Hyderabad, January 19: Being awarded the passing certificate was not just a proud moment for Saraswathi Reddy but a life-defining one for her six-member family.
With two younger siblings suffering from heart ailments, an additional working hand is more than welcome. “The feeling that comes being able to lend that hand is undefinable,” says Saraswathi.
A BCom graduate from Osmania University, she has got a job with HDFC Bank. She is one of the 27 physically challenged youth, who received certificates from US consul-general Katherine Dhanani on Tuesday. Having overcome their difficulties and inhibitions, many like her successfully completed training in English, computers and soft skills, offered by the Centre for PwD
(Persons with Disability) Livelihoods, CPDL.
For instance, S Srinath Raju, after two-and-a-half month free training, landed a data entry job in ADFC Bank in Tirupati.
Apart from being able to support his father, he now dreams of furthering his career in the banking sector. For Nalapi Kumari and E Komati, from Tirupati, the fact of landing their first jobs is yet to sink in.
These youngsters from rural areas were suffering from disabilities that could have been avoided. “Sadly when we approached them, they were in a bad shape and kept aloof from society. The despair was
such that some girls, when they first came here, just couldn’t stop crying,” said CPDL executive director, Meera Shenoy.
Consul-general Katherine Dhanani lauded the efforts of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), which set up CPDL about a year back. “Tenacity of the youth for not only conquering limitations and battling nay-sayers, traditions of culture and society and most importantly overcoming their own doubts is laudable,” she observed.
–Agencies