The DPS BANGALORE EAST “Back-on-their-feet" initiative is a campaign that is being done by me & other students at my school to raise funds to give mobility to villagers who have lost their legs to amputation in the few districts of KARNATAKA. 

The funds I raise will be used to give prosthetics (artificial limbs) for those who have lost a leg to accidents, disease and birth deformities. This is being planned with a focus on the districts of MYSORE, COORG, UDUPI, CHIKMAGALUR and DAKSHINA KANNADA in Karnataka. 

The limbs will get them to walk again, be mobile, transform their lives and the lives of their families. Each prosthetic limb costs just INR 10000 to fund. This includes the cost of organizing a camp where we first meet these patients and measure them to fit the prosthetic, the cost of the actual prosthetic limb, the cost of the next camp then to distribute/ fit them and the cost of training them to use it. Kids can play again, adults can get back to their work and elders are no more dependent on others.

HELP ME RAISE INR 20000 & IMPACT 2 LIVES

You shall get details of those who have received the prosthetic limbs so that you know how the money has been used. These people could be kids, adults or the elderly.

All the funds collected from this initiative will go to the " Freedom Trust” NGO. The mission of this wonderful NGO is to limit the disability of economically backward people with a desire to improve their quality of life and make them independent. Rehabilitation and provision of locomotor aids can make a huge difference on a disabled person’s future; a handicapped human being can be empowered to lead a good and dignified life in which he can contribute to society in his own abled way.

CASE STUDY: SRIKANTH'S STORY

LOCATION OF THE CAMPS

This will benefit villagers in the districts of MYSORE, COORG, UDUPI, CHIKMAGALUR and DAKSHINA KANNADA of Karnataka. 

THE CAMP IS DONE WITH MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES AND WILL 

Identify those who need a prosthetic limb.

Take their measurements.

Get the prosthetic limb fitted and then.

Train the recipients on how to use the prosthetic limb.

This involves more than one visit from Chennai to the Vidarbha region.

ABOUT ME & THIS CAMPAIGN:

Hi, I am Harikeshav; a student of Class 12 at the Delhi Public School, Bangalore East. If I were to describe myself in extremely general terms, I would say, I am human, honest, approachable and reasonably smart….
Instead of mentioning activities that interest me, I wish to elucidate the sole reason of my participation and why you should fund my campaign.
Since the beginning of time, I have had one goal - to leave my mark. Not a mark of greatness, but one of difference. Through the due course of my life, I have lived by one quote, 'Power cannot be linked to anything; it is a shadow, and even the smallest person can cast a very large shadow'. If one cannot stand, how can one cast a shadow?
This brings me to my campaign, the absence of a limb can deny one equal opportunities, and statistics show that 1 million Indians are amputees. Of this 1 million, over 700,000 are in Karnataka. If given the opportunity, these people can aim for the stars. Even the UN, WHO, and IMF consider donations and crowd funding a vital service, because when the dust clears, all we have left is ourselves.
Why am I participating in this? On the 11th March of 2019, there was a presentation at my school, where the vast multitude of benefits were highlighted. This being a life skill and opening doors did not attract me. This register to me on a far more emotional level.
i never got to meet, talk or even see my maternal grandfather, but to this day, I am told I am a lot like him. Not just looks but even personality. I took great pride in this, but a part of me always hated that he was taken so quick. This campaign helps me support a son, a daughter, a parent or a grandparent of another fellow citizen. Helping 1 may not compensate for my loss, but helping hundreds and now we're talking.
Why fund such a campaign?
1. Provides a person the opportunity to advance himself/herself
2. It shows that humanity still has a conscience, and we are willing to make a difference
3. Logically speaking, if one funds such campaigns, he/she gradually gains popularity. This is the form of popularity that paints an image of a good human being

A major concern is, ow much to donate? 10000, 1000 rupees are big amounts, no doubt, but can we never earn it back? We definitely can.... Also to quote a great man, Joe Rogan, ' If you begin to take money to seriously, just remember that we are old monkeys, on an organic spaceship rocketing through the universe'(sic!). This is not some matter of money, it's a question of morality. When you fund my campaign, you are a savior, you can go to bed thinking of how you saved a person and inspired change.
Regardless of which corner of the world you are from, step forth and make a difference, fund my campaign and dream about the promising future...
Please support my campaign and let us together bring mobility and freedom back into the lives of these people.

These prosthetic legs will be given to villagers in the rural areas of Karnataka. This will help men, women, the young and the elderly. It will also have a ripple effect on their families. A lot of these poor villagers will also be able to work and this will help them achieve something greater than mobility, it will help them achieve happiness.

