Ashima Sharma, Keekli Reporter, 21st September, Shimla
Emphasizing the need for encouraging differently-abled children to nurture their talents, a cultural festival for physically challenged children named FODA — Festival For Differently Abled — was held at Bishop Cotton School on 20th and 21st of September, 2013. The festival witnessed participation of as many as 150 children with different disabilities from 15 different special institutions of the state.
The events for the festival were carefully and well-planned in order to cater to the needs of all the children with different abilities, such as hearing impairment, dumb, physically and mentally challenged. The whole atmosphere was energetic and festive as the children participated wholeheartedly in a stress free environment of non-competition.
The festival commenced from 20th September with the arrival of the participating schools from all over Himachal Pradesh. The cultural programme began at 5:00pm with the lightning of the lamp by the chief guest Nandita Gupta, Labour Commissioner and Director of Employment, Himachal Pradesh. Students from different schools performed on a wide variety of songs starting with the famous Lungi Dance from the movie Chennai Express to the famous folk Pahari Naati. The group of singers from National School for Blind, Kullu mesmerised and enthralled the audience by singing popular Himachali songs accompanied by dholak and harmonium.
The cultural programme ended with a speech by the chief guest who encouraged and praised the effort of the school in providing a platform to the specially-abled students to showcase their abilities and recognising the inherent need of each child for competition.
The second day — 21st September — of the event was packed with fun and frolic. Games like musical chair, broad jump, ringing the bell, skittles, lucky dip were organised and many stalls with eatables were setup to make the occasion very special for the children.
The institutes participating in the event were:
Action for Barrier Free Handicapped Integration, Shimla
Asha Kiran, Bilaspur
Aastha, Nahan
Chinmaya Ashram, Dharamshala
Chetna Sansthan, Bilaspur
Government Senior Secondary School, Dharmshala
Gyan Bharti School, Solan
SPARSH (Indian Association for the Muscular Dystrophy), Solan
National Association for the Blind, Kullu
Pehchaan, Shimla
Rotary Sewa Ashram, Dharamshala
School for Blind, Dhalli
School for Deaf, Dhalli
The Learning Centre, Shimla
The entire event was coordinated under the guidance of Headmistress of Junior School, BCS, Dorothy I. Robinson and the Headmaster Christopher Robinson, which was managed exceptionally well by the staff and the volunteer students. The festival ended on a happy note giving away a special message:
“Happiness is not so much in having or sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give”.