She equips these special 'kids' with vocational skills

Ketan Tanna / TNN / Jun 22, 2008, 05:33 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

51-year-old Bhandup housewife Lata Das was travelling with 27-year-old Chetna and her mother in an autorickshaw on a pothole-riddled suburban road. It was raining and the insides of the vehicle were a little cramped.

She equips these special 'kids' with vocational skills

MUMBAI: The incident happened last week. Fifty-one-year-old Bhandup housewife Lata Das was travelling with 27-year-old Chetna and her mother in an autorickshaw on a pothole-riddled suburban road. It was raining and the insides of the vehicle were a little cramped. Suddenly the rickshaw lurched, and Lata, who was near the exit, almost lost her balance.
Then, to everyone's amazement, Chetna put her hand on Lata's shoulder and held her tight so that she would not fall out.
To those who wonder at the use of the word 'amazement', Chetna is mentally- challenged and incapable of carrying out even normal daily functions like taking a bath and using the toilet. It is rare for such people to exhibit emotions. But that day Lata realised that deep within even the mentally- challenged there are latent sentiments that can surface any time. "I was touched that she cared so much for me. I still can't get over it," she says.
Chetna may not be able to articulate it, but evidently stores a deep recess of love and gratitude for Lata, a volunteer at the MBA Foundation School in Powai. For over three years, Lata has been volunteering here; she teaches vocational skills to the mentally-challenged, spastics, autistic and even the physically-challenged.

She teaches thrice a week for three hours and has almost become a family member at the school��so much so that on the day she does not go, the inmates of the school feel incomplete, says Robert Aranha, assistant administrator of the school.
The 'children' that Lata cares for are not children in the strict sense. Most of them are grown up and anywhere between 18 and 45 years of age. But most appear much younger. "When I first entered the school I could not believe that some of them were my children's age," says Lata who has two grown-up sons.

Lata entered the field of voluntary work after her children grew up and she found herself with a lot of time on her hands. She wanted to teach children but with age not on her side, finding a volunteer slot for this was difficult. She then approached SOSVA, an NGO that places various volunteers across different organisations depending on their skill-sets and the requirements of the job. SOSVA asked her if she was willing to teach the special 'children' of the MBA Foundation School at Powai.
Lata said yes. But on her first day, she found herself depressed. "When I saw the children, I was saddened. I wondered why God is so unfair. But then I shrugged off the feeling and got to work," she says. Since then, she has been teaching the kids vocational skills like candle-making; at times she also teaches them meditation, painting and even English-language skills.
The MBA Foundation is an NGO working for integrated care services for persons with disabilities, with two care centres in Chembur and Powai. It was started by the parents and relatives of special children, and currently has 45 children, some of whom are boarders. The idea behind setting up the school was to train the mentally and physically challenged in various vocations and help them earn a living. Fourteen-year-old Krishna is one such child who has a muscular degenerative disease but a razor-sharp mind. "He is the boss of the other children and I have seen him guiding them," says Lata.
Lata's family has been very supportive of her voluntary work��she regularly chronicles her experiences at the school and emails them to her elder son who is working abroad. As for the future, Lata says she will continue teaching and taking care of the kids till they need her.
ketan.tanna@timesgroup.com

End of Article