“I may not be able to see but I do not consider myself blind, I cannot see but I also have a point of view. Sight and viewpoint are two different things. My point of view and my mission is the same, to make disabled people self-reliant”
– Jai Khamkar
“Jai Khamkar”, a woman belonging to a farmer family, almost lost her life at the age of 17. Even the doctor had said that “this girl will not survive” but this girl fought against death for 6 months and defeated death. But this girl lost her eyes forever. It was only after losing his eyes that he recognized the real light of life and with this light illuminated the lives of disabled and visually impaired people.
Jai Khamkar’s year 1997
Jai Khamkar’s life was full of difficulties. He faced a lot of struggles in his life. According to BBC report, in the year 1997, Jai Khamkar was studying in 12th class. She had fever at that time, so a doctor in a private hospital gave her an injection, after which she became unconscious. When he regained consciousness, there was a reaction on his body. The face, eyes, hands and feet were swollen. “His family members started feeling that he was being possessed by someone.” Demon. Finally, after four days, he was sent to the Thane government office. Admitted to hospital.” When he was admitted to the hospital, the situation had become very bad. The skin of the body had peeled off and the body was becoming weak. She wanted to scream in pain. Talking about her condition, Jai Khamkar says, “After examination, the doctor said that the reaction occurred due to the expiry date of the injection.”
The doctor said that now she will not survive
During that time, Jai Khamkar’s condition was so bad that the doctors had told her that she would not survive. Then her treatment started and she stayed in the hospital for a few months after which her vision started getting blurred as she struggled with wounds, painkillers, saline, injections. According to the BBC report, Jai Khamkar said, “It must have been 4 months, my vision stopped. During that illness my eyes could not read. After six months I came home from the hospital.” Jai Khamkar had completely lost her vision and she was unable to accept it. But gradually Jai Khamkar accepted this truth.
Opportunity to run a telephone booth
Overcoming all the problems of life, Jai Khamkar had also completed his studies. He got the opportunity to run an STD telephone booth at a short distance from the village. Talking to BBC on this, Jai Khamkar says, “People were surprised that despite being blind, I can answer the phone so many times. I became so good at it that I memorized about 1,000 phone numbers. People were also surprised.”
Establishment of Malganga Blind Disabled Service Society
Due to his success at the telephone booth, many disabled and visually impaired people started asking Jai Khamkar for help. Jai Khamkar helped hundreds of disabled and visually impaired people in the villages of Pune get certificates. Then Jai Khamkar established Malganga Andha-Apan Seva Sanstha in 2005 to make disabled and visually impaired people self-reliant. Earlier, for self-employment, Jai Khamkar had started the business of making onion and potato bags.
Faced with taunts from people
This journey was not easy for Jai Khamkar, he had faced many ups and downs in his personal life. He also had to face harsh words from his relatives. His relatives or people used to say to him that you are blind, what do you want to do?
Even in the matter of marriage, he was asked sharp questions but he was married to a relative. According to BBC report, even when Jai Khamkar was working at a telephone booth, people used to taunt her and say that you are blind, what will you do ?
Professional help to 52 visually impaired girls and disabled people
Malganga Sanstha had started working to make the blind and disabled self-reliant. When the organization started working in 2014, some disabled and visually impaired girls from Pune came in contact with them. An advertisement had attracted the attention of these girls. It was written on this advertisement that “Professional help to 52 visually impaired girls and disabled people”. When Jai Khamkar talked to these girls, he came to know that the hostel where they used to stay and study in different colleges has now been closed. They have no option but to earn. When Jai Khamkar was working on issues related to students with disabilities, she started New Vision Art and Commerce College in 2019. Students from all over Maharashtra and also from outside states used to come to study in this college.
Establishment of education and hostel at one place
Now the biggest question was that without a hostel, where were they all going to stay? Therefore, all of them left their studies and went to their respective villages. According to BBC report, while talking about this, Jai Khamkar says, “At that time I felt very sad that we could not do anything for them in a place like Pune. So I decided that one day we will set up education and hostels for these girls at one place.” After this, Jai Khamkar sent the proposal to the Education Department but he did not get much success in it.
But after repeatedly contacting the government, his college got approval in 2017. Talking to BBC on this, Jai Khamkar says that this is the first such college for the blind and disabled. He had demanded grants from the central and state governments. In which permission was also given to schools of class XI-XII. He said that college and hostel should be together.
Jai Khamkar, Image Credit BBC
