GDOHWA Project Samartha Visit (Padmanava Sen – 1 st March 2017 – padmanava.sen@gmail.com )

Snapshot of Visit: Visit Summary

o Reached Chatrapur Station from Puri via Kurdah Rd around 9-15 am.o Received from station by Mr K Ananda and other members of Samartho Discussed with Mr Ananda the details of the project and got an

overview of how it started and slowly grew into the residential hostel of 45 kids today. Specifically discussed about the questions raised by Asha steward.

o Got an idea about the hurdles the kids face every day (some of them have multiple disabilities). Most of them have physical retardation and ~10 have mental retardation.

o Talked to Sarojini, a girl going to medical college (homeopathy) and wants to open her chamber after becoming a doctor

o Visited the physiotherapy unit and met the person in charge of treatments

o Met all the kids, interacted with them one by one in the group and then have a small cultural performance by kids

o Took video of the physiotherapy unit o Have a separate session with the older students (including 2 college

going students). Talked to them about English, their strength and weakness in their own words

o Had Lunch and left for Puri from Chattrapur station around 3-30 pm.o Mr Ananda and team requested the following

First priority – help in building the center once the land is bought Providing few laptops for older students (can be used for others) Increment in food allowance and teachers salary if possible (I

believe they should follow India’s inflation rates) Overall impression

o This project is associated with Asha for last 9 years o The children completely feel at home and they are very confidento Mr Ananda is a role model for all the students and the members of

GDOHWA o It is extremely rare, the students from this center achieved

academically and they have received multiple prizes for that courage as well

o Asha’s support for running the center and the additional logistics (like buying a scooter with support) have come a long way

o The physiotherapy unit has very good equipments for all levels of difficulties

o I was amazed at the dances kids performed. It was an honour to dance with some of them

o The urgent need in my opinion Support for the new building. As the current building is a Govt-

reject for bad qualities and the yearly repair cost sometimes amounts to 1.5Lakh. It is also not that safe structure wise and they get Govt pressure time to time to leave the building

Some increment in the salary of the teachers and food support. The children are enrolled at nearby Govt schools but most of them are taught by teachers coming to the center

Details:

Background: Samarth is a residential school for the physically challenged. Asha Stanford has been funding this school for the last 8 years. Mr Kakala Ananda has started the center more than 15 years back. He has received Presidents medal for his contribution in this field. Some of the students who were admitted in the early days are going to medical colleges now. There is no school for mentally or physically disabled children in the state of Orissa. Hence his motivation was to start a residential school that children with disabilities and very marginalized background can call home He started this project in an establishment (initially planned for Government officials but later rejected due to poor finishing). They continued to run the project in the same center though now the plan is to build a center in a land that will be acquired soon. More details about Asha-for-education collaboration at http://new.ashanet.org/project/?pid=934

Setup: There are around 45 kids in the center. The age group is between 6 and 20. Most of the kids above 10 years are girls. There are few boys above age of 10 and the older boys have mental retardation or visual impairment. Most of the kids go to formal schools nearby. They spend most of the school hours there but the real teaching happens at the center with the help of 3 teachers. There is a teacher for Class 1-5, one for Class 6-8 and one teacher for higher classes + computer. The classes in the center mostly happen in the morning 7-9 am and 6-8 pm. The teachers cover all the subjects with focus on Math and language. One of the teachers (Ms Rita Das) also takes care of training them other skills like tailoring, candle making, phenyl making, embroidery and incense sticks making. One of the teachers (Mr G Umakant reddy) also teaches them computer. There are 2 desktops without internet and one desktop computer with internet access. He teaches paint, windows basic operations, typing to 10-15 yrs of kids & word/xls/simple html for 15+ yrs. One of the kids Rajeshwari is expert in typing in computer (and writing on paper) with her legs. As two of kids are losing their eyesight fast, they may include some adjustments for them. There are total 2 hrs of computer teaching.

There is a physiotherapy unit and a Doctors chamber in the same building. The physiotherapy unit is equipped with state of the art equipments. There is a physiotherapist and they have occupation therapy arranged for children with mental retardation. The physiotherapy room is used by almost all students. The physiotherapist is present during 8 am to noon and 3 pm to 6 pm almost all days.

The Chamber

The Stair, Ultrasound machines, heating pads, Marine wheel

The physiotherapy center includes equipments for laser therapy, short-wave diathermy, ultrasound (1MHz, 3MHz), Interferential & Tens Electrode Placement, Tenser. The center includes a chamber. It has a swing with 4 attachable bases (to treat fear of sitting, slipping), equilibrium bar (for cerebral palsy), walking rail, ankle exerciser, quadriceps and bicep exercisers, cycle (with different loads), different balls and bars for holding, traction unit, heating pads (that can maintain constant temperatures), stairs as well as marine wheel (with adjustable heights).

Walking rail and other exercisers

The swing and the laser machine

There are music classes that happen in the weekends and holidays (10+ days in a month, 2 hr each day). Children also play some outdoor games like cricket, football, musical chair, ball throwing, hide-n-seek & indoor games like carom, ludo and cards.

Music Instruments

Interaction with kids: All kids (except the ones who went to give exams) assembled in the physiotherapy room (It has place to accommodate everyone in front of the chamber). I asked each kid their names, villages, what subject they love and hate. Mr Ananda also mentioned their disability. In some cases, I have asked some questions related to that. The kids were very frank about their conditions. Two/three kids cannot talk and some have delayed development. Mr Ananda mentioned some of these disabilities came through genes and caused by some customs of marrying own uncles in these areas. After that I requested some of older students to sing alone and in groups. After that arrangements are made for dance performances. I have also danced in bollywood tunes. 3-4 kids joined me. I was very amazed to see a kid with plastic foot dancing so well. I asked Mr Ananda if Government provides this foot to him. He mentioned that the kid gets only one plastic leg from Government in 3 years and for his age, he gets taller every year and using Samarth funds, a good quality leg is bought. Ditto happens for the wheelchairs given by Government. The quality is not good and sometimes they have to buy themselves after a year.

Smiling kids during interaction

Kids with Mr Ananda

Pictures of Me with kids

I have also talked to a student named Sarojini going to college. She studies in Brahmapur College and takes the scooter with additional support funded by Asha. She showed very good confidence of opening a homeopaethy chamber once she is done. Mr Ananda mentioned 2 other girls from this center who are studying in other medical colleges of Orissa. I have talked another college going student (Babita).

I have spent one more hour with the older students (all girls). There is scope of improvement in English but I was very happy to see their confidence in interaction. They could understand my Bengali and Hindi. The college kids can speak in broken

English as well. Most of them come from villages in Orissa and quite happy living in the center. We discussed about strengths and weaknesses. They mentioned their aspirations and how they cope up with failures. I asked Rajeshwari to show how she writes by legs and I was pretty amazed to see her skills and very good writing.

Interaction with students - 15+ yrs

Mr Ananda later showed me the prizes kids of centers got in different competitions. After lunch, I have visited the rooms upstairs where they children are taught other skills and taken pictures.

Phenyl making and other skill development

QnA on behalf of Asha Steward:

Before I visited the project, I had a discussion with Asha steward Shruthi from Stanford. I have observed during the visit and as needed, discussed them with Mr Ananda. The details below:

1. Last year we funded a physiotherapy unit (being run in the school itself), that is now funded partly by the government and open to public for you. How is the unit doing? Are the children finding it useful?

The physiotherapy unit has very good equipments. It should be able to address all needs of the kids of this center and beyond. The children are using it quite regularly and getting benefits.

2. State of building- From the previous site visit, we got a sense that the building is quite old and in a bad state. Based on what you see, what do you think should be our priority for improving the standard of living for these children?

The building is built in 1990 for Class I Government officers but due to the poor quality, it is rejected. Since then in the recommendation of SP, it is used for the organization. However, when the collectors change, they have to convince them the reasons to stay again and again. Sometimes they get requests to leave this house as well but due to the quality reasons, Government could not assign the space to anyone else. However, their maintenance cost is close to 1.5 Lakh per year. A land close to 30000 sqft is allotted but Government is asking 38 Lakh for that in high industrial price. Instead they are planning to buy a land of 50000+ sqft in 30 Lakh

(residential prices). However, they need support to build the house (first priority). I personally believe that should improve the living conditions of children substantially.

3. How is the quality of life for the children? Is the food nutritious? Are they happy? Do they have enough recreational facilities? 

The food given is vegetarian but occasionally milk is given for protein. Also, pulses are main source of protein in their food habits. Non vegetarian food is usually avoided for the cost of it and since it is not recommended for teenagers with mental retardation in a hostel. I believe they have enough recreational facilities. Children seem happy as a group. They gel very well with each other specially the girls in similar age groups. The younger ones get supervision from older kids as well.

4. Are the teachers happy with their salaries? What is the education level? 

All teachers are graduates. I believe at least one of them have master degree. They requested some increment in salary as this is their only source of income.

5. This project has a rapidly growing budget. a) a number of students are graduating, want to pursue higher education. 2) Construction of new building that is RTE compliant. 3) Funding of students pursuing medicine. Are they getting others donors?

Even though they have some personal donors but I think it is very difficult to get new organizations involved given the remoteness of this area and the type of project. Still many organizations/CSR do not see any potential to support disabled children in India. If they have some connections to Bhubaneswar companies they can try but the chance is less. I believe they can restrict the intake from next year and they have a lot of kids appearing 10+, 12+ till they graduate. Asha Stanford should try Support-A-student model for them as some of these kids have showed amazing potential rare in their state. The funds for building construction is an one-time cost and may reduce the maintenance cost long term.