Cheering up special children
It gave us so much happiness to see the excited looks on the faces of the children as they welcomed us to the centre,” says Mobeen Shaikh, a member of RAC Techplorers, D 3132, and the Project Chairman of the Friendship Day celebration. The Rotaractors assembled at the Aarambh Autism Centre in Aurangabad to celebrate Friendship Day with the children.
“As soon as we started interacting with these children we realised the most difficult task was to break the barrier of silence and be able to communicate with them. So we engaged them in limbu chamcha (lemon and spoon) and musical chairs and those were the ice breakers.” Games such as the Mannequin Challenge and Who bursts the balloon first made them all the more comfortable. “We loved the happiness in the children when they burst the balloons,” says Divya Wagh, the club president.
The Rotaractors entertained the children with songs and dances and the children also were inspired to participate. “When little Akshay sang Meri Maa and another little girl sang a Marathi song chaafa bolena, it moved us so much. All of us had tears in our eyes,” she says.
The Rotaractors tied friendship bands on the wrists of the children and distributed chocolates. “When we left the centre, it was only natural that all of us turned pretty philosophical and each one of us started reflecting on our lives. We started to appreciate the little things in life. For after all, when these children, despite their challenges are happy and satisfied with what they have, why can’t we be much more thankful for all the good we have?” observes Divya.
Kshitij Choudhury, the DRR and member of this club, says that this project, though it cost very little, is by far the most satisfying initiative as it brought cheer into the lives of the special children. The Rotaractors of RAC Achievers and the Candle Foundation, an NGO too participated in the programme.
