www.facebook.com/asianaid
notes from the field
Asian Aid
March 2013 // Issue 2
Stories and Photos collected by Joshua Moses Š 2013 Asian Aid Australia.
www.asianaid.org.au
2013 | issue 2
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
quiet time
Close your eyes and imagine you’re at your old school - the school you went when growing up. Except there are no children there. It’s an odd and eerie sensation not hearing the sound of children’s voices right? It is a new experience indeed to then visit a school teeming with children but to hear nothing. A quick humbling is the usual order for visitors of schools for the deaf and hearing impaired and it’s no different here. Kollegal is a small town (in Indian terms, but the population is just over 52,000) located between Bangalore and Mysore, in the state of Karnataka, and it is home to two Asian Aid supported schools: the School for Speech and Hearing Impaired and the local school where Asian Aid sponsor children from the area go. The School for Speech and Hearing Impaired started in 1994 in Kamagere, a nearby town, but moved to its current location in 2002. It sits on three acres of beautiful countryside and the staff and students are proud of every centimeter of it. They have a deep passion for agriculture; it’s basically a part of the school and home ethos. The school grows more bananas, eggplant, tomatoes, mangoes, avocados and corn than it needs so it sells excess off for profit. There are 97 students at the school, 91 of whom board on campus. It is indeed an interesting atmosphere here which takes some getting used to. When walking around and greeting the students, your hands need to do the talking; not an easy thing to remember. The children are so willing to teach you every bit of sign they know, and you can see how much they slow themselves down for you when you watch them talk to each other. Asian Aid has helped find sponsors for more special-needs children to attend the school and provide the school with teaching resources. You can support special-needs children too by donating to the Deaf School project. Visit www.asianaid.org.au for more information.
2013 | issue 2
In the classroom
kollegal school for speech & h
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
Students are provided listening aids while classes are in session for those not entirely deaf. Since in India these units are costly, and quite fragile, they are kept secure when classes are not in session. Here there are no whiteboards or Smartboards, though Asian Aid has plans to expand the technological aspect of learning at many of our schools. Inconsistent power in many schools make implementing electronic learning a challenge unless the schools can afford expensive generators. Currently the school has a functional computer lab with eight computers.
hearing impaired
2013 | issue 2
ABOVE // Year 10 graduates + directors from the Sunshine Home Orphange that attend the Sunshine School.
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
onto the next stage
E
ducation in India follows the 10+2+3 system of progression. Ten years of lower and upper primary are followed by two years of secondary and then three years in tertiary to achieve a Bachelor’s degree.
So graduating from Year 10 in India is reason to celebrate as this is the doorway into adulthood. They’re nearly there. Excited young men in their freshly-pressed suits and young ladies in their beautiful dresses mingled with organisers testing sound equipment. The Sunshine School, in north Bangalore, just adjacent the Helping Hands Welfare Society’s head office (Asian Aid partner in India), never knew how good a position this is when it was initially built. Way back when, the school was located far outside the reaches of the city, but now it is indeed amongst it. This northern side of Bangalore once home to farming and simple living communities, it is now a place that abounds in high-rise apartment complexes where a growing upper-middle-class population lives. The population density has created far too much traffic, pollution, and challenge for the effective collection of rubbish.
These things don’t seem to bother the kids who are keen to move into the next stage of life. Graduating from high school brings mixed feelings of accomplishment and uncertainty for students anywhere in the world. But it seems the mixed feelings are felt a little deeper in India because the1.2 billion Indians don’t always have access to education. Statistics indicate that, 25% of the nation is illiterate; 15% reach high school and only 7% graduate. So, graduating after Year 10 is something special indeed! Six of the children graduating are currently sponsored through Asian Aid (pictured ****). That’s six people who didn’t have to start working at a young age, but were able to enjoy the gift of education. So, let’s continue to support them as they enter the next stage: year 11 and 12. You can help educate a child too. Visit www.asianaid.org.au to sponsor a child today.
2013 | issue 2
greater than the sum of the parts
Some of us like to live loud, and others like to hide away. In India, those struggling with leprosy have no other choice but to hide away. Though 90% of the world’s lepers live in a small number of other countries, India’s treatment of those suffering with leprosy has notably been overly negative. There are close to 800,000 cases of leprosy noted in the world, but little is known about the disease. The World Health Organisation is still not certain exactly how the disease spreads but it believes that it is spread from person to person through respiratory droplets. Since the incubation time for the bacteria is up to four years, it is difficult to ascertain when the disease is contracted. There are over 1000 leper colonies in India, and early in March I visited one of the leper colonies supported by Asian Aid through its Hungry Money
www.facebook.com/asianaid
Fund. Asian Aid also helped fund the construction of toilets and provision of education to the lepers in this colony was surprised that the colony was cleaner than many rural villages I have visited before. The observable results of leprosy - malformed or lost fingers, toes and nose - are difficult enough, but the possibility of losing the sensation of touch would be the most difficult. Though the faces amongst this community were content, jovial, and welcoming, I can’t imagine what it would be like to slowly lose the sensation of texture, food, the touch of another person, dirt, anything... But people in most need seem to have the ability to be greater than the sum of their parts. The residents of this community can’t exemplify their skillsets any longer. Once engineers, labourers and home-makers, their ability to contribute to
www.asianaid.org.au
themselves and to others is limited within the confines of the community. Stemming from age-old traditions and superstition, India is a long way from giving those suffering with leprosy the respect they deserve. Asian Aid will continue to support this leper colony and has partnered with the Seventhday Adventist Medical Centre in Bangalore to provide healthcare to people who can’t afford it, including lepers. Because of people’s overwhelming generosity towards the Hungry Money fund, Asian Aid has reached its current fundraising targets and encourages people to support other pressing needs that we have, such as the Health and Education Lifestyle Project in Indonesia, or the Anti-Human Trafficking Program in India.
2013 | issue 2
www.facebook.com/asianaid
www.asianaid.org.au
Through every difficulty comes an opportunity 2013 | issue 2
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.. Mahatma Gandhi
hang out, see whats new, and share a thought with us at...
www.asianaid.org.au
www.facebook.com/asianaid
2013 | issue 2