From Silence to Sound

Imagine a child born without a basic faculty of hearing...something that we take for granted. Imagine a world where the dance party, loud music, sounds of traffic or chirping of the birds do not evince any interest.  Imagine a world where the shouts, cries and laughters are mere visual gesticulations with no emotional chord for someone without the ability to hear them.  

I happened to visit such a school for deaf and mute in our city, and it was the recess time.  There were hundreds of children who were quitely running around, some just sitting on a bench and stairing at the moving figures, others quitely standing along a pole, while a few sat under a tree... trying to talk to each other in sign language.

Their condition moved the Rotarians of Rotary Club of Chandigarh to start a project last year with the support of The Rotary Foundation under its matching grant with Rotary Club of Charlotte, USA, as partner, to not only provide cochlear implant where possible but also extensively examine the children in schools to detect hearing loss and provide hearing aids to them. 

President Hassan Singh Mejie and Secretary Desh Deepak Khanna along with another member of the club who is a trained audiologist and speech therapist, Rtn. Ritu Chaudhary, came across Patiala School for Deaf, and found that many of the children with hearing impairment had been abandoned by their parents. 

Most heart rending part is that during vacations there are many children who have nowhere to go and they stay put in the school's hostel, informed Col. Karminder Singh, Director of Patiala School for the Deaf, and if some of these children can be treated to overcome this physical disability, they would be able to enter the society's mainstream, he added. 

The team of Rotarians visited earlier to the school and Rtn. Ritu Chaudhary identified 24 such children who had moderate to severe hearing loss and could possibly hear the sound with the help of hearing aides.  

On Tuesday, 17th December, the team drove 80kms through the early morning fog to the school, re-examined them and fitted them appropriate hearing aides.

Though the children would start hearing the sound but would require the support and coaching by a trained audiologist to help them understand various sounds and learn to decipher them and use their vocal chords too, because the deaf students are also mute and can learn to speak only after they hear various sounds, informed Rtn Ritu Chaudhary. 

The children after receiving their hearing aids were ecastic and jumped with excitement on hearing the world around them, and once they get to develop their speaking abilities and understand language, they would be able to enjoy their life more fully, Rtn Desh Deepak Khanna said. 

According to an estimate, over 24 million children suffer from this debilitating disability and nearly 1 lakh babies are born every year with profound hearing loss. This project would change lives of many such children who have partial hearing loss, he added.

We spent 90-minutes of our drive back home almost silently; perhaps each one of us was quitely expressing our gratitude to the Almighty for giving us the opportunity to change these little lives, Pres. Hassan S. Mejie said. 

Bhavan Vidyalaya gifts a School to flood-ravaged Uttrakhand

The students and staff of Bhavan Vidyalaya of Chandigarh have embarked on an ambitious plan of building a school in the flood-struck Uttrakhand.

On an appeal that the Chairman of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Mr. R.K. Saboo made last month, the children and staff responded enthusiastically and have worked in unison to collect Rs.10 lakh within a week, informed Ms Vineeta Arora, Principal of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, Chandigarh.

Both the junior and the senior sections of the school collected the amount by reaching out to their parents and community to ensure that children in many villages who have been deprived of their school would be able to return to resume their studies, she said.

A cheque of Rs.10 lakh was presented by the students, staff and Principals of both schools namely Ms Vineeta Arora of the seniors branch and Ms Taruna Vashisht of the junior school, to the Rotary Club of Chandigarh, to make this project possible.

The senior school collected Rs.6.47 lakh and the junior wing in Sector 33 collected Rs. 3.53 lakh for the project.

So much was the involvement of the children that they designed the entire campaign and several entries were received for the brochure too out of which the one designed by Charvi Kaul of 7th class got selected which was printed and sent out.

The Rotarians in the country have committed to build and /or undertake major repair of all the schools upto Primary level numbering 175 schools in the districts of Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi, the most ravaged region of Uttarakhand due to the disastrous floods of September 2013.   In addition, desks and benches for 67,000 children will aiso be provided by Rotary.  Nation-wide efforts are afoot to ensure that the children in this area are empowered to become better citizens, former world president of Rotary International Rajendra K. Saboo informed.

Each school in the village built by Rotary will have proper classrooms, toilets and drinking water facilities and shall be managed by the managing committee.   .

Club News - September 23, 2013

Thank you
We received a request from Govt Home Science College to sponsor  study cost of two girls from very poor families. We are grateful to Rtn Dr I.D. Shukla and Rtn Vinod Arora for agreeing to bear the cost of Rs 20,000 each. Their noble gesture will go a long way in helping these two academically brilliant girls finish their studies. Due to lack of resources both the girls were planning to drop-out.

We will also like to thank Rtn Atma Ram Singh (Rs 10,000), Rtn Anil Chadda (Rs 10,000), Rtn P.J. Singh (Rs 10,000) Rtn Mahesh Gupta (Rs 3,270), Rtn Hatinder Khattar (Rs 3270) and PP Abhilash Kapoor (Rs 3,270) for together sponsoring RYLA participation fee of 12 children from EWS families. Thank you PDG Kawal Bedi for motivating the donors.

Home Science College Rotaract Club Installation
The Installation ceremony of the Home Science College Rotaract Club was held on 23 September. Rtr Roopi Rupinder Kaur took over as the new President. The new team was pinned by President Hassan Mejie. Among the Rotarians present were: Rtn Mona Khattar, PP Praveen Goyal, Rtn R.K. Taneja, Rtn Jatinder Kapur and Rtn Desh Deepak Khanna.

Principal of Home Science College, Rtn Madhu Nanda and the counsellor, Dr. Jagjiwan Kaur also braced the occasion.

President Mejie congratulated the outgoing President, Saloni Jain and her team for the excellent work done, as also the incoming President and her team. He also appreciated the huge jump in membership, from just 37 a year back to over 70 now.

He invited the Rotaractors to join him this year in various out of box activities he has planned to hold and also encouraged the Rotaractors to come up with a grand plan for showcasing Rotary as the champion of Polio eradication, as also organize a mega Blood Donation camp.

Help for a Nepali  labourer
We received a request from Ms Anuradha of PGI to help Mr Man Bahadur, a poor labourer from Nepal, get heart operation done from PGI, costing Rs 75,000. A sum of Rs 40,000 had already been collected. We decided to contribute Rs 20,000 from the Sunshine collection.

Lucky  Draw
The Lucky Draw (a gold coin) this Monday was won by Rtn Shuchita Luthra.

Condolences
Our heartfelt condolences to Rtn Pawan Katia on demise of his Brother-in-law.

We also extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of PRID O.P. Vaishnav who died on 18 September 2013. A Rotarian since 1959, he was a member of the Rotary Club of Delhi Midtown and had served RI as Director in 1999-2001 and as a Trustee of the Rotary Foundation in 1996-2000. As per his wish, his body was donated to AIIMS.

Our heartfelt condolences are also extended to PDG Manpreet Singh Gandhoke and his family, on demise of his father, S. Gurbachan Singh Gandhoke on 25 September.