A two day ‘Community Development Conference for Blinds’ was organised by the Young Visionaries Squad (YVS) at the Ida Rieu School for the Blind and Deaf.
YVS is working with the mission of community development through community participation and to utilise their spare time in constructive work. It aims to work for underprivileged and ignored sections of the society like special children, street kids, old ages homes, drug rehabilitation centres, flood victims and orphanages.
The event was mapped around the theme ‘Hai Jazba Junoon Tou Himmat Na Haar’ (if you have the zest then don’t lose hope). The concept was to encourage, polish and motivate the audience.
The YVS gave them the platform to show the world their talents and to tell the normal people what they are made of and what they can do. The students attending were from 6th grade-B.A course. Some of these students were partially blind and some were unable to see at all.
These students were surprisingly talented and all they needed was a medium, a path and a way to show this to the normal world, to which they are disabled and to the normal world which thinks that these students deserve nothing but pity.
Saira Saleem Abid Beli (Guinness world record breaker), Nargis Latif (Azam-e-Alishan award holder), Syed Nusrat Ali (motivational speaker), Urooj Mazhar (School of Leadership Director) were present as the speakers.
They told the students what they can do in their lives in spite of their disabilities and the hurdles that they face. The students were interviewed by the speakers individually and asked to express their future as they see it. This whole activity ignited a whole new spark in the students and motivated them to go the distance.
A speech competition based on the theme for the day was also held. The students participated with excitement and presented their views with full confidence and showed the world that they maybe blind, but their not in any manner incapable. Winners and runner-ups were awarded the prizes by the judge.
A singing competition was followed by a singing gala, where the students sang and the whole auditorium danced and clapped along. They competed and sang as much as they could. This completion was also judged and the deserving participants were awarded.
The whole event ended on a high note courtesy to the musical performance consisting of Dr Allama Iqbal’s poetry and other national songs and appreciation from the school faculty with a promise to support us for our future ventures with their school and as well as with others.
