Blind - folded walk in Mysuru creates awareness
The Project Vision withRotary clubs of Mysore from RI Dist. 3180, Zone-7 and Round Table India and jointly organised MYSORE BLINDWALK’15on 29th of August 2015 to create awareness on Eye donation.
The concept of this program is also aimed at creating awareness about the Helpline 104 facility of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Government for Eye donation.
A unique method was followed in this program, where normal people with clear vision were blindfolded and lead by a visually challenged person through a rally for about 2km. This would make realise the blindfolded person to feel the blindness and make the person to donate eyes after his/ her death.
This unique program was inaugurated by Rtn. Dr.Bharathesh Dist. Governor RI Dist.3180, PDG Rtn. R. Guru RI Dist. 3180, Rtn. H.R.Keshav Asst. Governor RI Dist.3180 Zone-7, Dr.Jayanth from The Project Vision, Mithun from Round Table India and Cr. SavithaVinay. Added star attraction was the participation of KPL Mysuru Warriors team lead by Indian cricket player Sri Manish Pandey.
The BLINDWALK was inaugurated in front of KoteAnjaneyaswamy Temple, Mysuru Palace at 9.00 am. After a brief inaugural program the BLINDWALKwas flagged of and about more than 1000 participants from Rotary Clubs of Mysore, Members from Round Table India, Rotaractors, College Students from various colleges, and volunteers from various NGO organisations participated. The BLINDWALK was lead by “DolluKunitha” by the Shooonya team from Bangalore. Placards, Banners were specially designed for the BLINDWALK were the eye catcher.
200 Volunteers equipped with a bag containing water and candies were deployed along the route. 10 Doctors equipped with medical kits were on wheels. One ambulance was arranged throughout the BLINDWALK.
The BLINDWALK started from KoteAnjaneyaswamy Temple, went through Clock Tower, then Gandhi Square, then K.T.Street, then Irwin Road, throughAshoka Road, back to Clock Tower and back to KoteAnjaneyaswamy Temple. The entire distance of the route was about 2.5 Kms.
The concluding ceremony was addressed by Dist. Governor, Rtn. Dr.Bharathesh who shared his experience about the BLINDWALK and also how he donated his mother’s eyes after her death. The other dignitaries also spoke about BLINDWALK.
A cultural program was arranged by the Visually Challenged Students of RangaRao Memorial School for Blindand Shooonyateampresented a skit.
Chennai hosts its first METRO BLINDWALK’15
Chennai’s first ever BLINDWALK took place in Marina Beach, Service Road from Labour Statue (Anna Samadi) to Kannagi Statue. The unique walk was flagged off by Dr. De Groof Bart, Consul General, Belgium and Chennai’s own visually challenged achiever Ms. P. Aruna Devi, MSW, Treasurer, Society for Rights of Women with Disabilities (SFRWD) and Assistant to Commissioner of Revenue Administration Department, Chennai.
The walk had over 1500 people in all, 1100 blind folded led by 200 blind persons and helped by 200 volunteers and people from different walks of life participated with the primary goal of giving the Visually Challenged an opportunity to see. Coinciding with National Eye Donation Fortnight ( 25th August to 8th September), the walk has been organized by The Project Vision with 104 Health Helpline the primary objective of spreading awareness on blindness and to educate the public on avenues of pledging one's eyes. More than 30 organizations were represented at the walk. Kamachi Group, TEEMS INDIA, SICAME Group, SAS Partners, Kerala Catholic Society (KCS), Kerala Cultural & Welfare Association (KCWA), ‘C’ Thru Scientific Opticians and City Tag Printers were the sponsors for the walk.
Stella Maris College, Loyola College, Queen Mary’s College, Vivekananda College, St. Thomas College of Arts and Science, Presidency College, Women's Christian College and ALERT (NGO) were our partners for the walk.
The Visually Challenged participants were from MRCDS - Loyola, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Government Hostel for the Blind, Kodambakkam.
BLINDWALK is a creative way to communicate the message of eye donation developed by The Project Vision and was conducted first time in the World in Bangalore last year. The whole concept is synthesized in one phrase, FEEL BEING BLIND. The blind person will lead the sighted persons in a blind folded walk, an experience that would lead to a more compassionate attitude to the visually challenged persons, which includes donation of eyes. Tamil Nadu has been exceeding its targets in eye donations for the last few years. There are nine eye banks in the government sector and 14 eyes banks run by non-governmental organisations across the State.
There are three reasons why Chennai is so good with transplants. The first is awareness – the Tamil Nadu public is very aware about organ donation, second is that the state has an excellent Organ Sharing Registry, which is transparent and foolproof. The third reason is the government’s industrious work – the police helps immediately in transporting organs, the state government itself has made the process of post-mortem and handing over of the body very quick and smooth. So the government, police, the people and doctors have come together to create an excellent ecosystem. By organizing BLINDWALK our goal is to provide an opportunity to experience what is blindness for the participants and through this to create awareness for the public about eye donation.
The Project Vision is back with Bangalore Blindwalk’15
BANGALORE BLINDWALK’15 took place from in Cubbon Park (MG Road) to St. Joseph’s Indian High School. The unique walk was flagged off by Hon. Justice A. J. Sadashiva. Rtn. P.V. Rai, District Director- Community R.I. District 3190, Dr. T. K. Ramesh, Director and Medical Superintendent, Mr. Jeevan, Director & CEO, Indelox Services Pvt. Ltd., Tabler Naveen Raju, Chairman, Round Table Area 6 and Tabler Priyesh Shah, Secretary & Treasurer of Round Table Area 6 were all the guests for the walk.
