Our first centre

7 years since our first class at Dada Dev Mandir centre 

It all started with a not-so-routine trip to a temple close by with my husband, Satish. While we were impressed with the vast area it has, we were also aghast to see a long line of beggars outside, sitting in a row. What was most disturbing was to see many children among them. They were shabbily dressed, dirty and very demanding. On close observation, some of them even looked high on some sort of substance. They had packets with them to keep donated food items i.e. puris, sabji and laddoos separately. Still their first choice was money. “Give me 10 Rs”, was what most of them were screaming. 

While I was getting irritated with them, my husband threw me a challenge, “Why don’t you do something for them?” He knows it well that I hate this begging culture and given a chance, I will provide them some employment rather than giving them some money and just walking away. I feel giving money is a short term solution and this way we encourage them to remain beggars for the rest of their lives. But that may work with adults, what to do with these young children? Education might be a solution but will they like to go to school? 

The next few weeks, I spent in getting to know them well. What I understood was not very encouraging. They are made to sit there by their parents, most of whom are casual labours. Mandir is a safe place and visitors coming there are in a very generous mood. So it solves two purposes - one is that mandir premises serve the purpose of a crèche and second is that by sitting there children “earn” food for the family. Whatever they get in cash, they use it to buy chips, cold drinks or sometimes even drugs to sniff! Obviously neither the parents nor the children are in a mood to attend school and why would they? After thinking logically we realised that we have to make sure that the teaching takes place here only, as they will not move from here. 

Setu education centre at Dada Dev Mandir

So we started looking for a teacher, who can come to the mandir to teach. We heard of a young girl who was a wheel chair user and lived close by. When I spoke with her I found out that she is class 8th pass. I offered her this job to come and teach these children every day for one hour. She couldn’t believe it! Her confidence level was so low that she asked her 10 years old brother to call me back and say that his “didi” can’t work as she is not sure if she will be able to teach. 

The girl, Simi, was a polio victim and hardly attended school. One can imagine how difficult it must have been for her to be on a wheel chair (or crawl on the floor) in a Govt school. She barely attended classes and just manged to pass class 8 and was sitting at home for almost 9 years. Still she came out as a kind-hearted shy girl who was keen to learn. I assured her that I will brush up her knowledge and guide her in teaching, but my only condition was that she should be nice to children. No screaming, no shouting and of course no punishment. 

This experiment worked wonders. Simi was overwhelmed by the affection she was getting from these children and they were basking in the love they were getting from this didi. Most of them had some very bitter experience of some school and short tempered teachers, which had killed their interest in formal education forever. Now they were learning something in their own environment, in a fun filled atmosphere and were loving it! 

Simi teaching the students

Soon they started looking forward to their class time, they would run to see me or Simi and call each other to come quickly. Children being children, they loved the feel of brand new note books and pencils. Soon they were proud owners of bags with a proper pencils box and, oh!, their very own crayon colours! Taking parents’ consent was more difficult. Very few of them were happy with this arrangement, rest were pacified after knowing that if anyone gives them anything they are allowed to accept (though quietly I would tell the donors to buy any stationary item, instead of giving them cash). 

An outdoor class

The reaction of the visitors was amazing. Most of them were extremely happy to see them studying and gave very positive inputs. Barring few employees, even mandir staff was very helpful and appreciated the initiative. Long back the places of worship were also considered the place of learning! 

It has been 7 years. We have replicated this experiment at many other places. All we need is a set of non-school going children and a willing teacher from the same locality (with preference given to a differently able person). 

Setu has enrolled hundreds of children to main stream schools and continue giving them free tuitions in the evening. Things are much more stream lined now. But our first centre for this project, which became famous as "जहाँ मैम फीस भी नहीं लेंती है और मारती भी नहीं है! (jahan maam fees bhi nahi leti hai aur marti bhi nahi hain!)" will always remain special for us.

Poonam Tyagi 

Founder Director Setu NGO 

Project "Chappal"

Ranjeet and Sanjeet are two brothers, enrolled with us for free tuition classes. Sons of a rickshaw puller, they would occasionally substitute for their father in the rickshaw queue on the metro station waiting for a customer, while their father would drink a quick cup of tea. Stopping this practice became our pre condition to teach them, and they agreed. They are poles apart in their nature and intelligence level. While one has a flair for Maths, is blessed with a photographic memory, he lacks interest in regular way of learning. Other one makes up for his low IQ with his sincerity and hard work. They are generally on no talking terms with each other.

