Jeevan School - School for special needs children - June 1st, 2011

Today, I went to the Jeevan school for special needs children. In this school, there were many sections. They had a tailoring teaching section, nursing school, and such courses to tailor to the needs of the students from Udavum Karangal. If they have students who are 10^th graduates, or 11^th dropouts who cannot pursue higher education, then they’re sent to this school to learn some skills to fetch for themselves in the future. This school is also open to the public. The main part of this school is that they teach special needs children. Also, they had deaf mute and dumb girls in a group who were taught to make handicraft items. They make flower vases out of ice cream sticks. They paint them and then make them into a beautiful shape with glue. When they’re presented with cut sheets of paper, they make the envelopes and with the help of someone, they also print on it with ink. I’m not sure how many of you have seen the Udavum Karangal ad on Sun T.V. (Tamil Channel from India), but it has girls like this showing that they too can work… with the song “kurai ondrum illai, marai moorthi Kanna, kurai ondrum illai Kanna”… the song basically means that we don’t have a lack of anything… we are happy with what we have. Imagine the people who don’t have proper eyesight, hearing, people who cannot speak or understand what you’re trying to say as the video of this ad. That’s what came to my mind when I saw these girls. Udavum Karangal’s goal is to equip these girls with some skills for life. They even scent the agarbathis as well. The staffs here individually teach spastic children in the same room. This is an outlet for the spastic children and a way for them to learn things.            

There must have been about 50 children who were special needs kids. When I say special needs, I mean that they can look normal or close to normal and yet have difficulty learning. These students were dyslexic students. Students who found it hard to cope in the other normal schools were sent here. A girl told me, I failed at the other school, that’s why they brought me to this school. It was sad to hear that. Some of them looked very normal… yet one child had a misshaped head. I was quite disturbed as I saw that her facial alignment was slightly off. I was there to teach them bhajans too. They were a super enthusiastic bunch. However, they could only handle the simplest bhajans. I tried to teach them a medium level bhajan…  Shankara Sadashiva Chandrashekara – They could say the words individually… and even two words at the same time… when asked to sing the whole line… they would sing it like this: Shankara saaas….. chandsekara. I then asked them if it was difficult and almost all of them said yes! I realized how much slower I needed to teach them.

There was a girl with no hands… one side was covered with her shirt, and the other side had an index finger where one’s armpit usually is. At first I thought it was peculiar as to how something was sticking out of her shoulder. Then I realized it was a finger. I felt so sorry for her… but I did not treat her differently. I treated her just the same as everyone else. She had such a great self-confidence. She used her feet to write with, flip pages with… and guess what? She’s a beautiful artist! YES! She draws very beautifully with her feet. She was super naughty and messing around with the other kids and getting them into trouble. She was so sweet. It was sad to watch her. God gives such talent to even those that he forgot to give hands to… how funny, I thought! He is amazing and I guess he has a higher purpose in mind when he creates people the way he does create them.

            This school also has a section for doctors. Udavum Karangal subsidizes the rates for the patient fees to Rs. 5 or Rs. 10 and gives the patients the medicines at 50% cost. There is a doctor in the morning, and one in the evening. Specialized doctors such as an orthopedic doctor, dentist and more come once or twice a week. This facility is for Udavum Karangal people but mainly for the outsiders in Thiruverkadu. Since Thriuverkadu is in the outskirts of Chennai, many less fortunate people find it difficult to travel so far to find a doctor… and to travel it costs money. So, Udavum Karangal extends their helping hand to those less fortunate in and around this area.

            The little boy who asked about where my Dad was, was also there at this school. He was making hand gestures and asking me if I brought him juice, biscuits and chocolates. However, I had no idea he would be here. I happened to have some bourbon cookies and I gave it to him when nobody was around. Still, a few kids saw that. I felt really bad to make the others feel left out. I felt bad either way… I felt bad that the others didn’t get the same opportunity, and I would’ve felt bad if I had disappointed this child. It was a hard situation.

             I then returned back and taught Balvikas for the teenage girls. The lesson was very meaningful yet with a heavy subject. It was raining so hard so the kids were not in the room for the second Balvikas class. I then returned back to the Model House Girls’ home.

            When I was sitting there with the girls, watching the rain… we saw Papa Vidyaakar walking in the rain. His assistant, a deaf, mute, and dumb lady, was holding an umbrella for him. I thought that was so sweet that this lady takes care of his needs so beautifully without being asked. I thought he was walking towards the reception… but he came into the Model House Girls’ room. As it was raining, the mat outside was soaking wet. I didn’t exactly see what happened… but I believe Papa Vidyaakar took the mat, and drained the water from the mat by squeezing it to dry it. He wanted the place to be presentable even in the rain. If it were me, or any other elder person, we simply would’ve asked one the girls to do it. We might think we’re teaching them something… but when we teach with words, it’s just valid for the time being or perhaps for a couple more times. However, when one person leads by example, that’s etched in our hearts forever. Thus he taught those girls by being an example and living life in a humble manner.

            After he came and sat down, the room was quiet. All the girls sat there in a circle. For some reason… I’m not a fan of silence in a room full of people. So, being me… I started yapping! I was like, girls, please share what our Balvikas story was about today… what message did you learn… how can we apply it to real life… why is it important to us. They explained it almost completely. Papa Vidyaakar also spoke a few words along the lines of the message of the story. After that he said an example that I will always remember. He said, “if you want to remove the darkness in a room… you can’t hit the dark with a stick or push it away. All you have to do is just light a small lamp and that will illuminate the room.” I thought to myself as to how true it is. This is the example by which Papa Vidyaakar lives his life. He acts as the small lamp that illuminates the society to remove the darkness.

            We spoke about gratitude. I told him how I had asked the girls to focus on gratitude and write a few sentences each day. A few of them read their gratitude assignments. It was very beautifully written. I then told Papa that there is not a single assignment that I give where your name doesn’t pop up. They’re always so grateful to you. The smile that he had on his face slowly turned into a more serious look. I thought to myself… I know I didn’t say anything wrong! Why did his expression change? He then states that to live their everyday life… there’s a grandpa who first gets milk in the morning at 4.00 A.M., many ladies who cut vegetables, many ladies who cook, many who clean the dishes, people who keep the outsides clean, the Gardner, the watchman, the truck that comes to remove sewage daily and much more that’s gone unseen. I then realized he was teaching the kids that they must realize all the effort that goes into their functionality on a daily basis, and that there is more to be thankful for. He is such a humble man.

            Today was a beautiful day… I was pleased that I had an opportunity to interact with Papa Vidyaakar and the kids at the same time.