The walk had over 1000 people in all, 800 blind folded led by 100 blind persons and helped by 100 volunteers from St. Anne’s College, from different walks of life participated with the primary goal of giving the visually challenged an opportunity to see. Coinciding with National Eye Donation Fortnight ( 25th August to 8th September), the walk has been organized by The Project Vision with Rotary International the primary objective of spreading awareness on blindness and to educate the public on avenues of pledging one's eyes. More than 80 organizations were represented at the walk.
Indelox Services Pvt. Ltd, Project Management Engineering Services India Pvt. Ltd., EPCOS India Pvt. Ltd., Bell Technologies and Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd, Belawal Foundation, Kewaunee Labway India Pvt. Ltd., Medina Plastics, Rtn. Raghav Reddy, Director, Public Image, R.I. District 3190, Sankara Eye Hospital and Eye Bank, Globe Eye Foundation, GVK EMRI were the sponsors for the BLINDWALK. St. Anne's College, St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Christ Pre-University College, Indian Academy of Degree College, St. Joseph’s Indian High School were our partners for the BLINDWALK.
The Visually Challenged participants were from Snehadeep, Adithya Trust and many other partner organisations.
After the walk everyone pledged to donate their eyes and be compassionate to the needs of the visually challenged. We had a cultural performances by the visually challenged, songs by Snehadeep, Adithya Trust and Dollu & Mime by Shooonya group.
Awareness for eye donation Tumkur BLINDWALK is talk of the town
Today, the 8th September 2015 would definitely go down in the memory of all the Project Vision as the most memorable and satisfying one. The much awaited and hugely publicized TUMKUR BLINDWALK, organised by The Project Vision with Rotary Tumkur East was a super duper hit with the Public, Rotary Community, Media, Education, Health & Police Department, Schools& Colleges, Banks, Private Hospitals & Nursing Homes and Medical Institutes of Tumkur, who all participated in the rally.
We are extremely happy & thrilled to announce that 850 plus participants from 18 organisations from various facets of our society took part in the walk. Tumkur Ophthalmic Society, Mahadevappa Eye Hospital, IMA, District Health Office, District Blindness Control Society, NS Eye Collection center, Amblee Eye Clinic, Banks, Young Challengers, Other Rotary members, Inner Wheel Club, Karnataka Milk Federation, Engineers Association were the Sponsors & Partner Organizations who participated
After a brief talk and blessings from the Pontiffs and Leaders of most of the community present on the occasion, the Chief-Guest of the day Mr.Karthik Reddy, IPS flagged off the walk at 9.30 am. Also present on the dias were The Chairman of District Avoidable Blindness / Eye Donation Committee Rtrn. Ravi Kumar, the Chairman of District Public Image Committee Rtrn. Jayaraman, our own DGN Rtrn. Asha PK the District Surgeon, The District Health officer, Mr. Naganna, Chief Editor of Praja-Pragathi and Club President Rtrn. Rajshekar.
We had participants from following colleges Vidya College, Vidyavahini College, Ananya College,Sridevi Nursing College, Government Nursing College, and also some Schools participated from Maruthi Vidya Kendra, Ankoor, and Sri Vidya School. Nearly around 500 students were represented in the BLINDWALK.
The huge band-set from Interact Club of Maruthi Vidya Kendra (CBSE) Belagumba Tumkur led by the cultural dance performers were a treat to watch all along the walk that went in the heart of Tumkur city on the BH Road - Town Hall Circle to Govt. Junior College Grounds.
Visually Challenged participants were from Siddaganga Mutt Blind School led the participants who were blindfolded on the occasion, holding the shoulders one behind the other.
The hour long march was watched by the curious public of Tumkur city, on the foot-path & from their shops on the busy commercial BH Road. Hand bills carrying messages on the importance of Eye-Donation and statistics on Blindness / Blind people in India were distributed all along the march. Banners, Placards and Posters were seen flashing all thro’ the walk by the participants, shouting slogans - calling out the public to pledge their eyes after their demise.
Singing, Dancing and Skits were a treat to watch, performed during the walk by the members of Rotract & Interact Clubs, sponsor clubs of Rotary Tumkur East. This was exclusively managed by Innerwheel Club of Tumkur East.
TV, Press Photographers and Reporters were seen busy covering the event from start to finish. Ambulance with a team of doctors & Police security team accompanied the rally. Refreshments – Cake, Puff, Fruit-Juice, Badam Milk & Mineral Water were distributed to all the participants at the end of the march. The event ended with individual group photos of all the organisations that participated.
Eye Donation Awareness BLINDWALK at HUBBALLI
The Project Vision with Rotary Pariwar of Hubli lead by Rotary Hubli North with Rotary Clubs of East, West, South, Main, Midtown, and Vidyanagar organised the HUBBALLI BLINDWALK’15 on 12th September 2015. The BLINDWALK started from Lamington School, Channamma Circle ended at Glass House.
The BLINDWALK was flagged off by Rotary Dist. Governor Nominee Rtn. Anand Kulkarni, Religious Leaders and the Mayor.
Head of Mooru Savira Mutt Shri. Jagadguru Swamiji, Moulana Mohammed Ali Qazi, Gyani Major Singhji addressed the gathering.
Mayor of Hubli and Dharwad, Deputy Mayor, Corporators, DG Nominee of RI dist. 3170 Rtn. Anand Kulkarni graced the occasion.
Participants were Rotarians, Annes, Rotaractors, Interact, Innerwheel, and Employees from different companies, College Students, KIMS Director, Doctors and staff of Dr. M M Joshi Eye Hospital, NGOs and 104 Arogyavani.
75 Visually Challenged people lead the BLINDWALK.