Family
Day 2018
“FAMILY
DAY” was celebrated with great fervour by “Pratidhwani WB” - a state level
federation of parents associations of children and persons with deafness on
15th December, Saturday, 2018 at Bishop’s College, Kolkata.
Around
400 people, deaf children, young adults and their families from various districts of West Bengal like
Bankura, Purulia, Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Midnapore,
Hooghly, Nadia, Kolkata etc. actively participated in the event along with
guests participated in the programme.
We
all gathered in the college premise at 10.00 a.m. sharp. Post completion of the
registration formality and breakfast, we moved to the adjacent playground for
the inauguration programme. The programme began with March Past by all
participants enlivened by Kolkata Police band who were with us from beginning
to end. Then, the programme was inaugurated by lighting diyas in a flower
filled water container by Mr. Debabrata Chattaraj, IAS, State Commissioner for
Persons with Disabilities, Dr Anamika Sinha -Director Manovikas Kendra, Ms. Supriya Sen Gupta, former special
educator from National Institute for Speech and Hearing Disability, Mr. Saumen
Upadhyay General Secretary Parivaar Bengal along with a member from each of the
groups and member from the police
band.
Around 11:30 A.M, the guests and parents were
requested to take their seats in a well decorated class room in the vicinity of
the playground. The programme was started with presentation on Pratidhwani WB and
its ongoing activities by Ms. Snigdha Sarkar, Secretary, Pratidhwani. Then Mr.
Soumen Upadhyay was requested to come on stage and speak on mental disabilities
related issues. Ms. Koushani Ghatak, Md.Fahim, Ms.Debopriya Ghosh and Mr. Antik
Kumar Dewani - four young adults with deafness shared their experiences and the
audiences mainly parents of deaf children and young adults from various
districts were quite enthused and probably got a ray of hope while looking at
the confidence level of the young deaf persons to deal with life.
A
session on “Ear care & Hearing Health” as a part of World Hearing Day celebration.
Ms. Mita Bandyopadhyay, Ex- Commissioner Disabilities, Smt Sankari Ghosh, Dr
Ruma Chatterjee joined us at the seminar. Sharing of experiences by parents,
young role models and guests motivated everyone sitting in the hall. Few noteworthy
excerpts from guests’ speech are given below:
Ms. Mita Bandyopadhyay: “The concept of
Family Day is unique and the leadership of Ms. Snigdha Sarkar is praiseworthy”.
Ms. Supriya Sen Gupta: “Pratidhwani WB’s
Family Day is a wonderful platform and the parents should maintain the spirit
of togetherness. The strength of the society lies in the family and it was
important for families to come under a platform to feel the strength of
togetherness and solidarity. Besides, as parents, we should not impose their expectation
on children or young adults with disability. There is a pressing need of psychologists
for tackling the psychological issues.”
At the same time, a sit and draw event was
organized where all the children took part spontaneously. While the young
children took part in sit and draw, resource person and actor Abhijit Ghosh
prepared older children with presentation for the afternoon programme. All
sports related things were timely set up and the equipment was arranged by the
sports team under the guidance of our parent members. All games were conducted
aptly and every one of us enjoyed. After the sports activity; we came back to
the dining hall where delicious lunch was served at 1.30 p.m.
Post lunch, the attractions were magic show,
mime, police band performance and group dance by all deaf children & young
adults. Everyone enjoyed the tricks of the magician Mr. Rajat Mallick. The
Police Band presented a beautiful show for the children after the magic show.
The children immensely enjoyed both the programmes. The next attraction of the
day was mime show by three deaf adults from SILENCE. All children and young
adults beautifully performed dances to the tune of popular songs under the
guidance Mr. Abhijit Ghosh.
Our friends Sharmila Bhattacharya, Kuhu Das,
Aditi Basu, Sudipto Banerjee, and Tulika Das joined us after lunch. At the end,
everyone was given a gift as a token of love. 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.
We thank Deaf Child Worldwide (UK), Arambagh,
Bigbazaar, Bishop's College, Kolkata Police Band, special guests, friends, members
and well wishers of Pratidhwani West Bengal for their contribution in making
the programme a grand success.
Key
Insights
No. of Participants: 240 ( 2016- 2017), 315 ( 2017-2018) and 400 ( 2018-2019)
No. of Children and Young Adults: 120 ( 2016- 2017), 160 ( 2017-2018) and 149 ( 2018-2019)
No. of Parents Groups participated: 12 ( 2016- 2017), 14 ( 2017-2018) and 13 ( 2018-2019)
No. of people involved to execute the assigned tasks in programme: 25 ( 2016- 2017), 20 ( 2017-2018) and 23 ( 2018-2019)
No. of Sponsors: 1 ( 2016- 2017), Deaf Child Worldwide
3 ( 2017-2018) ITC, Arambagh and Big Bazaar
3 ( 2018-2019) Deaf Child Worldwide, Arambagh and Big Bazaar
No. of Activities: 7 ( 2016- 2017), 8 ( 2017-2018) and 8 ( 2018-2019)
No. of Children and Young Adults: 120 ( 2016- 2017), 160 ( 2017-2018) and 149 ( 2018-2019)
No. of Parents Groups participated: 12 ( 2016- 2017), 14 ( 2017-2018) and 13 ( 2018-2019)
No. of people involved to execute the assigned tasks in programme: 25 ( 2016- 2017), 20 ( 2017-2018) and 23 ( 2018-2019)
No. of Sponsors: 1 ( 2016- 2017), Deaf Child Worldwide
3 ( 2017-2018) ITC, Arambagh and Big Bazaar
3 ( 2018-2019) Deaf Child Worldwide, Arambagh and Big Bazaar
No. of Activities: 7 ( 2016- 2017), 8 ( 2017-2018) and 8 ( 2018-2019)
Activities*
1. March Past
2. Session on Ear Care and Hearing Health
3. Experience sharing by Parents, Role Models
4. Sit and Draw
5. Games
6. Magic
7. Mime
8.
Group Dance
For more photos: pls visit the facebook page of Pratidhwani WB
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1508404379328717&type=1&l=b67fc86361
