The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : They rekindle hopes of the visually impaired

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Wednesday, Jun 20, 2007
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They rekindle hopes of the visually impaired

Sib Kumar Das

Three brothers further the cause of these children

Eye-opener: Bhabani Sankar Padhi with students of the girl’s school established by him and two of his brothers in Berhampur on Tuesday.

BERHAMPUR: Sheer will power could make three visually impaired brothers become catalysts in the educational and behavioural development of blind children. These three visually impaired brothers, Bhabani Shankar Padhi, Umesh Chandra Padhi and Fakir Mohan Padhi, got ample support from their eldest brother with the gift of sight, Devi Prasad Padhi to establish a residential school for the blind girls in the city.

Bhabani, Umesh and Fakir never went into inferiority complex due to their lack of vision. They managed to get masters’ degrees and established themselves as teachers for the visually impaired. After serving in many states as coordinator for blind school projects, Bhabani is now managing the residential school for the blind girls with the help of his eldest brother Devi.

Umesh and Fakir are working as special instructors for blinds in Gujarat. They continue to provide financial and other help to the institution established by them. Devi has also sacrificed a lot to get his visually impaired brothers established and to materialise their dream project. He had to work as a bus conductor and work at wine shops during his teens so that his three blind brothers could study . Bhabani says the desire to serve the society came to them from their father, a teacher Sarat Chandra Padhi, who was called ‘Saura doctor’ due to the naturopathic tips he was providing to the Saura tribals for their ailments.

Childhood dream

According to Bhabani, among the blind the plight of girls is pathetic, who are considered unwanted by society from childhood. They knew about the plight of these visually impaired girls as two of their sisters were also blind. From very childhood they wanted to establish a school where visually impaired children could get training to be self-reliant in their day to day activities along with getting education.

“Neither we nor our sisters could get that facility and we decided to provide it to our next generation," Bhabani said. At present 40 visually impaired girls from poor families of parts of Ganjam district are studying at the ‘Model Girls School for Blind’ established by these brothers. These children are in the age group 3-10 years.

"I get the greatest happiness when I find these children doing their own works without taking the help of others, which is the first step towards self-confidence," Bhabani said.

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