Soon we all realised that they never come together. They were rather taking turns to attend classes. We all thought sibling rivalry (or hatred in this case) was the reason and closed the file. After all we have seen enough of the world, isn’t it?  One fine day when I had only two students, I managed to get the introvert brother in a talking mood (using all my counselling skills, I must say!). Beside other things, the shocking truth which emerged was that the main reason of their fight was who will come to us for study. The bone of contention here was the one pair of slippers that both the brothers were supposed to share.

I remember watching one award winning foreign film (Afghan I think) on TV once, where a brother and sister were sharing a pair of running shoes. Beautiful touching story, very well narrated. Convincing because that was happening in some war affected country. Believe you me, in my wildest dream I wouldn’t have believed that such things happen right under our nose, in the capital of the country, not in any remote area!

I discussed it with other volunteers of Setu and soon project “Chappal” was launched. Just to maintain their dignity, we decided to buy a pair of slippers for all of them. We were keen to get some “good quality” branded stuff but they vetoed it. All of them had seen and liked something in local “shukkar bazaar“ (Friday market). Girls come to us in the evening while boys attend evening classes in government school. Without mobile phone, assembling at one place was a major task in the crowded market. They coordinated beautifully, bargained with shop keepers, made sure that all the little ones take something, slightly bigger than their current size and made everyone happy.

Children at the local market

Ranjeet and Sanjeet

All the children with their "Chappal"

Getting a lot of happiness by spending a small amount is so easy.

Mrs. Poonam Tyagi's (SETU founder) interview on P7 News Channel

View Mrs. Poonam Tyagi's (SETU founder) interview on P7 News Channel

Health sector initiative by SETU

SETU foundation is working mainly for the education and employability of under-privileged and disabled people. Most of SETU’s centres are on the outskirts of Dwarka, Delhi. Dwarka sub-city has no government hospital and the weaker section of the society are either dependent on quacks or end up paying a lot, even for minor ailments.

Keeping this in mind the SETU team approached Sir Gangaram Hospital. Their ladies welfare wing sends a diagnostic Volvo bus to different slum areas of Delhi. This Volvo bus has been designed by ISRO and has the facility of X-Ray, ECG, blood test, etc, beside a dedicated team of medical professionals. The Volvo is equipped with a dish antenna and is connected via satellite, so that a specialist may be contacted in case of emergency. A nominal fee is charged for a test, if required and  Rs.10 is taken as consultation fee. Most of the prescribed medicines are given free of cost by the hospital.

This service is available on every Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.  One can see the bus in Sec 3 (Papankalan), at the end of vegetable market (Mangal bazaar) road near Shani Mandir. SETU volunteers remain there to help out the patients.

The response from the beneficiaries is very encouraging as many people end up saving a lot of trouble and money by utilizing the services. SETU wishes more and more people come and make full use of the facility.

Setu Partners with Sursagar Society Delhi Gharana

Dear Music Lovers, Connoisseurs & Friends,

Thanks on behalf of Sursagar Society of Delhi Gharana and Setu for encouraging our efforts. It was a treat to watch eminent personalities performing on the stage and newcomers rendering the opening composition. These new comers included some of Setu members who, although are so called DIFFERENTLY-ABLE, performed with great gusto at “Tasawwuff Ke Rang”- A Soulful Sufi Evening for the Cause of National Integration on Sunday, 24th Jan, 2010 at 6.00 PM, Kamani Auditorium,No.1, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi.
Please watch the video at YOU TUBE by clicking at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH9BXpNd7nY

SETU - Bridging the Gap

Disability & Inclusive Education

Started with a tiny spark of desire to make a difference and to be able to give something back to the society and nurtured in the heart, Setu-an NGO was born in the year 2007. In this short span of time Setu has started making inroad in bridging the gap between underprivileged people and the mainstream of the society by making underprivileged self reliant। Slowly more people have joined up and the caravan of people has grown bigger. Presently Setu has outreach across the length and breadth of the country benefiting a large number of differently-able people. Besides disability sector, Setu has spread its wings towards inclusive education sector for the underprivileged and children with a back ward economic background and has met with considerable success.

A word about the special people; one look is enough to realize that differently-able people are second to none when it comes to their talent and determination to work hard, however, what they lack is the opportunity and an attitudinal change of the society at large towards them. Towards this end and to sensitize the environment, several projects are in operation by Setu. Some of the successful projects are in the category of digital empowerment especially for the visually challenged people, education, and vocational training for self employment. Setu also helps these people to study further by financing their education and assists them in getting jobs.

