“A large number of children afflicted by polio languish in our villages, unattended. Having undergone the struggle ourselves right from our childhood, we had to establish a residential home for children with physical disability to provide those children educational facilities, food, accommodation and medical support,” says paraplegic brave heart, Arjuna Awardee and Padmasree Malathi K. Holla whose Mathru Foundation has been instilling confidence and giving hope to many disabled children.
Afflicted by polio at infancy, Malathi stands tall in the world of paraplegic sports in India by sheer grit and determination and has won medals around the world. The 45-year-old bank manager registered the ‘Mathru Foundation’ in 2004 and started the home in May 2005 to serve the physically challenged. Lending her a helping hand are the former International sprinter Ashwini Nachappa, International Cricketer Venkatesh Prasad, Krishna Reddy H.T, and Dr.Sridhar. M.K., both physically challenged and Anantha Bhat M, a leading advocate.
With a motto, ‘To create an institution which will enable rehabilitation of paraplegic individuals’, the foundation is already looking after 17 children for the past 5 years by way of providing them food, accommodation, education and medical support.
“We would like to take on more number of people based on the financial viability. We want to start the process of vocational development to build self confidence and work towards financial independence. We also wish to create our own center which will address our purpose for larger scale by slowly moving towards self-sustainability,” said Malathi. Mathru Foundation currently has children between 7-17 years of age, mainly belonging to rural areas.
Currently housing only boys studying from III class to IInd year degree, the foundation provides education, medical facilities like corrective surgeries and tries to bring out the hidden talent in each child. The foundation is now constructing its own building on Sarjapur road, which is being built on a 4500 sq ft donated land.