It must be about twelve or thirteen years back. We, means Sandnya Sanwardhan Sanstha were in the Nagpur city and in the rented premises. Though it was independent, but was a residential block. The accommodation was not enough and was a bit congested. In the second half of the day I was sitting in the office. I got two visitors, they were off course acquaintances. They had come to see the school and the activity. After I showed them around the school and introduced them to the world of mental disability and autism, we settled in my office for a cup of coffee. I was trying to tell about the organization and its philosophy, trust principles and our code of conduct. Visitors were listening very intently. I was telling them that SSS does not take government aid. And the only funding source is donations from philanthropic people and organizations. One of the visitors asked why should you not take government funding when it is ultimately our own money and would be used for a noble cause? I said, I fully agree with you. But SSS has adopted the approach of integration of mentally challenged at all possible level and that is one of the reasons we are away from government funding. It is not that we are not eligible for it but by option we do not take it. My visitors did not understand the relationship between social integration and funding source. Since they had time, I took this opportunity to explain them about SSS and its genesis.
By Navin Deshpande
No comments:
Post a Comment