Hunger and malnutrition have become a reality for thousands of elderly parents abandoned by their own children, in villages and slums across India. Seeing the rampant distress among the elderly, a team of selfless heroes from our NGO partner Mitti Cafe, though disabled themselves, have taken up the responsibility of providing cooked meals and dry rations to over 5,000 elderly in urgent need of support. Setting aside their own struggles, Mitti Cafe’s team, led by Ayesha Alam has been relentlessly fighting to free elderly from hunger and malnutrition through its Karuna Meals initiative. The need for nutrition support is growing with each passing day and Mitti Cafe is struggling to fulfill this enormous need. With your support, the NGO and its team of persons with disability can put food on the plates of hundreds of more elderly parents. Donate generously.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA). Elderly deserve love, not neglect and hunger“There have been countless senior citizens, in extremely backward villages of the Sundarbans in West Bengal, who had not had a proper meal in days when we found them. We have seen people picking food from the garbage out of extreme hunger.”, recalls Ayesha of Mitti Cafe, while talking about the extent of hunger faced by senior citizens. According to Ayesha, there are thousands of elderly who have been either chucked out of their homes or have been left behind in villages by their children. “Our elderly don't deserve this life and it is our responsibility to come to their aid. If we come together we can ease the suffering of hundreds of people battling hunger and starvation. Donate now Our heroes’ war against hungerPersons with disability who were once discriminated against by society are today at the forefront of the fight to save abandoned elderly and children from hunger. The Karuna Meals team, comprising only of persons with disability has been able to cook and serve over 10 lakh meals. They have also distributed over 1 lakh packets of dry rations. ”They overlook their own struggles and suffering just to reach the elderly and provide them with the food they need,” says Ayesh. But their job is not yet done. “There are still many villages which have many malnourished and hungry seniors and we have not been able to reach them. But with your support, we can collectively end starvation,” she says. Donate now. Donate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help the elderly fight hunger and malnutrition.

Support Mitti Cafe’s team of disabled heroes end hunger and malnutrition for thousands. Donate now

“A blind child is seen as a curse or as a burden to the family. These children are left on the street. I have picked up children from roadsides myself. I also lost my eyesight as a child but today I am a senior officer in a public sector company. What would I have done, had I not been taken care of?” asks Veena Mehta Verma who was once a beneficiary of National Association for the Blind, Delhi (NAB) and now works with the NGO to protect and care for blind children like herself.<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1c273b6d-eee3-4799-98aa-74efcde92177.webp" />Today, hundreds of blind children supported by NAB, Delhi have found something that they never had before–hope for a better tomorrow. Without Veena and NAB, many of these children would be at the risk of going back to the streets or spend a life of neglect and even abuse. Your support to the NGO is crucial. This Christmas, you can help her children get warm clothes and other essentials. Donate generouslyDonate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).A life of uncertainty &amp; sufferingEven if a blind child is not abandoned they are often trapped in their homes deprived of education or any way of making a living. According to the nonprofit leader, “For a blind kid, employment is impossible without education. The (blind) kids need to learn Braille or they need ‘talking computer’ aids. Many of these kids are deprived of such facilities”.  <img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/7bfa3cb2-b09d-4518-862f-a0bbf653cbe8.webp" />Illuminating young lives “At NAB Delhi there are around 200-250 blind kids. There are around 180 kids in the hostel of NAB. We teach Braille, we teach arithmetic Taylor frames. To work towards a brighter future for the blind, we need your support. Please come forward and donate towards our mission”, says Veena. Students for whom NAB Delhi has cared for are today placed in some of the most prestigious organisations across the world. While some have gone on to make a name for themselves in the corporate world, others have taken up art and music as a profession too. Many blind children are bright, academically gifted, and waiting to shine, all they need is an opportunity. And your donation can give them just that.Donate to this fundraiser on Give.do, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help the blind children get shelter, education, care and a shot at a future full of opportunities.

