Changing Lives with Some Paint and a Brush

By Syed Ali Mujtaba

The art School “Brinda Ashram� has been started at the leprosy colony of Bharthapuram in Chengalpattu (near Chennai), in an effort to hone the artistic talents of people who have been affected by leprosy.

The school is the brainchild of Austrian artist, Werner Dornik. Dornik wanted to help people resigned to their fates and living their lives in despondency affected by leprosy.

Dornik had visited many government run leprosy homes and colonies in his life, and was moved by the plight of the residents. He especially was affected by their attitude towards life. He along with Padma Venkataraman, daughter of the former president of India, R. Venkataraman, started the Brinda Ashram Art School in January 2005. Their main goal was to reinvigorate the lives of the inhabitants of these leprosy colonies, and make them feel like what they are, normal human beings.

“I knew Dornik from my Vienna days, where I lived with my husband, while he worked, for almost two decades. I stayed in touch with him even after we returned home and settled in Chennai,� says Venkataraman, who has been working for the rehabilitation of leprosy-affected people for the past 16 years.

“It was on my invitation that Dornik came to Chennai, and it was after he saw these people that he came up with the idea to start an Art School and to change their lives with the brush and paint.� Venkataraman said, adding that she gave the Austrian artist full cooperation to start the program called “Give and take.�

Most people who have been affected by leprosy had never even touched a paintbrush and paints, so to motivate them to draw and paint was a big task. It was after a lot of persuasion that they were able to get 24 people to attend the painting classes that Dornik and Venkataraman initially attracted them to by teaching meditation.

After every meditation the students were given a lecture and a demonstration on drawing. They also did some exercises in drawing and were taught how to paint. The whole idea was to enthuse life in them and to draw out their hidden and creative talents.

The students learned fast, they correlated themselves with the outside world and expressed their thoughts and ideas through their paintings. In just six months they were able to gain confidence and also learned how to draw beautiful paintings.

“We held an exhibition of their paintings in the Allagappa art gallery in Chennai on October 2005. The Tamil Nadu Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, who is also an accomplished painter, inaugurated the exhibition. The Governor praised the unassuming painters and they were thrilled and motivated by his compliments. The media reports further boosted their confidence even further,� said Venkataraman.

“In March 2006, we conducted another exhibition at an Austrian ambassador’s house in New Delhi. This event was attended by a host of dignitaries which included Dr Karan Singh, the descendant of the Jammu and Kashmir royal family. Some of the painters were transported to Delhi from Chennai to attend the exhibition; here they freely and confidently conversed with the dignitaries and the media. Each of their painting was sold for Rs 5,000.� Said Venkataraman, proudly.

“Later that same year, we held another exhibition in Vienna. Here four of our leprosy affected artists were flown in from Chennai. There was an atmosphere of dignity about these excellent painters, and each of their paintings fetched more than $200.� Venkataraman described further.

As a result of this innovative effort, Basha, Mastan and Uday, all of whom belonged to the fishermen community and used to paint boats, have turned out to be excellent artists. Each of their paintings fetches more than $200 and they are the most popular artists.

Buoyed by the success of these artists there has been a steady stream of leprosy-affected people wanting to join the Brinda Ashram Art School. The next batch of probable up and coming artists comprises of 50 people, all of whom are trying their best to hone their creative skills through paints and paintbrush.

Started experimentally to keep the leprosy affected busy and give them a new leash on life, the Art school now has become a center for vocational training. All praise must go to Werner Dornik, the artist from Austria and Padma Venkataraman for the ingenuity of this idea.

[previous: Micro-credit help to leprosy-affected persons ]

[next: Women reaching for stars]

Link:

Bindu Art School 

Micro-credit help to leprosy-affected persons

By Syed Ali Mujtaba

India is home to the largest group of leprosy patient, people affected by leprosy are outcasts of the society. Rising Star Outreach is an organization helping the most marginalized people of India. In three part series Syed Ali Mujataba looks at the disease and work done by the organization. Series Editor for TwoCircles.net is Zainab Lakhani.

Muthushah, age 42, a carpenter located in the Bharthapuram colony in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu. Syed Kamal Pasha, age 46, a rabbit farmer located in Thiruvallur, Chennai. Uduman, age 44, a street vendor located in the Vandalur colony in Chennai. What do these people have in common? All three are affected by the infectious disease, leprosy. Once cast away by society, now, through the help of the micro credit loan system, they have become shining examples of the successful man.

As of this day, India possesses the largest group of leprosy patients in the world at around 250,000 people. Those afflicted by this awful and debilitating disease are ostracized and sent off to leprosy homes or colonies. These homes and colonies are usually located in isolated areas at the outskirts of the town or city, away from “normal� people.

Leprosy, the centuries old permanently disabling disease, is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. This was originally discovered in 1873 by the Norwegian physician, Gerhard Armauer Hansen. This disease causes horrible deformities in humans by causing lesions that may affect the whole limb. It is not a hereditary disease as many people long ago used to believe. The good news is that the cases of leprosy are decreasing at a steady rate world wide. Yet there are still large numbers of people who are afflicted with this disease and they cannot be ignored.

In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, there are almost 15,000 leprosy-affected people. They are accommodated in ten government run homes and 45 leprosy colonies. Each home contains about 400 people and each colony about 20 to 130 families. Those in government homes are provided free food and medical care; non-governmental organizations and philanthropists provide the same for those living in the colonies.

Muthusha used to work as a carpenter before he contracted leprosy and was admitted to CLTRI (leprosy hospital). When he was discharged from the hospital three years later, he found himself to be without a family, a job, his whole life as he had known it was gone. Finding himself all alone, he began relying on the kindness of the people of Bharathapuram, but this was most certainly not how he would live for the rest of his life. Hope came to Muthushsa in the form of the Danish government funded project “WIA – DANIDA.� He received a small loan from them to purchase tools and materials to start up a carpentry business.

After Muthusha started making progress in his business he promptly returned the first loan and immediately acquired a second as well as a third loan to help further grow his business. He employed 12 to 15 people from his colony as well as nearby villages to help him execute orders. Appreciating his entrepreneurial ability, the Rising Star organization (RSO) and NGO, an organization that works to help leprosy-affected people, gave him more advanced electrical tools to help him become more efficient.

Catching up with Mathusha today, we find that his business is flourishing. He has since remarried and now has three children. All three of his children go to public schools and possess no deformities.

Mathusha’s story isn’t the only success story that micro credit can take some credit for. There are others, like Syed Kamal Pasha, who have benefited in the same way. Pasha runs a rabbit farming business at his house. His house is located in leprosy colony in the Thiruvallur district. After rearing them here, he sells the rabbits in Chennai. He is able to return his loans while getting new ones and therefore expanding his business at an admirable rate.

Uduman, another leprosy-affected person, started a street vending shop at Vandalur colony in Chennai. He was able to do so thanks to the micro credit loan he obtained from the NGO. His wife runs the shop and together they have become quite successful.

The moving spirit behind this magnificent project is Padma Venkataraman (daughter of the former president of India Ramaswamy Venkataraman). Venkataraman has been laboring selflessly to rehabilitate and help re-establish leprosy-affected people for the past 16 years.

“Prior to this, no one had come up with the idea of helping leprosy affected people through micro credit loans. Most of them gave blankets, clothes, rice and medicine as charity. Nobody thought to help them get up on their own two feet and teach them to make a life for themselves. This idea took some getting used to even to the people affected by leprosy. They were apprehensive at first when they were exposed to the idea of receiving money as a loan and not as charity. Before this, the idea of living beyond a day-to-day existence had not crossed their minds. “We however were convinced that we were making the right move� Venkataraman told us in an exclusive interview.

A “Welfare Committee� consisting of five members was formed in each colony which included at least two women. These five were given leadership and management training. After the formation of this committee, all the 30 colonies which were covered under the WIA – DANIDA project, managed to collect the loan repayment, deposited it in the bank and sent a monthly report along with a copy of the bank statement. The treasurer of the welfare committee and Venkataraman hold a joint bank account for the colonies.

The entire management of the disbursal of the micro- credit loan was handed over to the people of the colony and now they have slowly started to learn the responsibilities of life. “The whole system is working very well� says Venkataraman with a great sense of achievement.

Becky Douglas of ‘Rising Star Organization’ is full of praises for Padma Venkatraman. “We at Rising Star were struggling to come up with ideas to help leprosy affected people become productive members of the society. We were fortunate enough to locate Padma who took this concept forward. The money given to her was judiciously spent, and there were many innovations in the disbursal of the funds,� Said Douglas as she spoke about Rising Star’s operations in India.

Micro credit loans seem to be the cutting edge idea for the empowerment of society particularly for those who are at the bottom of the heap and have little chance to come up in life. Those engaged in this altruistic endeavor are certainly worthy of applause.

[next: Changing Lives with Some Paint and a Brush]

Rising Star women

Third and final part of the series on Risin Star Outreach 's work to get a better life for leprosy patients in India. Series writer is Chennai based journalist Syed Ali Mujtaba and edited by Zainab Lakhani.

 

Practitioners of the micro-credit system for human development are growing thick and fast across South Asia. Padma Venkatraman, daughter of R. Venkatraman the former president of India, is one such person who is trying to help leprosy-affected people by using the micro-credit system while based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Padma Venkatraman’s first brush with people who have the chronic disease leprosy was some time in mid 90s. She had at the time, started working to rehabilitate them at the Shahdhara leprosy colony located in the outskirts of Delhi. The colony consisted of 4000 people, resembling a mini India. Its inhabitants were people from all over the country belonging to different castes creeds and religions.

 
With the assistance of several donors, Venkatraman was able to start Agricultural and Pisiculture (Fish pond) activities for the adults in the colony. She also set up a Crèche (pre-school) for their children.

 
In recognition of sustainability of this project the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations recommended in a final report that this project should be extended to other parts of India as well.

 
At this time, DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency) came forward to help with a similar project in Tamil Nadu and Venkatraman implemented her project through WIA (Women’s India Association) at 10 Government run leprosy Homes and 30 leprosy colonies in the state.

 
Novel Idea

 “Helping these people through the micro credit system was a novel idea at the time. Even those affected by the disease found it to be very strange. When we talked to them about receiving money as a loan instead of charity, they were unable to comprehend the idea and wondered how they would be able to return it. Most of them, you see, depended on begging for their day-to-day existence.� says Venkatraman.  

 What Venkatraman actually did was she formed a welfare committee at each of the leprosy colonies. The committee comprised of five members, two of which were women. Their entire monetary transaction was carried out through the bank and each colony had a separate bank account.

 The methodology was very simple. Each person who wanted money had to apply for a loan on a prescribed form. The person who has applied would be given an identity number instead of using names; this was done to avoid any discrimination. After collecting the forms, the committee members would sit down together to decide who amongst the applicants were most deserving of the loan. Preference was given to widows and the crippled. The loan was distributed through their signatures on the checks which where counter signed by Venkatraman.

 The recipients of the loan were asked to buy fruits, cloths, goats, chickens, cows, rabbits and other such items that they were to sell in the local market. The principal amount was to be returned to the bank after keeping the profit. They each got a copy of a bank statement of the amount they deposited and every cent they returned was re-distributed amongst them as a future loan.

 “This way the entire management and the disbursal of the micro-credit loans were handed over to the inhabitants of the colonies themselves. Slowly through this exposure, they started learning management skills, banking skills and above all learning to take on responsibilities,� Says Venkatraman proudly.

 
“This system worked extremely well, and with the corpus fund created, dairy farms were started in all 10 government run leprosy homes that met the milk requirement of the inhabitants. This five-year project was completed in 2002 and its sustainability was established through a revolving fund.�

 Becky Douglas

Padma Venkataraman met Becky Douglas in Washington D.C., she is the president of Rising Star Outreach in the USA. Becky’s story is an incredible one; Becky and John Douglas are the parents of 9 children. Their eldest daughter, Amber, was diagnosed with Bi-polar disorder at the age of 17.  After eight years of struggling, Amber finally gave up, and in Feb, 2000, she took her own life while at college, devastating her family. While going through Amber’s things, John and Becky were surprised to see that their daughter had been sending part of the money they had been sending her for college expenses to an orphanage in India. Even though they were surprised, it was very much in character for Amber. Since she suffered so much herself, she always seemed to have a tender spot for others who were suffering as well.

As a tribute to their daughter, John and Becky asked concerned friends to send donations to this orphanage in lieu of flowers for her funeral. People were very generous. So much money was sent in, that the orphanage asked Becky to join their Board of Directors. Becky decided to travel to India to learn about the orphanage.  When she got there, she was pleased to learn that the 54 children in the orphanage were well-cared for.  It was on the streets, going from her hotel to the orphanage and back again each day that Becky saw suffering that changed her forever.  The leprosy-afflicted beggars on the street seemed to swarm the car at every stop light.  Their suffering was so severe, it seemed almost palpable.  Becky could hardly bring herself to even look at them, their suffering was so intense.

 When she returned from India, she had trouble sleeping. The images of the leprosy-affected beggars were on her mind all night.  She finally decided that she could either live with insomnia forever, or she could do something about the problem that was haunting her.  She gathered three friends around her kitchen table (dragged in her husband's secretary) and together they started Rising Star Outreach, a small charity dedicated to serving the leprosy-affected in Southern India. Becky has traveled to India 22 times in the past 5 years.  She has fallen in love with the Indian people and their amazing culture.  Rising Star has reached out to involve her entire family. Six of her children have also been to India serving as volunteers with the organization. Her husband has also visited the charity several times and is now starting a legal outsourcing business in Chennai.  His share of the profits will be dedicated to helping fund the children's homes and schools.

Together Douglas and Venkataraman are currently continuing the socio economic rehabilitation of people affected by leprosy in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The RSO (Rising Star Outreach) program is working in the field of education for the healthy children of the leprosy-affected people. Rehabilitation work inside the colonies is continuing through the Micro Credit loan system, assistance to Women’s Self Help Groups, and also a mobile clinic. The work seems to have gained pace, more and more leprosy colonies are taking up this very successful rehabilitation program.

India right now holds rank as the country with the largest number of leprosy patients in the world. About 30 years ago, there were around 500,000 people affected by the leprosy in the country. Now due to the advancement in Medicare the number has come down immensely. Still, there are about 250,000 of the leprosy-affected currently residing in India.

 In Tamil Nadu alone there are 15,000 people who have leprosy. They are kept in government run homes, each of which can accommodate around 400 people. Here they are provided with food, shelter and medical care. There are ten such homes, one in each district of the state. Those with families are put up in leprosy colonies located far away from the general population. In Tamil Nadu there are 45 leprosy colonies, each of which has around 20 to 130 families.

 Link:

http://www.risingstaroutreach.org/