Civilian Wellfare Foundation

October always holds a special place in the heart of every Bengali. It heralds the beginning of Durga Puja- the biggest festival for the Bengalis. For us, this October was very special and eventful as well.
Two performances of Unified Theatre was staged in October. The first one was part of an inter-school theatre competition, which took place near Jiraat, a small town in Hooghly. Ours was the only unified theatre roup, including both children with and without disabilities. The theatre, named ‘Lohori’ was based on the story of a young girl from a coastal village in Bengal and her struggle for her and the other girls of their village for their Right to Education. Our performance not only garnered a lot of applause, but our lead character also got awarded as the ‘Best Actor’.

On 7th April around 60 athletes with both upper and lower limb disabilities from 6 different districts of West Bengal came together to participate in the first State Multiple Disability Football Tournament. This was organized by Civilian Welfare Foundation in collaboration with TMC Ward No. 95, Sudhamta Foundation India and Five Mad Men. The six participating districts were Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Purulia, Malda, Hooghly and Birbhum.

On 7th April around 60 athletes with both upper and lower limb disabilities from 6 different districts of West Bengal came together to participate in the first State Multiple Disability Football Tournament. This was organized by Civilian Welfare Foundation in collaboration with TMC Ward No. 95, Sudhamta Foundation India and Five Mad Men. The six participating districts were Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Purulia, Malda, Hooghly and Birbhum.

Despite June being hailed as the Pride Month, issues of gender and sexual minorities extend beyond it. One such raging current issues is that of marriage equality. In recent times, decriminalisation of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code by the Supreme Court in 2018 was one historic step towards equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community. But India is yet to legalise same sex marriages in spite of several petitions in the past.

Unified theatre was launched for the first time in India by Civilian Welfare foundation, in collaboration with Special Olympics Bharat in 2021. Unified theatre is a form of theatre where individuals with and without disability come together to perform theatre. Unified Theatre dissolves typical societal barriers like gender, caste and ability.

On 14th November, the students of ‘Icchedanar Pathshala’ were invited by the authorities of Science City, Kolkata to take part in activities to celebrate the occasion of Children’s Day. 35 students took part in the activities.

Para sports or Disability sports has existed for more than hundred years. Para-athletes have won
prizes and accolades on several occasions for our country. Yet for some reason Para-athletes never get
as much recognition as able-bodied athletes.

Movies have always been an integral part of people’s lives. Moreover, watching movies is not only
limited to that particular duration; it has been found to influence people in many ways. Movies
sometimes influence people’s behavior and are also a very powerful tool to modify people’s thoughts
and attitudes.

Civilian Welfare Foundation (Established May 2011) which focuses mainly on Gender, Disability and Child Education has come out all the way to change its course of action to support the society in these tough times in Bengal which got hit by both Pandemic and the Super Cyclone Amphan.

“I didn’t receive a phone call in the last 6 months from the state body, leave alone support,” Saheb’s eyes were full of agony when he was uttering each word.

“They didn’t even ask whether I am alive! It feels terrible that for the state, and for the country for which we are doing so much, those people do not care for us.”

Saheb Hussain is an athlete with visual impairment who has the national record for 100m in his category. Such is the state of paralympics in India.