It was a winter Sunday evening, we were walking in Lazimpat, an area of Kathmandu, and we saw one old lady sitting down on the road very close to the wall of Standard Chartered Bank. She was looking frightened and lost. She was not speaking. We wondered what we could do. We called the guards inside the bank and then we decided to call the police...
We tried to speak to the old lady but there was no way for her to communicate. A police pick up van came afterwards and after few minutes, it was decided that the only option available was to bring her to Bir Hospital, the most accessible among public hospital in Kathmandu.
Initially the old lady did not want to go, she was scared, then, somehow, she understood that police was trying to help. She left with them towards Bir Hospital. Now after more than 3 years we have no ideas what happened to her. We could have inquired the following day; we could have followed the police car. We didn't. For this reason we have decided to create ENGAGE, a platform to break down the walls of indifference. We believe volunteerism and service are powerful tools to achieve changes.
Along the time we got more and more passionate about issues related to youths and young adults living with disabilities. We learned about their struggles but also about their incredible strengths and resilience and how incredible they are despite all the challenges they do face.
We also discovered the power of sport playing, how it easy to connect and bridges the existing gaps between those who live with disabilities and those who live without and sport is an incredible medium. It also an incredible means to boost psychological and physical wellbeing.
We learned that unemployment is the major problem faced by young adults living with disabilities. For this reason we have decided to focus more and more on providing opportunities of self empowerment which will help our partners, young adults living with disabilities, to find it easier to develop their skills, gain a job or start their own ventures.
And we believe there is no better way than having in place a blended flexible approach that offers a wide range of services and opportunities for youths and young adults with disabilities.
We are also big fan of volunteerism and this is one of the reasons why we value a lot the service of youths and young adults without disabilities. By leveraging the power of volunteerism, we can create new friendships between youths and young with and without disabilities while at the same time we can create more awareness in the society about social inclusion.
Simo & Kalps