Creative solutions

“I kept asking god why me. I was angry,” says Neeru. “I needed answers. Nothing gave me peace then. I thought I was the only one.” She was not. Today Saheb Gandhi,her son,is nine. “And he has found many friends with similar interests.”

Divya Goel,mother of a child with Down’s Syndrome,too shared Gandhi’s initial grief. “Of course,it was difficult to accept.” But seeing her son,Nirvaan,14,dance and sing and take part in sports makes her a proud mother.

Gandhi,Goel and many more mothers of children with “learning disabilities” have come together,sharing their joys,their pains and their brief moments of motherly anguish. Freesia,a creative fun club for children with special needs,their parents and siblings gives the children their “Aha moments” which in a special child’s life are very few. And precious.

“There is a peculiar loneliness that wraps a kid with special needs and his or her parents and siblings,” says Roma Sahni,the Founder Director of Freesia. “They are busy with a variety of therapy sessions,doctors etc. They do not get their share of fun,” adds Sahni who started the club last year in October. “Even in schools on events like Annual Day,these kids get bit parts or they may not even be noticed. Freesia addresses this by conceiving the forum and the activity plan with special kids at the centre.”

So,how was the fun club started? Says Sahni,“My younger son is a special child. I had to struggle a lot to get him in a mainstream school. There were moments when I just broke down,when I saw other children speaking and my son not being able to speak any word,I felt alone.” Sahni’s son Abeer,11,has a borderline case of autism.

At present,Freesia has 16 children as members. “I wanted to give other mothers courage. I wanted to share with others the anxieties and joys that a mother of a special child feels.”

Others have drawn on the strength. Chitra Mukherjee,mother of Bipasha,a 12-year-old with high functional autism initially started getting worried about her daughter. “She was not like other children around. I did not even know what autism was. After a lot of tests,consultations with doctors,speech therapists,I finally understood what my child suffered from.” Bipasha had no friends but Freesia helped her find a few. “When I saw other children climbing the slide stairs and my child not being able to climb a single step,those moments were difficult,. But now watching my dance and paint and so confident gives me an unspeakable pleasure,” says Mukherjee.

It all started with dance. A dance workshop for these kids was organised in December and later these kids gave a performance. The next event was a sports event where kids prepared for a match.

“Each child is capable of doing so much in their own way. In many ways,these kids are no different — they have some extra needs,” says Sahni.” After classrooms and all those therapies,a little bit of fun activity surely does good.”

This is not all. Sahni has other plans as well. “I want to give these children a platform for employment opportunities in the future.”

Meanwhile,watching the children laugh and having fun makes their mothers proud. “His every small step,every small smile is a source of great joy to me,” says Goel.