Mid day Meals for Disabled Children

Report on Mid day meals for disabled children ( # 16999)

Balajothi Centre for the Disabled, India

Report due on : May 13, 2018

Report sent on : April 23, 2018

Balajothi Centre for the Disabled is a registered NGO working with intellectually challenged children since 2004.  It has over 100 children in 3 locations.  These children are provided with tasty snack and nutritious meals round the year. Consequently they lead happy and healthy life, attend our rehabilitation centre with great enthusiasm and are a happy lot.  Their families are not burdened with these children and are able to go about their routine work of earning their daily bread working elsewhere.

As we all know children are the most vulnerable to hunger and sickness. Hungry children do not grow as quickly as healthy children, and may develop more slowly. Constant hunger weakens the immune system and makes children more vulnerable to diseases and infections.  At Balajothi we ensure that this does not happen.  Children are trained to eat their meals in the proper way and those who are unable to do so due to the severity of their disability are fed by caregivers.

Balajothi receives constant support from GlobalGiving.  We have so far received $ 8425.99 todate which helps us to continue providing mid day meals to our special children.  You, donor, have made this possible with your generous giving. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for bringing much happiness to our special children through this program.  Your continuous and regular donations enable us to continue this project for many more years to come. 

Thank you GlobalGiving for being our partner in providing healthy living to our children.

J M Balaraj

Project leader

Balajothi Centre for the Disabled is a registered charitable trust, located in the city of Bengaluru, India.  Founded in 2004 we work with intellectually challenged children of all ages, including those with Autism, Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy and Multiple Disabilities.  Most children come from poor families. We provide them special education, therapy, rehabilitation and training, pre-vocational and vocational training.

Sunitha, aged 11, is an intellectually challenged girl with vision and speech disabilities as well as cerebral palsy. She was unable to be looked after by her aging grandmother (parents live in a different state and work as laborers in the fields) who worked as a domestic worker in a few homes, leaving the child unattended at home. Or else she had to be carried to her work place.  This posed safety risk as well as danger from anti-social elements and this further worsened the child's condition.

Sunitha was brought to Balajothi in an undernourished condition with poor health and was readily admitted into the centre where she was instantly surrounded by warm and friendly caregivers and was given a rousing welcome by the other children.  Within a very short time Sunitha became the favorite of the centre.  She started reaching out without fear to others around her, happy in the knowledge that she was in a safe environment. Her health also started improving due to the nutritious and timely food that was provided at the centre.  Gradually a remarkable change took place and Sunitha's life changed dramatically for the better.  Her eyes had a sparkle in them, she had a sweet and shy smile, and with all the physiotherapy being provided to her she became an entirely different person within a year.

Sunitha can now walk without support, chatter excitedly with others, respond when called and has endeared herself to others.  The change was mainly due to the good and healthy food and the warm and affectionate environment that she now lives in.

Call to action

Balajothi thanks you for your generous contribution which has transformed Sunitha from a sickly child into a lovely butterfly.  We have till date received $8,025 which is being used to provide nutritious and tasty mid-day meals to all of our special children.  We can help many more children if you can share Sunitha's story with your family and friends circles. A regular contribution every month, however small the amount may be, will go a long way in seeing more Sunithas with beautiful smiles !!  Won't you be a part of it ?