Participants:
Series Code: HIM
Program Code: HIM000015
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00:20 India is a land full of contrast, is a land
00:25 of great mystery and beauty. It's a land 00:29 of unspeakable despair. But traveling through 00:32 India one thing is for sure, it's a land filled 00:36 with people who should never be underestimated. 00:40 For the last 40 years Asian Aid has invested 00:43 in the futures of people would never been given 00:45 such a chance, and their investment has proven 00:49 infinite returns. Driven by the vision of Helen 00:53 Eager dedicated to helping those who 00:55 have the least. Asian Aid is an organization 00:58 implementing diverse development projects 01:00 and sponsoring thousands of children. 01:04 The outreached fans from Bangladesh to 01:06 Nepal, Sri Lanka, and beyond from remote 01:10 villages and empty fields to sprawling centers 01:13 of education from nothing to the unimaginable. 01:18 Now Asian Aid decided to document the work 01:21 it has been doing all these years with a 01:23 desire to show the world what is possible, 01:26 by digging wells in remote villages for 01:28 clean drinking water, and bringing much needed 01:31 healthcare to the women of Nepal. By providing 01:35 an education for orphans, deaf and blind 01:37 children, giving them a sense of place, 01:39 a home but what we really discovered was being 01:43 given was hope. Giving hope to children, giving 01:47 hope to women, giving hope to the ones who 01:51 needed the most. This is Hope in Motion. 02:10 I saw everything, every animals and birds, 02:13 and my parents and my parents 02:14 also saw when they are outside. 02:47 My name is Usha Kumari at the age of 7 02:50 years I got brain fever and I loose my sight. 02:55 They told me, you can't get sight again. 03:01 I feel so sad, in the darkness we have to live 03:05 all the life until we die. 03:12 In my family all are normal, but I am, 03:16 have the defect that's why they feel so bad. 03:21 I only told them, I want to study like others, 03:25 don't neglect me like that I told. 03:32 In poor villages across India just like 03:35 Usha's blindness is an all too familiar kinds. 03:39 Families are uneducated and poverty stricken, 03:41 and many times inter marriages are arranged 03:44 to protect what little family assets are 03:46 available. These intermarriages 03:49 can lead to defects like blindness. 03:52 Reality is children born disabled are 03:56 unwanted burdens, because their 03:58 disabilities keep them from working and 04:00 bringing in income. For many parents they feel 04:03 like they have no other option, but to 04:05 discard their blind children. For one young 04:08 girl name Rajani, her story unfortunately 04:11 sums up the despair some are driven to. 04:14 What happened when you were small? 04:15 They tell when I was small at that time they 04:18 wanted to throw me on the train line. 04:22 Really, so what happened when she was small, 04:25 her parents wanted to because she was blind, 04:28 they wanted to throw her on the train line 04:31 she just said, but her sister loved her very 04:35 much, and when the parents went to 04:37 throw her on the train line, her sister tried 04:40 to save her, but what happened was that Rajani 04:45 was saved and her sister lost her life, so 04:48 really your sister died for you, didn't she? 04:50 Yes. Because she loved you. 04:51 My big sister loved me. 04:55 It's a hopeless paradise to be caught in the 04:58 middle of, one that should be enough to make 05:00 any rejected blind child like Rajani give up. 05:03 This is Babita, this is Laxmi, this is Sravani, 05:07 at the moment she is the littlest girl that 05:10 we have here in the blind school. 05:12 This is Shanti, and she is one of the children 05:16 here at blind school because of her 05:18 disability I guess the parents 05:20 don't really bother about her at all. 05:24 But there is an incredible resiliency 05:26 in these students, they desire to live fully, 05:29 to learn and excel, to rise above the 05:32 circumstances they were born into, 05:34 rather than be define by them. 05:39 This school is giving them that chance, 05:41 a chance for success. 05:49 We now have around 180 children in 05:51 our blind school, half of them are totally 05:53 blind approximately, and half of them have 05:57 got just, just a little sight. 06:05 At least a few are literates and it just 06:11 gives you I don't know how you 06:14 should take, it gives you a better life. 06:32 Asian Aid supports one of the premier blind 06:34 schools in all of India. Here they are given 06:37 a high standard value based education. 06:42 Learning everything from braille 06:43 to the arts, and these kids love it. 06:53 First we teach them the oral, the ABCD 06:56 alphabets, after that we teach them the six 06:59 dots, how to write in correct manner. 07:02 So everything is good in here and in class 07:06 time also teachers will tell us 07:07 lessons very nicely and clearly. 