He was blinded as a child, then started an NGO for blind girls

IT was a normal hospital visit. Shivaprakash was just 8 and noticed that the vision in one of his eyes was getting blurry. He would rub his eye and try blinking but the vision in that eye was not clear. He told his mother and father about it and his parents took him to the doctor who recommended a small and simple surgical procedure to make sure the problem did not get worse. Shivaprakash was wheeled into the operating room and waved to his parents who were in the waiting area telling him they would see him soon. He then fell asleep. But when he woke up a few hours later, he could not see anything. There was total blackness. Shivaprakash has been blinded in both eyes due to a surgical error.

 

Shivaprakash’s parents were shocked. Their little son was taken to the hospital for a problem in one eye but was discharged blind. The first few days and months were filled with a multitude of thoughts that went through the minds of Shivaprakash’s parents. Are we cursed? Have we sinned? Is this a punishment? While his parents sat at home and asked these questions, Shivaprakash was sitting in darkness listening to them and wondering what he had done wrong and why this had happened to him. Just a few weeks ago, he was playing cricket with his friends. But today, he could not even take a few steps to go to the restroom, get a plate of food from the kitchen or go to school and get an education. It seemed as if his life was over. 

The first glimmer of hope

But Shivaprakash was a fighter. He was blind in both eyes but he had determination and wanted to achieve something in his life that would leave an impact in the lives of other blind individuals. His parents were farmers and he was from a remote village that had no school or even buses to and from their village to the nearest town. But he knew about the positive impact of NGOs in his area and how these organizations were transforming the lives of underprivileged people. In 2010, he decided that he would start an NGO for blind children to equip them and give them a solid foundation on which to build a strong and independent future. He named this NGO for blind children Divya Jyothi Charitable Trust and focused on education to empower lives. 

 

The idea of an NGO for blind children 

Shivaprakash noticed that most of the children in his village and surrounding areas moved to the big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or Chennai for higher education or employment opportunities – and the same was the case for children with visual impairments. But he wanted to do something in Mysuru because most blind children could not afford to move out of their villages or towns, let alone blind children who were even more disabled. His NGO for blind children started educating children right where they were. This helped get their parents’ approval who were comforted knowing that their children would not have to be sent away to get an education, which is something they desperately wanted to give their children.

Blind girls suffer even more

For blind children, mistreatment and discrimination is common. But for girls, the situation is much worse. It starts from home where the girl’s parents are so afraid of their daughters being exploited that they keep them inside the house. This then turns into the girls being locked inside the house because the parents need to go out to work and cannot leave their visually disabled daughters alone. When these girls do go out, there have been cases of them experiencing mental, physical and even sexual abuse from strangers or even neighbors. Fearing this, the parents hide their blind daughters away from the world without thinking about how an education can empower them and their futures. 

 

How the NGO for blind children empowers girls

The first service that the NGO for blind children offered was a computer training center for girls with visual impairments. Divya Jyothi Charitable Trust understood that people with visual disabilities need to receive computer training in a much different manner than others. The NGO then started a Braille transcription center and saw stellar results! The girls were bright, performed well and showed great interest and ambition in pursuing further studies and specialized careers. Based on the success of this program, this propelled the NGO for blind children to branch out and provide a range of educational and vocational skills training for its students to set them on a path to improving their futures and becoming something in this world.

In addition to the education and skills development training, the NGO for blind girls also organizes extracurricular activities to give its students a well-rounded educational experience. This includes indoor activities such as chess clubs and outdoor activities such as swimming and trekking to make sure no blind children are denied opportunities to have a happy childhood. Divya Jyothi Charitable Trust also organizes visits to corporates to give its students exposure to possible future professional environments that are inclusive and cater to the needs of individuals with visual disabilities. In time, the NGO for blind children started to see how these initiatives were transforming the students’ lives for the better. 

 

The future of the NGO for blind girls 

From the time Divya Jyothi Charitable Trust was founded in 2010, the NGO for blind girls has educated more than 1,000 girls and changed their futures forever. Of these one thousand students, 200 girls have secured employment in the government sector and another 300 girls have been placed in corporate jobs. Chithra* is a blind girl who did not have parents and was raised by her grandmother. She had never been to school but when the NGO for blind girls found her, they enrolled her in school and watched her excel. She ended up graduating with an MA in Kannada and passed her NET and SLET exams after which she was placed in the government sector and is now an Assistant Professor helping other children. 

 

When you support Divya Jyothi Charitable Trust, you can help thousands of girls just like Chithra reach for the stars and overcome their visual disabilities through education!

 

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*the name of the individual has been changed for privacy

 

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