I called Ram Bhai Patel, Secretary of NAB, on Sunday morning. It was Sunday evening in Valsad.

Ram Bhai was very happy to hear from me. For those who do not know already, Ram Bhai is also blind. He works at a bank in Valsad, but volunteers much of his time at NAB. He does much more than his title of secretary. He has personally transferred students that cannot be accomodated at NAB in Valsad to Surat, Visnagar, or other areas. He helps in planning events for the students as well as their annual Kite Day festival.

Below I have listed the questions I asked followed by the answers from Ram Bhai Patel. Overall the call went really well. I learned a lot of details on how NAB is working to help the children as well as after they finish school. We also covered much detail on the needs to build a girls hostel, what has been done so far, and the plans to build the hostel.

Phone: 011-91-2632-248463
Email: anupamapatel@hotmail.com

Integration, after STD 12, parents, background questions

QUESTION
1) How do you work to integrate the children/students into society? Examples

Ram Bhai We send the students to normal schools to integrate them with the rest of the students in the community. This gets rid of the fear many blind from the villages have since many have been ostracized, neglected, or ignored.

We help the children go to the regular bathrooms, play at recess with sighted children, walk to school, go the market, how to purchase vegetables and dhal, bhath (rice), and loht (flour).

They are given access to listen to audio cassettes of programs, books, teachings. They learn to play chess, checkers, and other games with sighted children or with each other. They play cricket with special ball that makes a sound as it moves through the air or bounces. They listen to cricket matches with sighted people and enjoy the game too.

We teach them how to behave, how to go to a hotel (restaurant) and eat. They learn how to cook basic items. Even the children learn how to peel potatoes, cut onions/tomatoes/other vegetables, how to make dough, roll chapatis, make rice, boil water, etc.

QUESTION
2) What do the students do after they complete standard 12? Examples

Ram Bhai For those students who cannot afford it, we give them accomodation. If they go to college, NAB will help to pay for their fees and for their books. This is funded from donations.

We have 6 students going to Arts and Literature college. a) 3 students going to JPR Valsad College studying Hindi, Gujarati, and Economics. b) 3 go to Vanraj Arts college in Tal Dharampur.

Two students are in higher education. a) One is getting Law Master Degree (LLB) at Valsad Trimson Marzi Law College. b) One is getting a Master of Arts at Nuthan Education Society in Valsad.

Many students after 12th are helped in getting a job in the area. There are many examples. Some are setup with some office type work. We have adult training center at NAB that teaches the blind many skills that can be used in the workplace.

Some go into farming and poultry. Some go into assembly work like working at a factory making ball pens. NAB has helped a number of blind work at making the factory. They make 5 Rs/gross of pens assembled, they can make about 15 gross per day meaning 75 Rs/day.

One student named Shashidar Taylor is a railway announcer at Borivali Station in Mumbai.

A few blind students got music degrees then now teach at a government school in Umargam (southern part of Gujarat close to Mumbai), Amalsar, and Falodra.

In Vapi, there is a toothpaste box assembly where blind go to work. There they get 4000-5000 Rs/month.

At Nanpundra industry, there is a PVC pipe factory where blind are referred to work. There they make 4000 Rs/month starting and move to around 5000 Rs/month.

One blind boy is working at the Valsad seashore making fishing nets where he gets contract of 1000 Rs/net.

A blind boy is now working at Pavdi loading and unloading gas cylinder's from trucks.

Another is working at a flour mill making around 3000 Rs/month making dough, packaging, and other jobs at the mill.

We are glad you asked this question. OVERALL, it is important that the blind know about other people in the community that are blind are succeeding, working, and living on their own.

QUESTION
3) What do the parents of the children at NAB do? How much do they make?

Ram Bhai All the parent are BPL (meaning Below Poverty Line). The parents of the children work in the field or are poor day laborers.

40 Rs/day for day laborer
50 Rs/day for light industrial work

QUESTION
4) Are most of the children at NAB from Valsad city or from villages?