07:10 But blindness is not the only issue Asian Aid 07:13 is dealing with here. There are various cases 07:16 of acute medical care that must be addressed. 07:19 One special case is a young girl named Laxmi. 07:23 Do you like probably blind school? Yes. 07:26 Yes, you have many friends, 07:28 many sisters. So many, so many. 07:32 Laxmi has an advanced case of skin cancer, 07:34 by the time she came to Asian Aid 07:37 local doctors told her there 07:38 was nothing that could be done. 07:40 Laxmi is being in our school for the blind 07:42 children now for quiet sometime a few years, 07:45 and she is a very good girl and she is 07:47 a happy girl. Aren't you? Yes. 07:50 It's sad to say, it has now come to this 07:54 state and we feel very, very sad for her. 08:00 Asian Aid continues to look for treatment 08:03 as her condition worsens, and they are always 08:07 trying to expand and develop medical 08:09 partnerships to handle such challenges and 08:11 needs for these kids each with their own 08:15 difficult story to tell. It's never too late 08:18 to start helping them. The blind school 08:22 has been a passion project by Helen Mummy 08:24 Eager and the rest of Asian Aid for years. 08:27 They built an all inclusive campus 08:29 for them. Where these kids many 08:32 abandoned can grow and flourish. 08:36 Come little children come to me, 08:39 I will teach you ABC. 08:43 Sammy is one of the youngest boys of the 08:45 blind school, and one of the most promising. 08:48 Sammy is a good boy, so whatever we teach 08:50 he'll just keep in his mind 08:52 faster than anybody else. 08:54 Sammy proves it's never too early to give 08:57 these kids the tools they'll need to succeed. 09:00 Though he is small, he'll take part in all the 09:02 activities so what we ask him to do. 09:05 What are these? These are grapes. 09:08 Well Sammy is a special little guy, his mom 09:12 died when he was very young, and his 09:16 father remarried and there is a cultural 09:19 thing with the remarriage where sometimes 09:20 the children aren't accepted. So Sam has 09:24 come to the blind school, and he doesn't 09:26 see a lot of his family, so he is effectively 09:28 an orphan, but Sam likes the blind school 09:32 and this is now his home, and we are very 09:35 excited that Sam is an Asian Aid child. 09:38 His family, his friends, everything he has in his 09:42 whole world is right here at the blind school. 09:45 I think when he become big he may 09:47 become something in his life. 09:50 But Sammy and the other are getting more than 09:52 just the tools to build a bright future. 09:58 But Asian Aid is giving them is what they 09:59 really need, a sense of family, a home. 10:06 Sometimes they don't want to go home, and I 10:08 remember there were two little girls came 10:10 and when these two little girls came, they 10:13 were just so happy, there was plenty of food. 10:24 These kids can see better than most of us, 10:26 they can see hope, a hope that leads to the 10:29 important things in life. It goes beyond just 10:32 food and shelter, they're surrounded by 10:34 people that love them, and because of that 10:38 they have the confidence to strive for more. 10:41 I want to become a computer teacher; 10:44 if I got chances or privileges in 10:46 other countries I will go sir. 10:54 They can do more than just get around, 10:55 and they decide to show us that. One of their 10:58 favorite past time is playing cricket. 11:04 Using a ball with bells in it, they can hear 11:07 it coming. It's a pretty amazing feet showing 11:12 that there isn't much they can do. 11:24 And then you see some of them on the school 11:26 campus and you sort of expecting them to fall 11:30 over or bump into something that they 11:32 just after they have been there a while 11:33 I guess now that you walk these many 11:36 steps this way, and then you turn left 11:38 or something, I don't know how they do it. 11:48 The kids wanted to put on a show for us, 11:49 we weren't sure what to expect but right away it 11:53 became obvious that they have the same passions, 11:55 talents and abilities that any kid would 11:58 have, and they were happy to express themselves. 12:10 When darkness is everywhere Asian 12:12 Aid provides the light. A light that gives hope 12:15 to children would otherwise not only get a 12:17 chance to survive, but to thrive and contribute 12:22 in positive ways to the global community, 12:24 may be darkness is more about our state of mind. 12:27 I will never think that I am blind because 12:29 I have every thing instead of seeing 12:33 everything, we can hear anything and 12:35 we can learn and we can go anywhere. 12:42 Come little children come to me, 12:44 I will teach you ABC. 13:03 We leave here a share of that hope is alive 13:05 and well is not avoiding it was clear as they are 13:09 living we could see it with our own two eyes. 13:15 Where there is hope, there is no darkness. 13:26 This is Hope in Motion |
Revised 2014-12-17