SANKALP-IN AID OF DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLE CHILDREN

Dear Kind Hearts,

Greetings for the New Year 2017 from SANKALP team! Hope you all must have had a wonderful New Year Celebrations. Sankalp wishes that the New Year brings good health, peace and prosperity for you and your family!

During the last quarter, besides undergoing their normal in-house regular training/therapy program as per their Individual Education Plan (IEP), many children participated in various other outdoor activities also. These were:

• “World Disabled Day Rally in the city on 3^rd December that was organized by the committee jointly formed by 12 different institutions working for disabled persons in Vadodara.
• Drawing competition organized by Urmi school on 5^th December.
• Sports organized by Bal Bhawan Society, L&T Ladies welfare association and “Friends Society”. One of our children Bhavin Solanki won 2^nd prize in “Sack Race” at L&T Ladies welfare association games and 3^rd prize in “Running” at Bal Bhawan Society. Two children Pruthvesh and Mahekbanu won 2^nd & 3^rd prizes respectively in “Aim the Pyramid” at the sports organized by Friends Society.

Trust also organized on 24^th December, its biennial fund raising event a musical night of Gujarati Songs in support of SANKALP. Mayor of Vadodara was the chief guest of the function which was witnessed by 900 guests. Before start of musical night Sankalp’s children gave two performances on dance and song items which was very well liked and appreciated by the entire audience. They received tremendous applause for both performances from each of the nine hundred guests. After seeing their performance, the mayor was highly impressed. He very much appreciated the work being done by Sankalp and lauded the sincere efforts of its educators/therapists for making a positive contribution in the lives of children facing multiple challenges. There was considerable satisfaction on the faces of parents of all the participating children on seeing them performing on stage and getting all round appreciation.

We at Sankalp believe that encouraging these children for outdoor activities and performing before large gathering essentially serves three important purposes. One, it enhances the self-confidence and self-esteem of the children which in turn motivates them to learn and do better. Secondly, it raises the morale of parents and family members of the child when they see that their child is not only able to perform on stage but is receiving tremendous appreciation from entire audience. It develops hope in them that their child is improving and has potential to become independent to a reasonable extent. Thirdly, it sensitizes the general public towards differently abled members of our society, generates much needed empathy towards them and leads to their acceptance and integration into the mainstream of society thereby improving the overall happiness index of the society.

While a pair of summer uniform was given at the beginning of the term in July to all the children, they were also given a Woolen jacket, a cap and a pair of socks with shoes on 2^nd December. Girl Children were also given Sanitary napkins for the next 3 months.

Festival of Kite Flying (Uttrayan) is celebrated every year in Gujarat by everyone with lot of enthusiasm and fervor. Sankalp children also celebrated the same in the nearby Akota garden on 13^th January. All the children enjoyed kite flying and dancing for two hours and had lot of fun. The celebration was followed by lunch.

Until the next report a big THANK YOU for your support to our project. We will be updating YOU as this project progresses & what impact YOUR donation is making in the lives of mentally/ developmentally challenged children at Sankalp.

Links:

• "Aashayen"-Hopes of Children @ Sankalp