Sangeet Shakti is one such effort through which Setu has been able to bridge the gap even in a more meaningful manner as it not only provides platform of musically enabled people to become self reliant but also the music in itself becomes a therapy for them. There are many Stevie Wonders hidden amongst them and our current effort is to bring them to fore.

Setu is dedicated and focused on incorporating these people into normal life patterns and making them realize that despite their disabilities, they can lead life with dignity and with their self esteem intact by encouraging them and assisting them in every possible way to get jobs in respectable organizations.

Lets all join hands in realizing this dream and assist the differently-able to become not only self reliant but also, a beacon of success despite disability.

Social Welfare; Disability Welfare Section Efforts

We feel elated with the recent efforts generating the response pasted below:

Greetings from India Development Gateway Team, C-DAC, Hyderabad.

We thank you for providing us the content on "Hindi Computeri" developed for visually handicapped persons. Shortly we will be making it available in the www.indg.in portal for the benefit of needed community.

We have provided the SETU-India website link in the Social Welfare- Disability Welfare section of InDG. Kindly click on the following link to verify the same.

http://www.indg.in/social-sector/social-vulnerable-groups/persons-with-disability

We are looking forward for your valuable suggestions and content contribution for the social welfare sector in coming days.

Make a Difference

Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion Samuel Johnson had said.

Setu an NGO, is a dream born out of someone’s desire to make a difference, to be able to give something back to the society. Volunteers led by Poonam Tyagi, Founder Director of Setu, are making selfless efforts to bridge the gap between differently abled people and the society. One visit to Dada Dev Mandir Complex at Palam village is enough to realize that differently abled people are second to none when it comes to their talent and determination to work hard, however, what they lack is the opportunity and an attitudinal change of the society at large towards them.

Simi, a 20 years old girl is a Polio victim. She was looked down upon by her friends in her school and thus had to terminate her studies after completing only eight standards. Unable to pursue anything else also made her further loose self esteem and confidence in herself. This was the time, Poonam Tyagi was looking for a teacher who could impart primary education to the children whom she found begging for alms at the temple. She also found out Simi needed her support. She counseled not only her but her parents as well. Today, watch her successfully taking classes of more than 20 children.

She alone is not a beneficiary of the dream, the children too who begged earlier are now learning and aspiring to be brighter students. One such student Vikas is a habitual alcoholic but with great desire to study and excel. On the other hand there is a young boy who is extremely bright and wants to study further and break academic records. One look at him will be sufficient to sense that one day this boy will reach for the moon given an opportunity.

There are two shifts for this innovative school and once again another such handicapped girl, Niharika has been employed by Setu to take care of the second shift in the afternoon. To assist in the day to day administration visually impaired with only partial vision have been provided with the opportunity to earn while they learn. Khem Chand is fully blind yet he surfs on the internet and teaches computers to blind; an innovation which Poonam says is her organization’s USP. With digital audio books taped by Setu volunteers education has truly become inclusive and there is no need of Braille for the blind to study.

Amongst many NGOs and individuals working to bring the differently abled people into the mainstream; Setu not only aims at providing a platform to transform the talents of these people and empowering them to earn their livelihood through their own special efforts but also has succeeded in giving them the directions to be on their own. Rambir one among the many and a Polio victim not only trained others at Setu to stitch cloths from waste material but also has started his own venture at his home.

Poonam Tyagi is a store house of ideas and to tap the talent of handicapped people, a music group of five to six such children has been formed encouraging them to nurture their talent and earn a living out of it by giving them a chance to perform in public.

Setu focuses on incorporating these people into normal life patterns by providing them higher education and making them realize that despite their disabilities, they can lead life with dignity and with their self esteem intact by encouraging them and assisting them in every possible way to get jobs in respectable organizations.

Most differently abled people find it difficult to get jobs especially those who have not studied further than school. Setu helps these people to study further by financing their education and assists then in getting jobs. “My experience with Setu is one to remember”, says Raj Kumar Pal. “They treated me with respect and genuine affection. The founders took a personal interest in making sure that I do not miss out on this big chance to sit for the test for a telecom BPO. They even offered me financial help for my studies and encouraged me to achieve my goal.” Our main aim, says Poonam Tyagi, Director Setu, is to empower differently abled with the knowledge and skills so that they can have the courage to be self dependent and be able to carve a bright future on their own for themselves.