Ram Bhai Most of the families of the children are from the villages. It would not be possible for them to come to NAB every day due to the distance. Thus they stay at NAB as part of the residential school.

QUESTION
5) Are the parents of the children at NAB also blind?

Ram Bhai Some of the parents of the children are blind, but most parents are not.

Financial questions, cost per child, salaries

QUESTION
6) What is the cost per student per year?

Ram Bhai 3000 Rs/year for support services as people can afford this in India. We have a sponsorship program in which they have 40 boys supported by locals right now.

QUESTION
7) Shachi's site visit reportsaid 3000 Rs/year per residential student. Does this 3000 Rs/year cover food, clothing, hostel, tutors, etc.?

Ram Bhai No, this 3000 is an amount that people here in the Valsad area can afford. Actual cost per child per year is higher, but then people would not sponsor.

QUESTION
8) So what are the actual costs per child per year?

Ram Bhai 20 Rs/day/child for food
600 Rs/year/child for clothes which includes their school uniforms
500 Rs/year/child for blanket, bedsheet, rainy shoes for monsoon, soap/toothpaste/brush/etc, slippers, umbrella, and other small items
Medicine and doctor visits also come up. The children visit a local doctor in the community. The cost depend on the illness.

QUESTION
9) Are you funded by the government? If so, how much? (I asked a series of questions to find out the amount of funding received per year from the Ministry of Human Resources.)

Ram Bhai The Ministry of Human Resources Educational Department pays for "helping blind children integrate into regular schools."

The funding from the Ministry varies every year. Sometimes we do not get any funds from them. Also the process is backwards in that we get the fundsthe year after we request the funds. Like we say that in 2002-2003 we employed 6 teachers, we request that now and we may get paid in 2003-2004.

From the educational department they received: 1995-96 5 laks
1996-97 0 laks - we received a notice that the future amount would be decreased
1997-98 3.3 laks
1998-99 3 laks
1999-00 3 laks
2000-01 0 laks - government had declared a money crisis and send a letter saying they would not send the 3 laks by March 31st
2001-02 4.34 laks - this was higher than usual, but explained as an overall decrease from the usual of 3 laks. This amount was some for the previous year in which NAB did not receive any funds.
2002-03 2.4 laks which is less than the usual 3 laks. Right now the educational department has not said whether or not the amount will return to the norm of 3 laks per year.

We get no help from the ministry for building expenses.

So you can see that funds from the educational department are not consistent.

QUESTION
10) Have you tried to find out why they have not paid on time and why they are decreasing the amount given to NAB?

Ram Bhai Of course. The government says they need to support other causes like rebuilding efforts in Bhuj and Ahmedabad, water supplies, and other large running expenses.

QUESTION
11) What costs is ~3 laks from the ministry supposed to cover? Does it cover it?

Ram Bhai This funding is for teacher salaries. We have 5 teachers that qualify under their conditions of "helping blind children integrate into regular schools."

The government pays 7000 Rs/month for each teacher. Our total cost for teacher salary itself is 4.2 laks. This used to be covered by ministry funding many years ago, but with the cuts it is difficult. We have a "charso-vees" in that if we let go of some teachers, we will not have enough staff for the students and the government may decrease our funding even further as we will not have as much need.

QUESTION
12) So how do you cover the costs for the remaining expenses?

Ram Bhai It is a great struggle. We have to get donations from local donors and through fundraising efforts like the kite day festival in Valsad. We have received funds from Asha for the about 5 years. Last was received in 2001.

QUESTION
13) Do you get funded by NAB? Like NAB national? Also, do you know NAB in Visnagar or NAB Surat? Do you have relations withany other NAB's?

Ram Bhai No we do not get funded by the National Association for the Blind (NAB) is an association only. The goal of the association is to have one NAB at each district level in India to serve the blind, partially blind, and other handicapped people in the community both children and adults. The goal is to get the blind rehabilitated, educated, and eventually working.

