The Hindu : International / India & World : At home, with children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

International

International - India & World

At home, with children

By Vinay Kumar

KEEPING THEM ENTHRALLED: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam with the Indian community in Tanzania at a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner in Dar es Salaam, on Sunday. — AP

DAR ES SALAAM, SEPT. 13. On the penultimate day of his four-day visit to Tanzania, the President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam won the hearts of hundreds of children at the Uhuru Primary School where he bonded with the disabled children, interacting with them and gifting them computers, crutches, wheel chairs, hearing aids, prosthetic kits, head phones and braille slates.

Braving a strong sun, hundreds of boys and girls, donning blue shorts or skirts and white shirts, waved Indian and Tanzanian flags. A band was at hand, playing rhythmic tunes to welcome the guest. No sooner the President arrived than the children burst into a welcome song. It was a moving sight to see visually impaired and disabled children trying to keep in tune with their schoolmates.

Home to about 1,500 pupils, the Uhuru school needs typewriters, braillers, vehicles and other special tools. In Mr. Kalam, they readily found a patron who was only too willing to extend a helping hand.

Moving from the hot, dusty environs of the school, the Presidential motorcade reached the prestigious Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Foundation, mandated to work for peace and harmony. His nearly hour-long speech at the Foundation saw him propounding the theory "Garland Project.''

Dwelling upon the sensitive subject of religion, he likened it to an island which could be connected with love and compassion in a "Garland Project'' for the new millennium. His suggestion to the gathering was to get rid of "I'' and "Me'' though it could be a tough proposition. "Peace comes when you forsake "I" and "Me". The spiritual goal of every religion is indeed a violence-free individual in mind and body and thereby a peaceful society. The removal of poverty is one of the components for realising peace,'' he said.

Lauding Nyerere's missionary zeal in transforming the life of Africans in the materialistic and the spiritualistic world, Mr. Kalam urged the people to emulate the philosophy of equality and respect for humanity.

He also read out his freshly composed poem "I am the Indian Ocean.''

Responding to a question from the audience, Mr. Kalam said that he was touched by a poem written by a young, disabled Iranian boy who had visited New Delhi last year. Stressing upon the positive side of life, the Iranian boy, Mustafa, had written that he had no legs so that he could not bow before a King. The President also promised to take care of the higher education of 20 bright Tanzanian students by helping them to study in India.

In his power-point presentation at the Dar es Salaam University, Mr. Kalam called for empowerment of the younger generation with educational, entrepreneurial and professional skills. When political leaders empower the people through visionary policies, the prosperity of the nation looks certain, he told the gathering during his lecture on "Knowledge, power and national development.'' He also gifted digitized books to the university library.

After visiting the India school here tomorrow, Mr. Kalam will begin the second leg of his five-day Africa tour that will take him to Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in South Africa.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International