The track is ready and the race is on. Pointing to the boy at the far end, Suman Sreedharan, the chairman of the Rotary Olympics for Special Education Children (ROSES), says with admiration. “He will finish the race, no matter how slow.”
Indeed, he did. Before heading over to congratulate him, Suman breaks into a wide smile. “Win, lose. That doesn’t matter. For them, this is a celebration.”
That spirit defined ROSES, held recently on the grounds of UC College in Aluva. Organised by the Rotary Clubs of Cochin West and Cochin Tricity, the meet brought together nearly 1,000 children with special needs from 32 schools.
Rotarian Bibu Punnoran, who’s also the director of Medivision Group, recalls the origins of the Club’s initiative, of how they began to give wings to children. “It started in 2000 with a casual chat between Gopa Joseph, part of Raksha Society for Disabled Children, and me,” he says.
Gopa suggested that they take children on a flight. That conversation soon involved her husband, Micheal Joseph, then an executive director at Air India. “Mike (Micheal) was keen from the get-go. On November 14 that year, he got all the clearances. Air India gave us the aircraft for free, the crew came with it, and CIAL handled everything at their end. This too was free, even the fuel,” Gopa recalls.
Thanks to these concerted efforts, around 200 differently-abled children flew for the first time that day. This initiative continued for some years, but was later dropped due to the difficulties in managing it.
The spirit, however, carried on. In 2006, it metamorphosed into a sports meet.
Rotarian Romelal Madhavan, a former Air India engineer and now chief coordinator of ROSES, remembers this transition vividly. “I was asked to hold a small event. We got four special schools together at Sree Sankara College for a sports meet. In 2012, this count rose to 32 schools,” he says.
The initiative, then run by Rotary Club of Cochin West, got bigger with Cochin Tricity joining hands. In 2014, something remarkable happened, changing the trajectory of their sports meet — the involvement of Thomas Mash Sports Academy.
Speaking about this association, coach Rajas, the son of veteran coach K P Thomas, says, “In 2013, my father, who had then just won the Dronacharya Award, was invited to inaugurate that year’s meet. Then, the programme wasn’t as smooth as the Rotarians were inexperienced in handling a sports event, that too for differently-abled children. My father then offered to streamline it. We have been part of ROSES ever since.”
Today, a 50-member team from the Academy helps manage the event. NSS volunteers from the UC College too chip in, guiding the children across the field. “The meet is sustained by the goodwill of people and our donors, who do it out of love for these children,” says Bibu.
Carmel Jyothi School for Differently Abled Children in Adimali has been champions of the meet for the past nine years. But its principal Sr Vimala Maria reiterates what Suman said. “These children don’t care about prizes. They enjoy it regardless. But it is our role to find their talents and give them adequate training. There are many talented children here,” he says.
She proudly introduces 13-year-old Maneesh and 10-year-old Immanuel. The former has won prizes at meets in Delhi and Rajasthan. “I like running,” he says. Immanuel is attending the meet for the first time. “This one likes to sing,” Sr Vimala says.
Well, the time for music was, by then, upon us. Ben Band from the Mother and Child Foundation in Thodupuzha had taken to the grounds for a performance that has been customary in recent meets.
Children were seen swaying, dancing, or simply listening as the music turned what began as a sports meet into a small carnival.
ROSES is, as the Rotarians proclaim, a celebration.