This Christmas, help Veena, loving mother to 180 blind kids, provide warm clothes and care

“A blind child is often seen as a curse or a burden to the family, leading to abandonment. I’ve picked up children from roadsides myself. I too lost my sight as a child, but today I’m a senior officer thanks to the National Association for the Blind, Delhi (NAB). What would I have done without their help?” asks Veena Mehta Verma, a beneficiary turned advocate for NAB and its mission to protect and care for blind children like herself.The state of young blind girls abandoned by their families and without education is even worse. “Blind girls have no future without education. Education is crucial to their future. Without it, they face neglect and limited opportunities, ignored not just by their families, but by society at large. What I am today is only because of the education I received. But sadly, every blind girl is not as fortunate. Most visually impaired girls are deprived of any care and even something as basic as education, leading to a difficult life,” says Asha Bhola, President, Blind Welfare Society (BWS).Both NAB and BWS work for the welfare of blind children and young girls by providing them with shelter, education, and care. This Diwali, they need your support to help many more youngsters in need.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax-exempt under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).A life of uncertainty &amp; sufferingEven if a blind child or young girl is not abandoned, they are often trapped in their homes deprived of education or any way of making a living. “For a blind kid, employment is impossible without education. They need to learn Braille or use ‘talking computer’ aids. Many of these children are deprived of such facilities,” says Veena.Young kids and girls for whom NAB and BWS have cared for are today placed in some of the most prestigious organisations across the world. While some have gone on to make a name for themselves in the corporate world, others have taken up art and music as a profession too.But many blind children who are bright, academically gifted, and waiting to shine, are often neglected or abandoned by their own families. And with your donation, NAB and BWS can give them the future they deserve.As we celebrate the festival of lights, donate to this fundraiser on Give.do, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help blind children and young girls get shelter, education and care and a shot at a bright future.

This Diwali, help to brighten the lives of abandoned blind kids and young girls by giving them shelter and education

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Differently Abled

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Education

This is a sample description for Livelihood. For the purpose of testing I will use the word LivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihoodLivelihood.

Livelihood

Sense International India, also known as Sense India, was established in 1997 as the first and only non-governmental organisation to support the development of comprehensive services for people with deafblindness and multiple disabilities throughout India. Sense India works with local organisations to develop sustainable services for children and adults with deafblindness and collaborates with the government at centre and state levels. We have reached to provide needs-based services to around 80,000 children with deafblindness directly through 60 partner NGOs in 23 states of India, and through collaboration with the government’s national Samagra Shiksha - ‘inclusive education’ programme. With our effort, children with deafblindness and multiple disabilities have been identified and are being prepared to attend mainstream schools. We are also partnering with leading organisations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Malaysia to train educators and setup needs-based services for deafblind.  Sense India advocates for the recognition and realisation of rights of persons with deafblindness with the government and our biggest achievement has been recognition of ‘Deafblindness’ in the Rights of Persons with Disability Act 2016 and their rights are now protected. The inclusion of vaccination for Rubella under the Universal Immunization Programme is another significant achievement of our advocacy initiatives. We are a member of several Central Government and State level advisory groups. Sense India is accredited by the United Nations and enjoys consultative status on deafblindness.

Donations through Give Foundation, registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961 are tax-deductible.

Donations through Give Foundation, Inc. a registered US 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization, are tax-deductible.

Donations through GIVE, a registered charity in UK, are covered under Gift Aid

 Shivkumar Sharma

Sense International India

This nonprofit is registered as a charitable trust under section 12A of India's Income Tax Act, 1961.

This nonprofit is registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961. This means you can deduct 50% of the donation you made through your tax return.

This nonprofit is registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. This means it can accept donations from foreign nationals.