PROSTHETIC LIMB FACTS:

Physically handicapped persons form the lion’s share of the nearly 10 percent handicapped people throughout the world. A sizeable number of these are amputees. Amputation is the severing of a part of the body in order to save the rest of the body, and those who have lost their limbs are called amputees.

Amputees living in the deep interior pockets of India cannot afford to come to the big cities where qualified rehabilitation teams are situated; they neglect their handicap and resign to a life of immobility. An artificial limb can make all the difference to them and provide not only a means to mobility but also means of living. Many amputees are employable if they can be fitted with an artificial limb and can walk. Yet they are forced to be confined to their homes because they don’t have access to artificial limbs. There is a huge need for prosthetic limbs, especially in deep interior rural areas of India where people who have been amputated are waiting for their limb. The cost of a prosthesis is just INR 10000.

WHY A GOOD PROSTHESIS IS KEY

HOW ARE PROSTHETICS FITTED?

Measurements are taken at a camp and the prosthetics are manufactured, Walk India then returns to the villages to make final adjustments in some cases and the final distribution is then made.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We are raising money to cover the cost of prosthetic limbs & the smallest amount you contribute will help them walk again and find jobs and ensure that the condition of the entire family is improved. Once the campaign ends, regular updates will be posted to keep the funders abreast of which person received the prosthetic limb.

These funds are earmarked for a camp that will be done in few districts of Karnataka.

TAX BENEFITS

By funding this campaign, you are eligible for tax breaks as the FREEDOM TRUST is a registered NGO & you can avail benefits under section 80G of the Income Tax (IT) act. Foreign funding is not accepted. If you are an Indian living abroad or a person holding an Indian passport you can EASILY fund this campaign but you cannot if you have a foreign passport.

ABOUT FREEDOM TRUST

‘Making Rural Amputees Walk’

Walk India is a wing of Freedom trust and is based out of Chennai. Physically handicapped persons form the lion’s share of the nearly 10 percent people throughout the world. A sizeable number of these are amputees. An estimated 80% of them are from rural areas and their poor economic conditions prevent them from getting themselves a limb that can make them mobile. Living in the deep interior pockets of India, they cannot afford to come to the big cities where qualified rehabilitation teams are situated; they neglect their handicap and later get resigned to a life of immobility. Sometimes a person who has been using an artificial limb is unable to use it when his prosthesis wears out and becomes irreparable. An artificial limb can make all the difference to them and provide not only a means to mobility but also means to a living.

In order for amputees to lead a life with dignity and avoid their dependence on their caregivers, they need to be fitted with prosthesis [artificial limbs]. Amputees provided with artificial limbs can walk, run and even climb a tree. Many of these persons with amputation are employable, and very often it is the inaccessibility to artificial limbs that makes them confined to home. A handicapped person means a handicapped family. Making a handicapped person mobile contributes immensely to the improvement of society.

Application of the principles of limb fitting is a very scientific process and involves the measurement and fitment by a prosthetic engineer. The prosthesis, so fitted, is customized to the user, and cannot be mass produced.

A mobile van fully equipped with tools to manufacture artificial limbs and service them was donated by a grant from the Rotary Foundation in 2017. The van is fitted with a wing-like roof tent on both sides, opening it up on either side that makes it a camp venue. Be it on a field, a dried up lake, the roadside or under a tree, wherever the van is parked, the place becomes the campsite.

FREEDOM TRUST sends this mobile workshop into rural areas to identify amputees, take measurements and provide artificial limbs in order to make them walk. A team consisting of the social worker, trained prosthetists, and physiotherapist provides technical support.

Modus Operandi of WALK INDIA:

Each camp begins with a field visit made by the coordinator from Freedom Trust. He identifies the local agency or associations working for the disabled and having data of amputees in need of an artificial limb in that particular village or district. He then charts a road map and begins the camp with the van accompanied by a team of prosthetic engineers with it. A venue is decided which acts as a central place for the camp making it convenient for the amputees from the surrounding areas to visit the campsite. This is coordinated and assisted by the local organizer in bringing them.

Each beneficiary is registered and enrolled in a separate form, adequate information including their photos and proofs are collected.

The van also contains physiotherapy equipment and walking aids for training purposes, compulsory GAIT training (It is the type of physical therapy which helps to improve the ability to stand and walk after sustaining an injury or disability. Physiotherapists help their patients with gait training] accurate fitment of prostheses is done to each beneficiary. After each camp separate training is giving to the local organizers, caregivers or NGO’s by social workers on rehabilitation concepts wherein they are trained on vocational rehabilitation for amputees and to affiliate, the beneficiaries with them for periodical follow-ups.