The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Making those dreams come true

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 10, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Making those dreams come true

Mukul Gupte

A little child once dreamt of seeing the snow. He had only read about fluffy white tufts of it in books and seen it on television.

Never did he imagine that he would be able to see real snow until the volunteers of Make-A-Wish Foundation of India came along.

They took him and his family to Shimla, where he could see to his heart's content, endless expanses of snow.

This child had a life-threatening disease.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation works for children living with life-threatening diseases.

Granting their wishes is its goal, seeing the children's faces brighten with a smile its reward.

Talking to Anasuya Menon, the Chief Executive Officer of Make-A-Wish Foundation of India, Mukul Gupte, outlines the history of the foundation, its objectives and future plans.

"We plan to expand to three more cities in India such as Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata," he says.

The foundation has seven existing chapters in the country, of which one is in Coimbatore.

With 11 years of operations in the country, it grants more than 3,500 wishes of children with life threatening diseases between three and 18 years of age, a year.

"We want to be able to cover the entire nation. Grant the wish of every child that has a life-threatening disease, irrespective of the economic condition of the parents," Mr.Mukul says.

Having had its beginning in the United States of America, the concept gradually spread to other parts of the world and now, there are Make-A-Wish Foundations in over 30 countries around the globe.

"India is one of the countries in Make-A-Wish International, an association of all the foundations except the one in US, that is granting the maximum number of wishes," Mr.Mukul adds.

The foundation ties up with multi speciality hospitals and the volunteers strike up a rapport with the authorities to inform them about children with life-threatening diseases.

"In the case of rural areas, the Public Health Centres usually refer such children to bigger hospitals in the city," he says.

It also ties up with airlines. "We have an understanding with Go Air which sponsors the trip for the child, its parents and two siblings. We are also planning to tie up with Jet Airways," he adds.

The wishes of the children usually fall into the `I want to have' category. Meeting celebrities, going to places, also are common.

Remote-controlled cars, Barbie dolls, televisions and refrigerators being some of the common ones.

"Sometimes they wish for unusual things. Once a child wanted to have a telescope. A particular brand of it, which was not available in India. In such cases, we mobilise funds and source the product from abroad," Mr.Mukul says. "The satisfaction seeing the smile it brings on the child's face is priceless."

Generating funds and creating awareness throughout the country however remain challenges the foundation has to battle out. "We receive 25,000 dollars every year from the Make-A-Wish Foundation International. We also receive donations from the public in cash and kind." But we still require funds.

It is planning to release a three-minute audiovisual clipping to be broadcast on the national media to increase awareness.

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