India is a land full
of contrast, is a land
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of great mystery
and beauty. It's a land
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of unspeakable
despair. But traveling through
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India one thing is for
sure, it's a land filled
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with people who should
never be underestimated.
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For the last 40 years
Asian Aid has invested
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in the futures of
people would never been given
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such a chance, and
their investment has proven
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infinite returns.
Driven by the vision of Helen
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Eager dedicated
to helping those who
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have the least. Asian
Aid is an organization
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implementing
diverse development projects
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and sponsoring
thousands of children.
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The outreached
fans from Bangladesh to
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Nepal, Sri Lanka,
and beyond from remote
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villages and empty
fields to sprawling centers
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of education from
nothing to the unimaginable.
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Now Asian Aid
decided to document the work
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it has been doing
all these years with a
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desire to show the
world what is possible,
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by digging wells
in remote villages for
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clean drinking water,
and bringing much needed
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healthcare to the
women of Nepal. By providing
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an education for
orphans, deaf and blind
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children, giving
them a sense of place,
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a home but what we
really discovered was being
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given was hope. Giving
hope to children, giving
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hope to women,
giving hope to the ones who
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needed the most.
This is Hope in Motion.
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I saw everything,
every animals and birds,
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and my parents and my parents
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also saw when they are outside.
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My name is Usha
Kumari at the age of 7
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years I got brain
fever and I loose my sight.
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They told me, you
can't get sight again.
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I feel so sad, in the
darkness we have to live
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all the life until we die.
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In my family all
are normal, but I am,
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have the defect
that's why they feel so bad.
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I only told them, I
want to study like others,
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don't neglect me
like that I told.
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In poor villages
across India just like
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Usha's blindness is an
all too familiar kinds.
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Families are
uneducated and poverty stricken,
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and many times inter
marriages are arranged
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to protect what
little family assets are
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available. These intermarriages
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can lead to
defects like blindness.
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Reality is
children born disabled are
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unwanted burdens, because their
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disabilities keep
them from working and
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bringing in income.
For many parents they feel
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like they have no
other option, but to
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discard their blind
children. For one young
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girl name Rajani,
her story unfortunately
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sums up the
despair some are driven to.
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What happened
when you were small?
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They tell when I was
small at that time they
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wanted to throw
me on the train line.
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Really, so what
happened when she was small,
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her parents wanted to
because she was blind,
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they wanted to throw
her on the train line
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she just said, but
her sister loved her very
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much, and when
the parents went to
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throw her on the
train line, her sister tried
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to save her, but what
happened was that Rajani
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was saved and her
sister lost her life, so
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really your sister
died for you, didn't she?
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Yes. Because she loved you.
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My big sister loved me.
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It's a hopeless
paradise to be caught in the
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middle of, one that
should be enough to make
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any rejected blind
child like Rajani give up.
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This is Babita, this
is Laxmi, this is Sravani,
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at the moment she is
the littlest girl that
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we have here in
the blind school.
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This is Shanti, and
she is one of the children
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here at blind
school because of her
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disability I guess the parents
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don't really
bother about her at all.
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But there is an
incredible resiliency
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in these students,
they desire to live fully,
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to learn and
excel, to rise above the
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circumstances
they were born into,
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rather than be define by them.
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This school is
giving them that chance,
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a chance for success.
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We now have
around 180 children in
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our blind school,
half of them are totally
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blind approximately,
and half of them have
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got just, just a little sight.
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At least a few are
literates and it just
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gives you I don't know how you
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should take, it
gives you a better life.
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Asian Aid supports
one of the premier blind
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schools in all of
India. Here they are given
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a high standard
value based education.
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Learning everything from braille
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to the arts, and
these kids love it.
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First we teach
them the oral, the ABCD
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alphabets, after
that we teach them the six
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dots, how to
write in correct manner.
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So everything is
good in here and in class
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time also teachers will tell us
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lessons very nicely and clearly.
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But blindness is not
the only issue Asian Aid
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is dealing with here.
There are various cases
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of acute medical care
that must be addressed.
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One special case is a
young girl named Laxmi.
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Do you like
probably blind school? Yes.
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Yes, you have many friends,
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many sisters. So many, so many.
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Laxmi has an
advanced case of skin cancer,
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by the time she
came to Asian Aid
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local doctors told her there
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was nothing that could be done.
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Laxmi is being in
our school for the blind
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children now for
quiet sometime a few years,
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and she is a very
good girl and she is
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a happy girl. Aren't you? Yes.
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It's sad to say, it
has now come to this
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state and we feel
very, very sad for her.
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Asian Aid continues
to look for treatment
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as her condition
worsens, and they are always
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trying to expand
and develop medical
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partnerships to
handle such challenges and
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needs for these
kids each with their own
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difficult story to
tell. It's never too late
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to start helping
them. The blind school
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has been a passion
project by Helen Mummy
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Eager and the rest
of Asian Aid for years.
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They built an
all inclusive campus
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for them. Where these kids many
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abandoned can grow and flourish.
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Come little children come to me,
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I will teach you ABC.
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Sammy is one of the
youngest boys of the
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blind school, and one
of the most promising.
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Sammy is a good
boy, so whatever we teach
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he'll just keep in his mind
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faster than anybody else.
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Sammy proves it's
never too early to give
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these kids the tools
they'll need to succeed.
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Though he is small,
he'll take part in all the
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activities so
what we ask him to do.
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What are these?
These are grapes.
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Well Sammy is a
special little guy, his mom
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died when he was
very young, and his
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father remarried
and there is a cultural
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thing with the
remarriage where sometimes
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the children aren't
accepted. So Sam has
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come to the blind
school, and he doesn't
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see a lot of his
family, so he is effectively
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an orphan, but Sam
likes the blind school
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and this is now his
home, and we are very
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excited that Sam
is an Asian Aid child.
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His family, his friends,
everything he has in his
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whole world is right
here at the blind school.
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I think when he
become big he may
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become something in his life.
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But Sammy and the
other are getting more than
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just the tools to
build a bright future.
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But Asian Aid is
giving them is what they
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really need, a
sense of family, a home.
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Sometimes they don't
want to go home, and I
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remember there were
two little girls came
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and when these two
little girls came, they
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were just so happy,
there was plenty of food.
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These kids can see
better than most of us,
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they can see hope, a
hope that leads to the
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important things in
life. It goes beyond just
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food and shelter,
they're surrounded by
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people that love
them, and because of that
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they have the
confidence to strive for more.
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I want to become
a computer teacher;
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if I got
chances or privileges in
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other countries I will go sir.
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They can do more
than just get around,
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and they decide to
show us that. One of their
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favorite past time
is playing cricket.
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Using a ball with
bells in it, they can hear
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it coming. It's a
pretty amazing feet showing
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that there isn't
much they can do.
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And then you see
some of them on the school
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campus and you sort
of expecting them to fall
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over or bump into
something that they
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just after they
have been there a while
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I guess now that
you walk these many
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steps this way,
and then you turn left
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or something, I
don't know how they do it.
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The kids wanted to
put on a show for us,
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we weren't sure what to
expect but right away it
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became obvious that
they have the same passions,
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talents and
abilities that any kid would
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have, and they were
happy to express themselves.
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When darkness
is everywhere Asian
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Aid provides the
light. A light that gives hope
00:12:12.73\00:12:15.53
to children would
otherwise not only get a
00:12:15.53\00:12:17.60
chance to survive, but
to thrive and contribute
00:12:17.60\00:12:22.03
in positive ways to
the global community,
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may be darkness is more
about our state of mind.
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I will never think
that I am blind because
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I have every
thing instead of seeing
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everything, we
can hear anything and
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we can learn and
we can go anywhere.
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Come little children come to me,
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I will teach you ABC.
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We leave here a
share of that hope is alive
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and well is not avoiding
it was clear as they are
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living we could see
it with our own two eyes.
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Where there is hope,
there is no darkness.
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This is Hope in Motion
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