I was sitting in prathna one day when Sunilbhai, one of the health project coordinator, calls me outside to see if I want to come with him to visit this kid, Rohan. Of course I ran and grabbed my purse and got in the car - any opportunity to see someone new and different, I'm there!
On the way Sunilbhai told me the history of Rohan. Sunilbhai ran into Rohan one day when he was just walking about. Rohan was begging. He looked at him and realized that Rohan had open sores on his arms. After trying to talk to him he was told that Rohan is deaf, blind, and dumb (unable to speak). He inquired about his family etc...found out that his parents have passed away and that Rohan lives with his aunt and uncle. His condition was apparently very poor, so Sunilbhai took him to the doctor right away. He got lots of medication, treatment (I can't remember the specifics). Seeing that Manav Sadhna was taking care of Rohan, the aunt and uncle disappeared from the picture, leaving him to Manav Sadhna to take care of. Manav Sadhna being who they are took excellent care of him. They took turns taking care of him in their own homes for months. The staff members just moved him from host family to family, including Virenbhai and Jayeshbhai the founders of Manav Sadhna. Once he recovered, they got him enrolled at the Blind People's Association which is an amazing institution for blind people where they have classes, housing, workshops etc. The stuff these people make (crafts and such) is unbelievable! Anyways, this organization didn't have the teachers trained well enough to work with someone with multiple disabilities like Rohan, so they moved him to a different school.
Rohan still comes to the Blind People's Association 2 days a week with another child, Sameer, with the same disabilities to take some classes and also help train some of these teachers. So we went to visit him there. Everyone was telling me how precious and loving Rohan is, and how I had to see it for myself.
We went upstairs to see him and the teachers walked him towards where we were standing. I was really nervous because while I've seen people in such situations, I had never interacted with them, and honestly just didn't know what to do. Sunilbhai went up to him and took his hand and drew circles in it. Instantly Rohan started smiling and drew circles back on Sunilbhai's hand - apparently this was their sign to recognize each other. Rohan was beaming with joy - I couldn't hold back my tears. Someone who quite literally has nothing to be happy about in life was so genuinely happy and brought happiness to those around him. Then he greeted Virenbhai - their sign is a pat near the heart. They showed Rohan the toys we brought and a hat we got him, since he apparently loves hats. Rohan kept trying to give the hat back to Sunilbhai put Sunilbhai kept giving it back until Rohan understood it was a gift to him. Then Rohan took the hat off and felt around for where Sameer was and put it on his head. Such a selfless gesture, I just couldn't comprehend it. While I was sitting here trying to process the scene in front of me Virenbhai pulled me forward and had me touch Rohan's hand and introduce me. All of my uncertainty and anxiety disappeared, but only because Rohan was so comfortable with me...he was helping me think of a sign for us! We couldn't decide on one, mostly because I could barely hold it together and Rohan was too busy getting excited trying to figure out who I was - how tall I was, how long my arms were, what my hair was like...
We left shortly after since we didn't want to disturb their class. As soon as the teacher sat him down at the table to work the first think Rohan did was feel for where Sameer was. He felt that Sameer was sitting in the chair. Next he felt for what Sameer was doing, if his shirt buttons were done, if his zipper was zipped. It was amazing to see the attention and care he felt towards Sameer - this brotherly instinct, even though Rohan is younger! The headmaster was telling us afterwards that every 5 minutes Rohan looks for Sameer, checks that he's okay, dressed properly etc.
This was definitely one of those experiences I can't describe in words. It was amazing to see this child with nothing yet acting like he had everything. More importantly it was amazing to see the basic human emotions that he possessed - happiness, recognition, concern, selflessness. And to see these emotions in a child like Rohan - when sometimes you feel like you don't see these emotions in an average adult let alone a child with so many disabilities and hardships to face. Seeing Rohan completely recharged me and filled me with so much love, joy, energy and just made me appreciate that you don't need much to make a positive impact on the world.
Rohan is a ray of sunshine on this world that I feel very fortunate to have met.
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