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Students from Delhi's Tender Heart School are proud winners at the Special Olympics in Newcastle

Sometimes life brings you che company of fellow htm1an beings who are such an inspiration, thac you feel rejuvcnaced and proud co be one. l\1[eeting Renu Bali, Kakoli Mukhejee and Kacy Fitzgerald, has been one such encounter However, unfortunately meeting cheir wards, che eight participants of the Special Olympics AsiaPaci fic's Team India from Tender Heart School, was not possible as they were flown straight to Newcastle and back. Tender Heart School is in Bhatola, Haryana, a small village si tua red I 0krns from Faridabad, near Delhi. Thar these children have overcome their disability aod participaced in these Games with such success, is something you would like to shom from the rooftops co anyone who cares to listen!

le has bee n an immense effort on che part of chese three women to bring eight children to Australia. Kary, an with a passion for photograph y and for India, sold her photographs taken in India to raise funds for che crave! of tl1ese children to che Special O lympics, held at Newcastle from 1 to 7 December. (Her inspiring story was featured in cbe July 1, 2013 edition of Tndian U11k). At the opening ceremon}; an enthusiastic crowd greeted rhe smallest teams of ach letes from Cambodia and Mongolia, wich as much noise as the 398 athleces in the Australian team. Governor-General Quentin Bryce, welcomed 2,5U0 atbletes from more than 32 countries

Tender Heart is a nongovemment, not- fot-profic organisation, starred 15 years ago, with the aim of providing social and educational opporttmities for disadvantaged children. Ir provides education to ' normal' children from around Bhaco la, chose with physical and mental disabilities who need special education, and works on helping to empower women 200 cb.ildren and 50 special needs students study and play together in this inclusive school. "Wicb the special need s children, the emphasis is not only 011 provi ding an education, but also on making these often rejected people a pan and parcel of society," says Renu Bali, fonnder of the Tender Hearl School.

"l observed a tendency of these children co feel rejected and depressed, and consequently uninclined to participate in an y activ ity. This resulcs in low selfesteem and obesicy," exp lains Ren u Also observing that given the opportunity, these kids were happy when p laying games, Renu wrote co the Special Olympics Bharat committee and g or the children started on a games training program organised by them. The hrst camp at Jam mu, attended by these children who bad never .left home, was a big challenge. Most of tl1em hardly spoke, but Renu says on the second day, she received a call saying that a d1ild wished to speak ro her. "Yahr111 k,1 pr111eer bah11t acchht1 hai," (the water from here is rea11y good) said the child. Renu was stunned to bear this from a child who apparently had no logical thinking, and hardly spoke before. She realised chat tl1e n-avel and participation in games had made this big difference. "After this, I stepped up participation in training camps. These were often he ld inter-state and l had a cough time convincing parents of children to lee them go, but my efforts paid off," claims Renu. "Each ti.me mey came back wich new words in their vocabulary and started doing very \veil at district, state and then national level games," she adds. Two and a hali years later and the d oors to international level competition were opened co them, so bere d1ey were now - in Australia!

There couldn't have been a prouder sec of people than Renu, Kacy and Kakoli (a special educator at Tender Heart Scbool), when the f:inal medal caJlywas announced. They had no sponsors initially but kept up with the practice for participants, egged on witl1 a strong determination ro make it happen for tl1is special contingent. Amongst themselves, the eight participants won 14 medals! Team Bharat made up of 381 participants, won 387 medals in all. A tremendous achievement considering diat able-bodied sportsmen at normal Olympics struggle to win a single medal for India! Renn wishes ro make the efforts of these participants known to the whole of l.ndia. "They need to gee a hero's welcome," says Renu. le is a picy that such adulation is r eserved for cricketers and Bollywood stars only, she rues. "ivly aim is to make these children stand on d1eir feet and sustain themselves. l am advocating hard for d1ese participant.~ to get cash awards like otl1er O lympic medal winners This could provide some support, as well as encouragement," she avers. Speaking of hardships, Renu cells the story of when the school had an opporrunicy co send a student for the shot putt activicy. The prob lem was, they did not have o ne. So she asked the child to start by throwing stones, fonnd in abnndaoce around di e school. At first he wasn't happ y doing this. "J0·011 1mjhse pattht11' phek111,lle ho," (Why are you making me mrow scones?') he complained, but chis practice stood him in good stead and he was ecstatic when he won at shot putt at the stare level, and received a Rs.15,000 cash prize!

One of tl1e participants was Bhupender, and his forte is athletics , Though on the IQ scale, h is ability may be only 35, on the running scale, he beat able -bodied people ro win go ld at the Deihl Marathon. 'Don't DISrnyABlLITY' is what these achievements cry ouc.

Not aU s tudents from Tender Heart School are 'children'. The oldest and sole female participant is Aarti wbo is 32 Participation in each of the sports cacegorr is based on ability. P iyusb who won the IOOm, only wanted to play cricket but Renu's gentle coaxing \vorked. "Nq)'e;oothe doge to 111ai11 bht1f,Oo11ga," ('I will run only if you buy me new shoes') said Piyush, and Renu was more than willing to oblige him with a pair! Otl1er athletes were Deepak, Uttkarsh, Vishesh, VikJ:am and Keshm~ the youngest ac eight.

Reau has a bank of 's uccess stories' about these children, and this is what drives her ro aim higher. Given the opportunity, these special children achieve anything Vikram dropped out of school in Year 7 as his wheelchair was hard to navigate on muddy roads when it rained. He asked Renu if he could learn a vocation.

The girls at the school made soft toys and he started wim drafting and cutting templates, which che girls tl1en stitched During the course Vikram said he wanted to study again, and so Renn goc him a better wheelchair from Red Cross. Vikram has completed his graduation d1is year in spite of many hurd les. Now international volunteers at Tender Heart are training hin1 in computers as he has been promised a job at Convergys, an IT company, if he is able co upskill in MS Excel.

"\X,'e need parrners on this hard journey Our projects should be able to sustain themselves, and only then can d1ey be successful," says Renu.

Indians in Australia. can help d1ese children and man y others in their situation by becoming a volunteer at tl1e school, buying products made by chem or donating to the Tender Heart Foundation (wwv,aenderhearmgo.org). "There have been many vo lunteers from Australia and w ith tl1eir help we are u·ying to upsk.ill our teachers ro u se better training methods for special needs students. l realise we have a long way co go," says Renu. "\~hen 1 saw Australian children speak on d1e mike before huge crowds at the Special Olympics opening ceren1011y, aU I thoughcwas diat I want to make my children d o tl1at!" We can a11 try ro make chis happen and we don't have to dig deep into our pockets. As Kako li put it, "A dollar a day is more than enougb to bring up a single child in India".