News Anyone can help someone
For more than 10 years, Niketan has worked with nearly 120 volunteers in its community care program. They play an important role in raising awareness in the community.
Whereas in the past many people thought they themselves would become ‘possessed’ when they came in contact with people with disabilities, the volunteers proved the opposite. Volunteers (mostly high school and college students) spend one to two hours a week with a child with a disability. They play with the child, relieve the mother and support the family. Because of the volunteers’ weekly visits, we see that parents begin to take better care of their child. The volunteers are our eyes; they see if there is verbal abuse, bullying or belittling of people with disabilities, women or grandparents in a family. Volunteers also take the children outside, allowing them to meet other people. This helps reduce the negative stigmatization for the entire family. Volunteers also get something in return; for example, they feel more respected by the community. About a dozen volunteers will put in even more effort towards creating inclusive communities, for example by reading the book ‘My Name is Runa’ to young children in villages and by providing sex education to young people with disabilities. 11 volunteers help us run the 19 veranda schools. We can truly say that our volunteers are making a difference.
A volunteer speaks
My name is Joba and I’m Jannati’s volunteer. Jannati and I live in the same village. She has spastic paralysis and a developmental delay. She is 14 years old. Because I live nearby, I visit her regularly and I also look after her when her mother has to go out for a while. I became a volunteer because I noticed that nobody spoke to Jannati and the villagers ignored her. I could imagine how lonely that must be for Jannati and her mother. The first few times I was alone with Jannati, I didn’t know what to do. I thought I had to teach her to read and write, but Jannati didn’t want to cooperate. She wanted to play. So I started playing with her and we had so much fun together, which I’ll never forget. I don’t have much time because of my studies, otherwise I would visit Jannati more often. It would be great if we could involve the community more in the lives of children with disabilities. There needs to be more awareness. I don’t know how, but I definitely want to work towards that.
