A helping hand to the disabled

By M. Raghuram

MANGALORE, NOV. 28. Charity and concern for the less fortunate have been the hallmark of Christian educational institutions in Mangalore for more than a century. From Fr. Muller of the 19th Century to the present day, the tradition has continued despite the vagaries of modern times.

The latest initiative is "Sahodaya", an outreach programme of the St. Aloysius College for physically challenged persons, especially the visually impaired. It is a programme for the empowerment of the disabled designed and implemented by students.

"Sahodaya" is being implemented by them in coordination with non- governmental organisations which have launched programmes for the visually impaired. The programme includes periodical awareness camps, weekly visits by the volunteers to institutions working for the disabled, annual convention of visually impaired persons, trainining programmes to impart skills to such persons and programmes to sensitise people to the needs of the disabled.

Under "Sahodaya", counselling, career guidance, short-term courses in computers and other technical training initiatives are also being taken up. Special emphasis is laid on communication skills in a language preferred by the beneficiary.

The students who work as volunteers create electronic textbooks in their leisure time. They record the textbook lessons on cassettes and circulate them among the visually impaired persons.

The St. Aloysius College has provided a full-fledged language laboratory for the purpose. Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Charles Furtado, Director of Sahodaya, said the students had been taking keen interest in the programme, contrary to the popular notion that youngsters these days were interested in only their future careers. An environment where students could imbibe values of empathy and compassion towards others, especially the disabled, had been created, he added.

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Section  : Southern States
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