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95% of what we learn is through our eyes and ears. Imagine what it is like to be deafblind!Deafblindness is a unique disability that combines varying degrees of both hearing and visual impairment. All individuals who are deafblind experience extreme challenges with communication, mobility as well as accessing information and most have additional physical and medical conditions. Persons with deafblindness face neglect and discrimination owing to their inability to communicate and relate to the world. They are thus denied even the basic human rights like education, medical care, amongst other needs that are taken for granted by most of us. There is very little awareness about deafblindness amongst the government, general public and other NGOs working in the area of disability. Due to this situation, many children and adults with deafblindness are left without support and even considered severely intellectually impaired incorrectly. With the right care and support, children and adults with deafblindness can become active members of society. The COVID-19 pandemic proved a disaster to the micro-enterprises of deafblind adults. The customer turnout was impacted, following social protection guidelines was difficult for them as they use touch for communication. Coming from poor families, the stopping of income became an extremely difficult situation for them and deafblind adults are facing daily struggles to ensure the survival of their families.  
 An integral component of Sense India’s work is supporting persons with deafblindness to start income generation activities, becoming micro-entrepreneurs and be able to support their families financially. Sense India has supported 125+ such deafblind micro-entrepreneurs to start their ventures. Sense India also, at the same time developed a new robust strategy to ensure that any ventures run by deafblind adults can withstand COVID-19 and any other similar emergencies in the future. This includes doing extensive research on the localised market and requirements where the deafblind adult is residing and finding out the best venture to start meeting the skills and capabilities of the deafblind adult. This is complemented by providing training and capacity building to deafblind adults on business management, financial management and other salient features for successfully running a profitable venture. 
 Thes support raised will ensure sustainable livelihoods for deafblind adults. The businesses and income of deafblind adults affected will be regenerated which will help them to earn their livelihoods. Adult deafblind micro-entrepreneurs will be capacitated to build their skill and help them to start and run their microenterprise and be a contributing member of the society.

Rebuilding Livelihoods for Adults with Deafblindness and Multiple Disabilities post Covid

95% of what we learn is through our eyes and ears. Imagine what it is like to be deafblind. Deafblindness combines varying degrees of hearing and visual impairment. All individuals who are deafblind experience extreme challenges with communication and mobility; as well most have additional physical and medical conditions. Persons with deafblindness face neglect and discrimination and are thus denied basic human rights of education, medical care, amongst other needs that are taken for granted.The Census Survey of India doesn't include the number of Deafblind people but according to a survey by Sense International (India), there are approximately 5,00,000 Deafblind people in India.These numbers highlight the importance for the essential services to understand &amp; communicate with this large group of our population to ensure a life of dignity, satisfaction for them &amp; have a truly inclusive society.Here is a story Amazing daughter "Mansi Vinayak Gangurde" (As narrated by her mother, Mrs.Savita)“A daughter is a miracle that never ceases to be miraculous"I live as an example because not a day passes by that my daughter fails to amaze me.My daughter is deafblind. When she was born, it was like a dream come true for my husband and me. It took a few days for us to realize that our little angel refused to understand the perception of the world. Even as we searched anxiously to find ways to restore her sight and ran from pillar to post we had little money from all that we would save from selling milk &amp; my husband being a daily wage labourer, the next harsh reality dawned on us a year and half later, when we found that she could not partially hear also.It was like my world and all my dreams had crumbled around me. While children her age ran around the house, my two year old simply lay on the ground- immobile and rebellious. My maternal instincts sensed her turmoil but I knew of no means to reach out to her. Days passed and I lived with a burden on my heart for my silent little girl. Mansi being the oldest child and having 2 siblings from which the youngest 1 was also special like her. 
 This is when Ashwini Ma'am an educator from came to us and counseled us on the brighter possibilities, I was so amazed that they got to know about us from the gram panchayat it felt like she was Godsend. She told us about deafblindness and others who also suffer from the same. Suddenly we felt that we were not alone in this turmoil. She educated us on the therapy and training that could help normalize Mansi's life.Mansi awaited her biweekly visits eagerly. She taught her to identify objects and express her basic needs. It became easier for her to hold the glass and let people know that she was thirsty than cry incessantly. Once the communication barrier was broken down, it was easier to reach out. 
 Today she can make her way around the house by feeling the walls. She gets ready on her own and chooses her soap and oil by the scent. She is slowly learning to participate in other activities as well. This training has helped Mansi connect with our world. She and I are closer than ever. Our natural instincts have found an expression. I know it is still a long way to go, but my daughter is making progress. She is taking slow but sure steps to freedom.Mansi's Story is an example of the amazing work Sense India has been doing since 1997.Deafblind Children, once isolated to their homes will now be part of mainstream education programmes as equal participants in the public school system. This will lead to awareness on the issue of deafblindness in society at large and will empower parents of deafblind children with the appropriate knowledge and skills required to help their child live a full, active life. Staff trained during the project period will ensure long-term sustainability of deafblind services in the region.

