This ‘Raksha Bandhan’, gift customised rakhis designed by youth with disabilities

Make Raksha Bandhan more meaningful this year by choosing rakhis designed by disabled youth. Many schools and NGOs for youth with disabilities are selling rakhis made by their members and by buying one, you will be enabling them.

The bond between brothers and sisters is special and extraordinary and Raksha Bandhan gives us a moment in our busy lives to express that. Make it extra meaningful this year by buying your rakhis from schools and NGOs that are work with disabled youth.

Here are some options.

Pearl Special Needs Foundation

This Ahmedabad school works with disabled children and they are selling rakhis that are trendy and stylish. Run by Dr Griva Shah, Sonia Parikh and Bijal Fadia, this centre holds exhibitions of products made by their students regularly.

Our students made around 300 rakhis for an exhibition recently and all of them were sold. There were gift products too and this was a great experience for them as they got firsthand experience interacting with people and honed up their customer relation skills. They explained to the visitors how they made the products so it was quite interactive. – Dr Griva Shah, Co-founder, Pearl Special Needs Foundation

The rakhis were made of threads and beads and were packaged beautifully. If you want to buy them, Contact Griva Shah at +91 78748-66681 or 940850-7008

Satya Special School

At this Puducherry centre, youngsters believe in being eco-friendly which means rakhis that are plastic free.

“We have been doing this for the past six years and every year we get good responses”, says Chitra Shah, Founder, Satya Special School. “We have sold over 300 ‘rakhis and we even courier it to other parts of the world.”

The rakhi-making project is headed by six girls with intellectual disabilities who work under the guidance of Anita, a wheelchair user. This year, they have received bulk orders from corporates. Not just rakhis, the youth here also excel at making customised gifts for any occasion. If you want to but the, Contact Chitra Shah at +91 93454-54449.

GiftAbled

This Bengaluru NGO that empowers disabled youth has something special for all festivals. This year, youth in the autism spectrum are designing rakhis. Most of them have been sold through social media platforms and the
GiftAbled website.

“Like previous years, we are undertaking bulk orders this year too”, says Deekshitha Ramesh, Programme Manager, GiftAbled Foundation.. “Youngsters with autism take a longer time to put beads into a thread. Hence, this is a great activity to engage them in. All of them have undergone vocational training under our guidance. They need to learn something to become independent””.

Contact GiftAbled at +91 72047-14453.

Raksha means protection, Bandhan means bond so on this auspicious day strengthen the bond with your sibling and bring a smile to the faces of these youth.