Written by Deepa, Spoorthi member...

WARDS, Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Bangalore 1st August 2009.
It was a cool, bright and beautiful August morning. Ten members of the Spoorthi team walked into WARDS, the school for the differently-abled children.

The smartly uniformed children greeted the team with a warm smile and a very friendly "Good morning". It was easy to get comfortable with these innocent children. While few members of the team spent time talking to the children, the others walked in to meet the co-ordinator of WARDS, Mr.Kathavarayan fondly known as Mr.Ryan, by the WARDS staff and children.

Mr.Ryan is a friendly person whose words reflect the passion he has towards his purpose - Equipping the differently-abled children to independently manage their daily activities and bringing out their inherent ablities that make them truly 'different' from the rest of the world. Mr.Ryan can see the world through the eyes of his mind.

He has the strong support of eleven dedicated staff who understand Mr.Ryan and his initiative very well. The treasurer was immersed in the day's finance book and looked up to say a brief 'Hello'. He has been serving the institution for the last eighteen years, since its inception. The thoughtful looks said that he has been working hard to ensure perfection in whatever he does. There is a clerical staff to maintain records for other activities in the school.

While we were immersed in gathering this information and still amazed at the thought of what kind of a challenge these people must be facing in life at WARDS, a time consicous Spoorthi team mate walked in to remind us that its time to begin the WARDS day.

We had no clue that the day was going to be as rewarding an experience as it turned out to be. Spoorthi gang marched out of Mr.Ryan's room to the field outside the class room. The children looked very cheerful and eager to see us all again and the teacher in-charge told us briefly about them, so we know our audience.

The school hours are from 10:00A.M to 3:30P.M with an hour's lunch break. WARDS has about 25 children ranging from 5 to 52 years of age. The children are taught skills based on the difference in functioning of their brain. Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Mental Retardation are some of the brain dysfunctions that make these children not friendly with today's complicated society which is full of practical challenges.

We had planned to spend the first hour on some games just as ice-breaker sessions, so the children get comfortable with us, the seemingly intrusive outsiders.The first game was with balloons.We took help from some of the children who were able to understand Kannada to ensure that every one had a balloon. Some of the children could manage to blow their balloons; there were others who enjoyed giving their best shot at blowing the balloon with no success; and few others who could not comprehend the whole idea.

The Spoorthi team working in IT industry did not miss a chance to become children all over again; they blew balloons for all the children who could not help themselves. The children enjoyed their run from one pole to another on the break of a whistle sound by the Spoorthi members. Spoorthi group ensured that every child felt good and was a part of the game. The next game was Tug-o-war in which everyone - teachers, students, and the Spoorthi team took part. We played twice to ensure that both parties had a chance to win. The teacher helped identify a few students who can do bungee jumping - jump with the jute sack on. The joy that shone on each child's face during the game is difficult to express. All the children were happy at the end of the games session. To compliment their joy, Spoorthi distributed chocolates. This is undoubtedly the best games session we have ever seen, with every child's face showing cheer, confidence and the interest to participate.

We all then moved indoors to watch a movie together. The techies in the team connected a laptop and speakers while the others joined the WARDS staff to arrange the class room for the movie. All the children watched Tom and Jerry and other cartoons that did not involve a lot of dialogues. While few members of Spoorthi were watching movies with the children, the others got busy drawing pictures for the children. The teacher says that the children can use around three different colors to paint any simple drawing. About twenty five sheets of simple figures and a pack of crayons were handed over to the teacher in twenty minutes time for a later school activity, the following Monday.

It was 1:00 P.M and time for lunch. Spoorthi funded the simple but delicious lunch arranged from a good caterer in Indira Nagar. The members of the team and the WARDS attendants set the table and served lunch for the children. Some of the children's parents also had come over to be with their children and enjoy the day with us. The teachers knew the tastes and interests of the children, so it was easy to serve what agreed with their health and preference. After lunch, most children cleared their plates themselves. For those children who could not handle this, the WARDS attendants helped clear up the tables. The children were left to themselves for the next half hour while the Spoorthi team and the WARDS staff had lunch.

The children made the post-lunch session a very memorable one for all of Spoorthi. The school had a neat programme agenda made for the afternoon's activities. The programme started with an invocation from the Hindu scripture The Vishnu Sahasranama. Every one in the room paid rapt attention and some children actually prayed; probably for the programme to go well or generally asking for nothing; God surely knows.

There was a Hindi dance number which caught the Spoorthi by complete surprise. The coordination with the dance partners and the synchronization with the music was amazing. All credit to the teachers who instilled the courage and confidence in these children to make it possible. The next interesting dance was a Kannada folk song and the dance was called Kollattam. The children danced with wooden sticks in their hands and tapped the sticks in uniform and co-ordinated movements to tune into the music. It was a fantastic performance. Then there was a play called The king and the wise farmer, enacted by the children and teachers. The three teachers shared the script to voice the different characters in the play and the children acted out as per their role. It must have been tough for the teachers to make them understand the play, but then the children did their role very well. The play was very professionally enacted and very carefully thought out.

The Spoorthi team distributed bags and towels to every child in the school. Mr.Ryan spoke on behalf of the school and three Spoorthi team members spoke out Spoorthi's thoughts and experiences of the day. At the end of the speech the children were quite honest to say that they didnt understand the speech but enjoyed the day. Such honest expression was very touchy and unheard of in most of us. It was quite a sight to see every child waving a Good bye at the end of the school hour at 3:30 to the Spoorthi team, after a nice tea and a team photograph to etch the fond memories of the lovely time we had together at WARDS.

WARDS day - a perfect saturday with the differently-abled who surely made all difference to every Spoorthi Friend.