handicapped. I along with my wife also joined the group. 

Asmita is a NGO based in Mumbai. It runs many projects, amongst which, runs a small vocational training center for physically challenged people in Ashokvan, Borivali (West), Mumbai. Their motto ‘Hum bhi kisi se kam nahi’ is not just on paper, but we could see that motto being carved out into the hearts of many students undergoing various kind of trainings at the institute. 

The center mainly targets handicapped people who are confined to their homes due to their disablilties and lack of self confidence. Asmita volunteers go to the society (which targets mainly slums) looking for such students and persuading their parents to send them to the center. Recently they have started involving college social project teams to reach out to physically challenged people in the society. Each batch consists of about 15-20 students who are trained for about 2 years. The main aim is to build self confidence within these students so that they have the confidence to face the society and the required skills to earn a livelihood for themselves. Up till now the trust has helped more than 1000 handicapped people (called as 'AmrutPutra' and 'AmrutKanya' ) in the center.

The activities in the center include sewing, wood/board panel cutting and painting, making greeting cards, making paper plates, stitching (bags, aprons, mats, etc), agarbattis, other handicrafts used by KG schools, teaching computer basics, etc. At the end of their training period, the students are provided with machinery and equipment to enable them to earn a sustainable living.

Sudha Tai Wagh has been running this center for almost 2 decades on a voluntary basis. Hats off to her dedication! We have certainly a lot to learn from such kind of people. When we were talking to her regarding various aspects/challenges about training the handicapped people,  I remembered this ultimate quote by Mark Twain - "Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see". The proof was right in front of us! :-) The rest of the volunteers consist of teachers (most of whom are students who have passed out in earlier batches), retired people, some young students, helpers and a bus driver. The bus, donated to the trust, picks up the students from their homes to the center and drops them back at their homes. The center also employs a physio to provide medical help to the students.

On our visit, we met with the students, the trainers, the founder member and other volunteers who had decided to spend at least a part of their time supporting the cause – each had a special experience to share and the visit turned out to be a beautiful interaction for all of us there.

We watched videos of the Asmita’s performing team – it’s a team of specially gifted artists who can play musical instruments with their feet, dance on a single leg, sing and entertain like never before! The talent and more importantly the enthusiasm exuberated in these performances is hard to express in words.

They show cased their products and one would never believe that these students could have made them!  Some of us tried our hand at rolling the agarbatti – and none could do it as perfectly as Amol -  Amol could not bend his arms like most of us can, and crawls on his knees.

Each one of us carried back a lot with us - Asmita's people, its humility, its simplicity, its dedication and much more! They definitely need a financial support, but more than that they need volunteers (part time/ full time) to help in their cause. We can definitely try to make a small difference in the lives of  physically challenged people! I am wrong saying this ... It is actually going to change our lives for sure! Let's make them friends forever ...

I would end this post with a very nice quote by Janet Barnes -

"I have not been handicapped by my condition. I am physically challenged and differently able."