Dancers from Sunadha troupe
Samrathanam was founded by Mahantesh, who is also visually disabled, to help provide opportunities for deserving, young, and talented children with disability of any form, or from marginalized economic backgrounds. Over the years they have built a school that provides education for over 600 disabled children and is designed to meet the needs of the physically challenged.
Its emphasis on making the disabled full fledged productive members of society has led to a focus on IT and computer skill building. After training its students on the use of computers and assistive devices, Samarthanam has extended its operations with a couple of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) centers where disabled employees provide call center help in local languages. In addition, Samarthanam launched a waste management program that collects and recycles dry waste and provides a sustainable source of revenue to the organization.
Dancers pay homage to Nataraja
During their visit to Boston they were able to fulfil their lifelong dream of visiting the Perkins School for the Blind, where Helen Keller schooled, and the Carroll Center, meeting with key personnel from both institutions.
Samarthanam group poses with Micheal Festa, President Carroll Center
Read more about this amazing organization and how they are helping make the disadvantaged self sufficient productive members of society in my article on Lokvani.
The Social Ecosystem 