Anadawan runs schools for children, university students, farmers, the blind, deaf and variously disabled. Above a young polio survivor studies hard, walking stick at hand. The overcoming of such fear was very slow, but Amte made an offer to people in the nearby towns to come pick the produce themselves, incidentally getting them to see the community. Years later Anandwan began its Colleges, which now teach some 2,000 university-level students, and this also attracts people in the area curious to see why the community has so many visitors. The author, Arun Narayan Toke, is a longtime workerfor both appropriate technology and social change. He founded and co-edits Skipping Stones, a superb multi-cultural children's participatory magazine, published quarterly. Subscriptions: $l5/year US, $20/year for institutions, $25/year world-wide, from P. 0. Box 3939, Eugene, OR, 97403-0939. Community self-reliance combines unusually well with personal rehabilitation. Here leprosy patients weave mats and rugsfor Anandwan‘s needs. Bright and early Sunday morning 1 joined the community workday. Shram Dan [the gift of labor]. Hundreds of men, women, and children from Anandwan gathered to do their weekly work, and on that day the goal was to deepen an irrigation reservoir. I met children with artificial legs, missing hands, and leprosy patients with stubs for palms working with great purpose. “Don’t worry about what you don’t have, find a use for what you do have’’, says Sadashiv Tajne, 37, director of Sandhi Niketan [The House of Opportunity] at Anandwan. Unable to walk due to childhood polio, Sadashiv gets around on a hand-cranked tricycle. “I must stand on my own two feet’’, he quips, “without being dependent on someone else. And 1 want to help other disabled people stand on their feet too.’’ He supervises the workshop complex where hundreds of current and ex-leprosy patients work alongside others with ‘ ‘disabilities’ ’. Each person gets all his or her basic needs provided by the community economy: food, shelter, clothing and a small stipend. Everyone is encouraged to save money to make their lives easier in the event they leave Anandwan. Dr. Vikas Amte, Baba Amte’s son and the current director, says one of their missions is to move exleprosy patients back into society. When they do leave it is with self-respect and a useful, well-regarded skill. Page 24 Rain Winter/Spring 1992 Volume XIV, Number 2
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz