Tête-à-tête with Sruti Mohapatra

Founder and Chief Executive of Swabiman and Chief Co-ordinator of Anjali National Children’s Festival shares her definition of success, her dreams for the future of organisation and her love for the differently-abled children in a conversation with Soumya Srivastava.

What pushed you towards working for special children? Did your own experience have any part to play?

I had a spinal cord injury in 1987 and traumatic as it was, I had the support of my family to drive me through it. I was educated and had a strong financial background, unlike many. When I came here after working with Disabled People’s International, I found that the situation here was far worse than I could ever expect. I travelled through Odisha and what I witnessed was baffling. These children were confined to the four walls of their home, not given access to school. Even the special schools were far from helpful. I wanted to break this notion that disabled children are worth nothing.

Why is Anjali so intent on bringing all children together? How is this interaction beneficial to them?

I believe that children are the future. We need to let them understand and appreciate the plights of those unlike them. The hatred or the alienation has to be dissolved and apathy has to be replaced by empathy. It is essential for them to know that these differently-abled children are also creative, curious, loving and kind.

Anjali promotes group activities more than solo acts but don’t you think that if a child stands victorious on doing something on his own, his confidence will grow even better?

The world and its people are growing to be more and more self centred these days. They only want to have achievements as individuals and not as a team. We, at Anjali, are trying to dissolve this outlook. We want more participation as teams, so that the kids know how to put the welfare of all before the welfare of oneself. The concepts of I, me, myself must be done away with.

Is this year a greater or lesser success than last year? The head count is definitely low.

I agree that the footfall this year has been much less than last year but I also know that Phailin is to be blamed. Many participants withdrew their names which I believe is nothing but reasonable parental concern. The real picture escapes them that Bhubaneshwar is not even distantly harmed by the perils of the cyclone or the floods. We know that it is not a failure or mismanagement on our part rather an unfortunate turn of events. Also, I would never judge the success of this event with headcounts.

Then what should be the parameters to judge Anjali’s success?

When I could see the joy in the eyes of children here, when they tell me they don’t wish to leave the camp, I know I have done my bit and this initiative has been a success. The children and their parents keep coming and telling me how disappointed they are that the festival has been cut short to four days from five. If we could make even one child smile then success is already ours.