BENGALURU: City-based 52-year-old Farida Rizwan celebrates 25 years of being cancer free but struggles to fund her Montessori school called My Giggle Garden for kids that she started in June 2017 with special needs in Kuvempu Nagar.
Inspired by her daughter who was diagnosed with MRCP (Mental Retardation Cerebral Palsy), she decided to have her school where there would be one kid with special needs for every eight students. “The first few parents disagreed to send their kids, if I admit even one special child in my school. I know a parent’s pain but I did not want to say ‘no’ to any child. I want the kids with special needs to learn from their peers and gain confidence to mingle. At the same time, other kids can also learn to respect and treat those differently abled as equals,” says the mother of two who also works as an online counsellor and content writer.
With some financial help from her 27-year-old son and her savings, she built a pre-school and day care centre in a dilapidated building but now she finds it very difficult to make ends meet. Tired of running after banks for loans, she has now started an online campaign to raise funds for her school. “I was unable to secure a loan to run my school as bankers do not want to lend money to a cancer survivor. They wanted a guarantor to step in, if I were to die. A heavy drinker or smoker has a higher risk of dying than I do but they never get turned down by banks,” she says. Her cancer support survivor group then advised to start an online campaign. “I was very hesitant and took three months to consent to it. I am egoistic and do not want to be dependent on anyone financially. However, now I have realised that if I have sponsors, I can do so much more.”
Farida started teaching while she was 15 years old and she is good with kids as she also managed to find time to get a diploma, graduation and post graduation in counselling and psychotherapy. “I have a lot of patience with kids. My daughter only started walking at the age of five. It took me two and a half years to get her to say the words ‘thank you’. I realise some things take their own time to happen,” she says.
Born with a club foot, Farida grew up in a family where everyone was affected with cancer. She lost her parents and elder sister to the disease two months post she was diagnosed with third stage of breast cancer. The big C scarred the family so much that her husband thought cancer was contagious. Without financial support from him, she underwent chemotherapy and funded her treatment by selling toys, stitching clothes for a boutique, working as a play therapist in a children’s hospital and taking tuitions on the side.
Online fundraiser
To support Farida, contribute for her campaign ‘Help Me Grow Smiles’ on ImpactGuru. Her target is to raise Rs 8 lakh and she has raised Rs 86,000 since July.