Daily Times

“The thing that lies at the foundation of positive change, the way I see it, is service to a fellow human being” — LeeIacocca

The population with special needs is among the most neglected and overlooked part of our society. Many of us only think in terms of charity or pity for them. Today I will share an inspiring story of an NGO, the Rising Sun Education and Welfare Society, working for uplifting and empowerment of persons with special needs. The story of the Rising Sun reflects that no effort is small if something is started with the noble intention for the greater good; the Divine Power decides and facilitates its passage

On a serene afternoon, towards the end of the summer, a mother was crying outside a doctor’s clinic. She had brought her daughter with Down syndrome to a well-known paediatrician for a check-up. As the clinic was inside the doctor’s house, his wife saw a woman breaking into tears on their veranda. She promptly tried to console her. On inquiry, the mother of the girl with Down syndrome shared her story that they had moved to Pakistan from abroad and were not able to find a suitable school for their daughter. Those tears of a mother started a journey of a lifetime for the doctor and his wife.

Initially, they thought of facilitating a distressed mother on a purely volunteer basis through a daycare centre. But they had no idea that their one step would take them on a lifetime voyage of selfless service.

That noble couple was Dr Abdul Tawwab Khan and Mrs Perveen Tawwab, who tried to bring rays of hope in the lives of special children and their families back in 1984. They named their daycare centre ‘Rising Sun’ with an intention to lessen darkness by raising the sun of hope, optimism and empowerment. Little did they know that it would take them to row deep into the sea of possibilities for angels with special needs. Over the years, their volunteerism, selflessness and dedication to the cause has become a lighthouse, inspiring many others voyaging through this sea of different abilities.

The Rising Sun, which started as a daycare centre three decades ago, has grown into an NGO with an inspirational model of services for children and adults with special needs. Through early intervention services, a team of experts starts working with infants and toddlers identified as or at risk of developing a special need. Early support helps in minimising developmental delays, and facilitates learning of the child, decreasing severity of special need in the long run.

Through the institutes for special children, the Rising Sun is providing academic, therapeutic and training services to thousands of children and adults with various special needs, for example, intellectual impairment, autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, multiple disabilities. It is inspiring to see international level therapeutic services, under one roof, provided to children with special needs despite their socioeconomic and religious background. The state-of-the-art campuses are a living example of the magnanimous support and unmatched philanthropy of Pakistanis.

There is a famous quote: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” But if we try to get a close shot of prevailing perspectives regarding persons with special needs, we usually come across a charity paradigm, trying to help considering them helpless. Interestingly, the Rising Sun was initiated with the thought of “making special persons self-reliant members of society”. And therefore, this organisation tries to inculcate a sense of self-respect and self-worth in persons with special needs by providing them vocational training and supporting them in becoming economically productive through mainstream or sheltered employment.

The Rising Sun, which started as a daycare centre three decades ago, has grown into an NGO with an inspirational model of services for children and adults with special needs

In order to ensure that their very dear children with special needs are not left alone once their parents leave this world, Dr and Mrs Abdul Tawwab Khan decided to build a home-Gosha-e-Afiyat-for them. This dream is close to completion, and will be providing safe living and sheltered employment facilities to adults with special needs in the near future.

With the intention of reaching out to children with special needs and their families, the Rising Sun started its community-based programme few years ago. Under this project, children living in Kasur, Shahdrah, Lahore and Kahna are provided therapeutic, academic and training services near their homes. Another beauty of this programme is that it is gradually developing local support groups for awareness and advocacy of rights of persons with special needs.

The Rising Sun holds a reputable place in promotion of inclusive education in Pakistan. Their niche in inclusive education is teacher training. For almost one decade, thousands of regular schoolteachers from public and private schools have been trained and provided with post-training monitoring and guidance services.

The famous Sufi singer Abida Perveen once said that the approval and acceptance of your actions by Allah the Almighty reflects in love and appreciation of the creation of Allah. The same is apparent in the life of the founders of the Rising Sun Education and Welfare Society. The lifelong dedication of this noble couple received recognition from the general public, dignitaries and government of Pakistan. It is a unique honor that Mrs Perveen Tawwab was awarded with the Sitara-e-Imtiaz and Dr Abdul Tawwab Khan was privileged with the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan.

The writer is a Director Programs & Projects at Rising Sun Education & Welfare Society