To cheer up the earthquake victimized children of Gokarna’s Disabled Rehabilitation Centre, an art therapy progarmme was organized at the Centre on 27 June 2015. The event was supported by Anita Khanal Mainali, and Mr. Dinesh Mainali couple from Texas, USA, and was coordinated by Sandhya Regmi.
The Centre fosters over 55 physically-challenged poverty-stricken children by providing them residential facilities in family-like environment, and quality educational opportunities. Besides, the Centre helps provide them corrective surgeries in other hospitals at subsidized rates. The Centre’s training programme helps the disabled to lead a professional and independent life.
The event started in the morning with a friendly painting competition, in which all the children participated. The two artists- Sanjay Bantawa and Sandhya Regmi evaluated the paintings and selected the winners. The winners were awarded with prizes both in cash and in painting materials. The artists spoke with the children encouraging them to be creative and strong in imagination. Other speakers – Mani Chaulagain, Sita Baral and Sanu Maya Shrestha also shared their words of wisdom.
After the talk program, lunch was served to the children, which included rice with goat meat, home-made cheese cooked in fresh tomatoes, fried mushroom, fresh vegetables & salad, yogurt and sweets. Rest of the day after the lunch was spent interacting with the Centre’s staffs, some of whom were themselves physically challenged. They guided the external participants to the children’s hostel and study rooms, which had gotten partly damaged by the earthquake. Their skill development and vocational training facilities included computers, sewing & knitting machines.