Support Deafblind Children with Skills for Life

Deafblindness is a unique and complex disability, where a person has varying degrees of both hearing and visual impairment, which causes extreme challenges in communication, mobility and access to information. An integral component of our work is to provide vocational training and seed capital to adults with deafblindness to start small business and become micro-entrepreneurs to support their families. Over 130 deafblind adults have been supported to become micro-entrepreneurs and they have started businesses such as – Ration shop, Electric Works, Small Scale Poultry Farm, Bike and Cycle Repairing Shops, Book Shops, Cattle Rearing, Paper Plates, Bowls and Bag Making, Ironing shop, Canteen and Tiffin Service, Clothes Business etc. The lockdown and the pandemic has posed extreme difficulty and challenges for them as their customer turnover has been affected. Adults with deafblindness who use tactile sign language for communication have faced exclusion as people fear to touch them for communication. Due to the dual sensory impairment and other associated co-morbid conditions, adults with deafblindness are vulnerable because of the high risk of infection as a result of reduced immunity. We have identified 80 adults with deafblindness whose businesses and income have been negatively affected and are in urgent need of support. 
 We have selected 5 adults with deafblindness whose vocations/trades have been affected. We will support them for reviving/expanding their current business. We will work with them to create business development plans for a period of 6 months to make the business sustainable. Support will be provided to each deafblind micro-entrepreneur as per the business plan created to invest in the revival of their current enterprise. The support will be followed by capacity building training on restarting income generation activities. This will include training on concepts of customer communication, accounting and book-keeping and sustainability. We will link deafblind micro-entrepreneurs with various poverty alleviation government schemes and services through Panchayat Raj System. The schemes will help them to get additional support for survival of their families. This integrated approach of business plan development, capacity building training and linkages with government schemes and services will ensure that the new ventures started by deafblind micro-entrepreneurs become a sustainable option rather than a temporary relief project. 
 The project will serve as a lifeline for adults with deafblindness and their family members to withstand the negative impact of the COVID 19 Pandemic. The business development training will support them in making the micro-enterprises sustainable and earn income. The linkages with government schemes and services will be instrumental in the social and economic inclusion of adults with deafblindness and their families. With the support provided, 5 deafblind micro-entrepreneurs will be able to sustain their business. They have surpassed all odds, and worked hard to start earning. Apart from providing income, these micro-enterprises have played a vital role in building their confidence and helped them to be a part of the society. Hence, revival of business will help them to sustain their identities that they have built within their communities and inspire other people with disabilities as well to become independent.

Help 5 deafblind micro-entrepreneurs affected by COVID-19 to revive their businesses

Children with deafblindness has unique style of learning. Most of the time, they require to ‘touch’ and ‘feel’ the teaching learning materials for better concept formation and understand the ‘meaning’ of certain activities. There are many children with deafblindness who has certain degrees of residual vision and hearing which can be trained to use it for their day-to-day activities. However, the challenge remains around availability of standardised kit to assess the abilities and needs of children with deafblindness for focussed and individualised intervention. The kit is also useful to do the informal functional assessment of residual visual, auditory and motor skills. Every child is different in terms of their needs and hence this assessment is necessary to develop Individual education Plans for each child. The same kit can be used for learning and acquisition of skills.  
 To develop a kit which contains specialised materials which helps parents and special educators to assess and develop various skills like sensory skills (including vision, hearing, touch, auditory), fine motor, visual motor, cognition, literacy etc. of the child. Based on the Individual Education plan of each child this kit is extremely useful in implementing the plan and monitoring the development of the child.  
 Optimised use of hearing and residual vision and development of fine motor skills, sensory skills, cognition and communication of the child. Improved daily living skills and social interaction skills of children with deafblindness.