NAB also gives medical support to check how many blind there are in the community, do tests on level of blindness and what can be done, medicines and lenses when it is helpful, white canes, and other tools to help the blind. NAB also helps the blind get certain amneties like a 1/4 price ticket on the train. To get this 1/4 ticket, they need to have an official identification card and photo, NAB helps the bling throught he government process of getting this ID card. Almost all of the blind people they encounter do not know of assistence available to them. More so that they think they are just blind and that no one will help them, ot that they are burden on others, or that they are like this for a reason, or other backwards thinking reasons like this. It is really sad to see this. The people come from all the areas in the Valsad district, much of which is extremely rural with tribals.

(Visnagar) Yes, we know NAB Visnagar well. The man working there is my frine Prof. Halloy.

(Surat) I have dropped off numerous girls at NAB Surat as we do not have the ability to house girls in Valsad.

NAB has a yearly conference that I attend every year. We talk about what are the needs, how many blind in the various districts, etc.

QUESTION
14) Do did you raise the 10 laks for building the girls hostel?

Ram Bhai One person from Mr. Chandrakant Gandhi from USA gave $5000. Rest was all through local donations and local fundraising.

QUESTION
15) What are the salaries of the readers? Are they part/full time? How are they paid?

Ram Bhai Six part-time readers, 500 Rs/month. They are paid from donations.

QUESTION
16) What are the salaries of the writers? Are they part/full time? How are they paid?

Ram Bhai Writers are needed only during exam time, which is 3 times a year. They are only for students in 8-12th standard where written exams are required at the government schools. They have about 38 writers depending on the number fo students in 8th-12th standard. They are paid from donations.

QUESTION
17) What are the salaries of the escorts? Are they part/full time? How are they paid?

Ram Bhai Escorts are part-time. Many partially bline help the blind get to school. Total costs are about 1000 Rs and it is around 15-40 Rs. per escort depending on the distance and if auto is required. They are paid from donations.

QUESTION
18) What are the costs of the teachers? Other staff? Are they part/full time? How are they paid?

Ram Bhai

#	Teacher	Blind/Sighted	How paid?	Salary per Month	Total per Year	Notes
5	Regular Teachers	Blind, Partially Blind, and Sighted	Ministry funds partial, rest from donations	7000	420,000
1	Music Teacher	Blind	Donations	3000	36,000	Both children and adult teaching
1	Telephone Operator	Blind	Donations	3000	36,000	Mostly adult training
1	Computer Operator	Sighted	Donations	3000	36,000	Need more computers to work with
1	Field Supervisor	Partially Blind	Donations	3500	42,000	Surveys anyone who is disabled in the whole district, checks newly blind, blind babies, test and assessment of degree of blindness.
1	Carpentry Teacher	Sighted	Donations	2000	24,000	Teaches mostly adults.
1	Weaving Teacher	Sighted	Donations	2000	24,000	More adult training, but children learn in late teens.
2	Office Worker	Blind	Donations	2000	48,000
2	Wicker Teachers	Sighted	Donations	2500	60,000	More adult training. Also teach how to do light industrial work with carboard, contruction of boxes, ball pens, chairs, doormats, and other skills.
1	Cook	Partially Blind	Donations	2500	30,000
1	Janitor/cleaner	Partially Blind	Donations	2000	24,000

QUESTION
19) What are your other costs every year? Any notes on it like how long it lasts, type, amount, etc.

