On 31st January I visited this remarkable school where 330 Indian children, 250 with physical challenges, are being educated and cared for so that they can live independently to support themselves physically, emotionally and financially.   

I was moved to tears as I arrived at the school to be greeted by all the students, teachers and staff who welcomed me with faces of joy as if I were a long lost friend.

Sneh Gupta, Executive director of the school, works tirelessly with the staff and children (who clearly adore her) to give them the best (free) education possible. I met Sneh at Utsava Maa, a gathering of women from around the world finding ways to support each other in the work that we do. There were many inspirational women dedicating their lives in service of improving the lives of others and Sneh was one of these women.

I spent a full day and evening experiencing for myself how the children are educated and cared for and seeing the school motto of "Educating hearts as well as minds" visibly in action.

I spent some time with Janak one of the student carers, whose life depends on his wheelchair. As he showed me around the school I was dismayed to see that his wheelchair was clearly very old and needed replacing.  I knew instantly that I had to help find Janak a newer wheelchair and as I met other staff and children using very basic and old wheelchairs I felt compelled to find a way to help them too.

Wheelchairs offer mobility and ultimately independence that for those of us without physical challenges take for granted. The school doesn't have the funds to buy expensive state of the art wheelchairs and so old unused ones have been sourced in the UK, refurbished and shipped to India.

So I'm inviting you to donate to help us buy a secondhand wheelchair for Janak and to source wheelchairs that are no longer being used for the children. If you can help then please email Sneh on sneh@indiability.org to arrange logistics of getting wheelchairs to the refurbishment centre in the UK. Thank you ❤

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