FAMILY DAY
“FAMILY DAY” was celebrated by “Pratidhwani
WB” - a state level federation of parents associations of children and persons
with deafness on 29th
January, Sunday, 2017 at Bishop’s
College, Kolkata. About 240 people
across the state of West Bengal (Jalpaiguri, Murshidabad, Bankura, Hooghly,
Midnapore (W), Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Kolkata) actively
participated in the programme. There were nearly 120 children and young adults
with deafness, their siblings and friends. The other part of the group was
their parents, family members, teachers, friends and well wishers. The whole
programme was supported by Deaf Child
Worldwide (DCW) -the international development arm of the National Deaf
Child Society, UK.
Parents and families started gathering in the
college ground from 9.00 a.m. onwards. The beautiful college ground was an
encouragement by itself. Post completion of the registration formality and
breakfast, we moved to the adjacent playground for the inaugural session. The
patriotic song “Saare Jahan Se Accha”
was played where all deaf children and young adults queued up for March past
and created a fabulous momentum in front of the dignitaries, eminent guests,
parents who then marked the beginning of the day’s programme by lighting
floating candles in a rose filled water container. They were joined by a young
deaf child representing all children and young adults with deafness.
Around 11:30 a.m. visitors and parents were
requested to take their seat in a well decorated hall in the vicinity of the
playground. The programme was started with welcoming guests and presenting the
journey of Pratidhwani WB eloquently by Ms.
Snigdha Sarkar, Secretary of the federation. She called upon all the
eminent guests like Ms. Supriya Sen
Gupta, Ex NIHH, Ms. Sankari Ghosh,
Retired Principal Ichapur Deaf School, Ms.
Sukanya Chatterjee, IGSSS who was involved at the inception stage of
Pratidhwani. Mr. Haward Taylor, DCW,
Ms. Ruma Das Gupta from Education
Department and requested them to come up the stage and say few words about
their experiences. They expressed their pleasure through their speech, appreciated
the valiant effort of Pratidhwani despite all odds in the present scenario and
committed to be with Pratidhwani in its future endeavours. All of them were
felicitated through memento presentation by few young adult members with
deafness.
After the guests’ speech it was time for the
role models to share their experiences. This session began with a very eloquent
poem written by a young adult Mithi
Chakraborty who could not attend the programme, read out by Ms. Sarkar. Swastik Jana, Anurupa Ghosh, Tanuj
Mukherjee, Sudipto Mitra, Kaushani Ghatak, Sneha Das Gupta and Arnab Bhattacharya, young adults with
deafness shared their experiences and the audiences comprising parents deaf
children and young adults from various districts were quite enthused and got a
ray of hope while looking at the confidence level of the young deaf persons to
deal with the hurdles of life.
Parents also came forward to share their
experiences, issues and views. Parents also expressed their convictions that
deaf children were not curse upon their parents but blessings. The entire
audience was quite moved and inspired in the entire sharing session.
Simultaneously, a sit and draw event was
organized where all the children took part spontaneously. All sports related
things were timely set up and the equipment were arranged by the sport team
under the guidance of our parent members. There were various types of fun games
like –
·
Run
( 50 Meter) for Boys and Girls ( Age 5 Yrs to 10 Yrs)
·
Eat
the Hanging Biscuit with no hand touch and Run,
·
Run
( 100 Meter) for Boys and Girls ( Age 11 Yrs to 15 Yrs)
·
Balance
game ( Spoon with Marble)
·
Run
( 200 Meter) for Boys and Girls ( Age 16 Yrs and above)
·
Break
the pot with blindfolded eyes,
·
Balance
Race
All games were conducted aptly and every one
enjoyed. Along with the sports activity; we came back to the garden house where
the delicious lunch was served at 1.30 pm.
Post lunch, a magic show was kept and
everyone enjoyed the tricks of the magician Mr. S Guha and his assistant. Then Mr. Roudra Mitra, Ms. Sneha Das Gupta, Ms. Koushani Ghatak and Ms. Anurupa Ghosh recited poems and
got instant appreciation from the audience. The audience was mesmerized to see
the wonderful mime act of Mr. Suvendu
Mukhopadhyay. He beautifully portrayed the expression & feelings of a
person with disability. Mr Sourodeep Chakraborty stole the show by displaying
his unique creativity to make a picture through sketch from any symbol or sign.
The last but not the least was Mr. Antik
Kumar Dewanji who performed a beautiful dance in the tune of Taare Zameen
Par Song “Tujhe Sab Hai Pata..Meri Maa”.
Other than the magician and mime actor all other performers were deaf young
adults.
With these performances, the programme came
to a close with gifts and certificates given to every child, gifts for parents
and young adults as a token of love and appreciation. It was indeed a great day
for the children, young adults, their parents and family members and teachers
as well, as it strengthened the bond between all of us. Pratidhwani W.B’s team effort was praiseworthy
and especially we are thankful to Mr Debashis
Biswas of DCW who worked shoulder to shoulder to make the Family Day a huge
success.
Without the support and active involvement
from the below mentioned parents group, the programme could not be so successful
and memorable for the children and the young adults with hearing impairment. The
groups are:
·
Anwesha
Kolkata
·
Alor
Disha
·
Uttaran
·
Udita
·
Egiye
Cholo
·
Kathakoli
·
Chareibeti
·
Prerona
·
Milon
·
Barunhat
Sathi
·
Samadhan
·
Khakurdah
Midnapore
·
NISHD
·
GBCD
parents group
·
Bondhu
– Group of deaf young adults
