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Help Disabled Children with Shelter & Care

“The major problem in society today is the stigma against mentally ill or mentally disabled people. Families feed and care for men who are mentally ill and keep them at home. But no one wants to help women with mental illnesses,” says N Vanitha Rengaraj, chairperson of Sharanalayam.Sharanalaym’s ‘Jothi’ is a sanctuary for over 100 women facing mental challenges. Women with mental illness facing various challenges on the streets are brought to Sharanalayam with the help of the authorities and cared for. <img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/88597e5c-903c-4c84-8cf5-34ba9d96defd.webp" />Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Donations to this fundraiser are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).The women at Sharanalaym Jothi are provided with necessities like food, clothing and medical care. They also get mental health services, access to psychiatrists and counseling, empowering individuals on their path to recovery.Once lost and vulnerable on unfamiliar streets, the women at Sharanalaym Jothi find solace.By supporting mentally disabled women at Sharanalaym Jothi, you contribute to creating a better world. We can ensure these women receive the care and support they deserve.Over the years, Vanitha has tried her best to run Sharanalayam from her own resources and that of her well-wishers, but the last few years have been harsh. “I normally don’t extend my hand for people to donate. Many have come on their own. But life has become a bit difficult now. I need your support to take care of the women here and also bring more women here in need of help,” says Vanitha.<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/e5b9bb35-4261-4187-a4cc-d89ac34d66cc.webp" /> How Sharanalayam came into beingThe NGO started its operations in 2001 from rented premises in Pollachi in the district of Coimbatore. It started with taking care of children in difficult conditions. It slowly started taking care of mentally challenged women. Sharanalayam has come a long way since that time, with hundreds of children and women being taken care of by the NGO in the last two decades. Many women were rehabilitated by the NGO, thanks to its facilities.Sharanalayam needs urgent support to take care of over 100 women. The organisation also aspires to take care of many more mentally ill women in the coming months and years. Vanitha cannot do it without your support. <img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/37ef7f6a-11d8-4a6c-b176-41dd5b51c21f.webp" />Donate to this fundraiser on Give.do, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help abandoned mentally ill women get care and shelter. Vanitha, 72, the founder of Sharanalayam cannot do it alone.Donate now.

Help 72-year-old Vanitha provide 100+ abandoned mentally ill women with shelter and care

“We received a distress call saying that a blind girl is being held captive by a woman and is being forced to beg. Our volunteers were able to rescue that girl and bring her to the Blind Welfare Society home for girls. We cared for her and educated her. Today that girl is a senior government official”, says Asha Bhola, President, Blind Welfare Society (BWS) as she recalls how her organisation has been able to transform lives.BWS has been a ray of hope for 40 such blind girls, many of whom have been abandoned by their families owing to their visual impairment. Sadly, the care, shelter and education for blind girls come at a cost, and BWS is unable to keep its work going. Your donations can help shine the light of education upon 40 blind girls and change their lives forever. 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). Neglect, Abandonment and StigmaIn various parts of the country, a blind girl is often seen as a curse and a burden for no fault of theirs. According to the nonprofit office bearer, “Many parents neglect their blind daughters and at times even sell them off for begging, etc. Even if the girl is from a well-to-do family, they feel providing education and care to a blind girl is a waste of money”. “What is the fault of an innocent child?”, she asks.Education, the only hope “These girls have no future without education. If they don’t receive education, they will remain uncared for. They will continue to be ignored by not just their families but even by society at large. Whatever 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 thus leading to a life of darkness”, Asha adds. You can be the light in the lives of these 40 blind girls who have not seen anything but darkness. Help support their education and be a catalyst for change in their lives. Donate nowPlease donate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help women facing domestic violence break the endless cycle of abuse and give them safe shelter.

Your donation can help 40 blind girls get food, shelter and care. Donate now

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Differently Abled

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Education

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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.

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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

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.  Sense International India supports poor and vulnerable children and adults with deafblindness as well as their families. As they are malnourished and have additional severe conditions which affect their health, Sense India ensures that medical and nutritional support services is provided to them. It also helps to ensure that their holistic development is not affected due to their poor health conditions. For instance, majority of children and adults with deafblindness have additional physical and medical conditions like epilepsy, cardiovascular diseases and other chronic ailments to overcome. The requirement of good nutritional and medical support for them to prevent further complications to their health is fulfilled by Sense India.  
 Sense International India (Sense India) provides educational and other rehabilitation services to the children with deafblindness. The children with poor health conditions may not be able to receive proper education. To overcome this challenge, Sense India will provide them with milk and/or dietary supplements that are rich in nutrients such as multigrain ladoo, biscuits, eggs, ragi, sattu etc as per their requirement to keep them healthy. We will also provide them with epilepsy medicines, vitamins and other medicines which are not affordable for their families. Therefore, we request you to support us in providing Medical and Nutritional services to children with deafblindness and their families.  
 The donations raised through the project will ensure that milk and/or dietary supplements provided to 240 children with deafblindness for 1 month so that they have better health and immunity. The epilepsy medicine will help to reduce the fits occurrence which further helps to maintain their health conditions. The improved health conditions with allow them to receive educational and rehabilitation services without hindrances so that these children can rise in their life and live a meaningful life.

Provide medical and nutritional support to children with deafblindness for continued educational services

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.