For a better world

It was a small gathering of big changemakers who were committed to make the world a better place to live in.

At the premises of The Association of People with Disability (APD) in Lingarajapuram on Wednesday, a simple ceremony was held to present the ‘N S Hema Award for Outstanding NGO in Disability Sector in Karnataka’ for the first time. The award went to ‘Tamahar Trust’, the brainchild of occupational therapist Vaishali Pai, that works with children who suffer from brain damage. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and a citation. Along with ‘Tamahar Trust’, two other NGOs — Asha Kiran Special Needs School and Seva Bharathi Mangalore — were selected to receive special assistance from ‘Disability NGOs Alliance’ (DNA). A total of ten NGOs were shortlisted by a jury as finalists for the prize from a total of 33 who applied.

Says Basavaraj, CEO, DNA, “We intend to connect the top three to the best practices in the sector and make them role model organisations. NGOs as a sector have limited exposure and this has to change for them to grow.”

Dr Siddaraju, Director, Department for Empowerment of Differently Abled and Senior Citizens, who was representing Uma Mahadevan, Principal Secretary was present at the occasion.

K N Tilak Kumar, Joint Managing Director and Editor, Deccan Herald, was the special guest.

The programme started with prayer songs by master Pramod B K. This was followed by a welcome address by Christy Abraham, CEO, APD.

An audio-visual presentation detailing the life of APD founder N S Hema and the many initiatives she started was next. Alex Rodriguez, secretary, DNA and jury chair explained the selection process for  and Mohan Sundaram, vice president of APD and jury member, announced the winners.

Dr Siddaraju spoke about how N S Hema remained an inspiration for all and specified on the need for inclusive growth.

Tilak Kumar retraced the journey of APD from a garage to a huge campus and praised Hema for having turned her physical disability into an opportunity to serve people. He also spoke about the lack of facilities for the differently-abled, especially in rural areas, and highlighted the need to change public perspectives. This was followed by a short speech by Ramdas, one of Hema’s cousins.

APD board member Mohan Rao gave the vote of thanks.