Ram Bhai

#	Item	Cost	Total	Notes
80-90 spindles	Braille Paper	1.1 Rs/paper, 90 papers per spindle	8,000-9,000 Rs.	Will need more as number of students increase.
1	Braille Typewriter	7,000	7,000
50	Braille Slates	100	5,000	Used by all students
5	Abacus Braille	500	2,500	Used by all students for mathematics, used by adults too.
25	White Canes	150	3,750	Necessary for all blind
25	Braille Compasses	150	3,750
38	Fees for government school STD 8-12	5000	190,000	In 2001, the gov't schools started school fees of 5000 Rs/year for 8th-12th standard. This fee is an obstacle for the children as their families are from BPL, meaning annual income is less than 11,000 per year. NAB has 38 boys now that are in standard 8-12 that need assistance to go to government school.
1	Computer	80,000	80,000	We need more computers for the computer training. We have 2 now that are very old and even with 4-5 students at one computer it is not very productive. Want speech synthesizer software too. Cost now is almost 50% less than before (last time they sent proposal to Asha).
2	Harmonium	2000	4,000	(I asked why they need more?) Because there is a lot of wear by the use of so many people on the 2 that they currently have. The classes force many students to share the same one and rotate. At least 1 has to be replaced every year.
2	Ponga	3,000	6,000
1	Keyboard	5,000	5,000
50	Kid's School Bag	300	15,000

Other expenses were covered above in the section for the cost per child. These are more like costs that come every 1-3 years.

Girl's hostel questions, girls who are bline in community

QUESTION
20) Can you give more details on the construction of the girl's hostel?

Ram Bhai In Jan. 2002, we got all the paperwork through with the government to purchase the land at a cost of 6,41,000 from Kesan Farmers Association. It took almost 5 years since we started the process, government takes long time for this.

From May 2002-June 2002, NAB contracted JCP who brough 1,800 loads of dirt and bulldozed it to flatten it all. The area previously was marsh and muddy, lots of water. This cost 1,75,000 Rs.

We have raised about 10 laks locally. One part came about $5,000 from Chrandrakant Gandhi from USA.

The building will be built from steel, cement, and bricks. It will be just the ground floor. We will build a 1st floor, 2nd, and maybe 3rd floor after as we raise more funds.

It will house 30-40 girls. Bunk bed style dormitories will be set up. There will also be a kitchen, toilet/bathrooms, hall for teaching/recreation.

QUESTION
21) How long will it take to build?

Ram Bhai The plan is it will take 4 months. The ceiling will be about 3.5 meters (~12 feet), there will be plumbing, electricity, phone line, etc. You have a copy of the plans for the hostel already. (It has been placed online.)

QUESTION
22) How can Asha help?

Ram Bhai We have a few big expenses that we would be very grateful for your help. First is the girl's hostel building. We still need to raise 20 laks. If you could provide at least 15 laks, we could raise the other 5 laks locally. We have already raised about 10 laks.

Second, we need at least one other computer. Now much more is available in voice books, audio cd's, voice synthesized programs, voice to writing that we would benefit greatly from this.

If you could help with covering the costs of the fees for school for the boys in standard 8-12.

Any help you can provide will be helpful. We will do the needful and promise the funds will be used best to help the blind children and students at NAB in Valsad.

QUESTION
23) What happens to girls that are blind in Valsad as you do not have the facilities for them now?

Ram Bhai I have personally taken 8 girls to NAB in Surat and 11 to NAB in Ahmedabad. There are more, but most are from the village and they do not want to go so far away, or the parents do not want to send them to another district. The families are very poor and it is not possible for them to travel to the other town to visit their children. Also, many have fear of leaving their village, even Valsad is a big step. The field supervisor has to spend a lot of time just to get the family to bring the boy or girl to Valsad for assessment and testing.

Right now, there are 14 blind girls living together in a cottage in the Dharampur jungle (rural area). They have no facilities there, no water/electricity/phone/laterines. One Bhen (sister) has given them 2nd hand clothes and other clothes. The place where they are staying is owned by the village Gram Panchyat. The cottage is very simple - wood fixture, mud/dirt floor like outside, straw mix roof, very basic.

NAB has gone and met with the girls, talked to the Bhen who is helping them, but they do not want to leave their village and go to either Surat or Ahmedabad. There is much fear in them. We have been working and talking with this group of girls for almost 2 years now. After much time, they are more comfortable with us and are open to moving to the girl's hostel in Valsad once we get the facilities in place. These 14 girls and young women will be the first of the batch of girls that start at the girls hostel.

It is a very trying situation.