News & Events

Durga, a cheerful and confident, 30 year old lady is one of the selected candidates by aaina to get a motorized vehicle in October 2012 from Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Durga is wheel chair bound lady from Cuttack She is a tailor by profession, and lives with her mother, father, brother and sister in law. When asked about her life after 1 year of receiving the vehicle, she was excited to share that the vehicle had changed her life completely by opening so many avenues that she had not thought of before. Packed with passion and confidence, it took her only 1 day to learn riding the vehicle! She learnt it from a known auto driver as other family members were not very supportive of her riding the vehicle independently. Earlier, for her tailoring profession she had to travel in a rickshaw to buy materials from far off market, which was both time consuming and expensive. Now in her motorized vehicle she can get the materials much faster independently. Not only in her profession, but the vehicle has changed her life otherwise as well. Being wheelchair bound, she was pretty much restricted to her house. Now she travels to neighboring cities for work, socialization and leisure that she had not gone for years. Puri beach is one of her favorite destinations. She is now more confident and independent as a whole. The attitudes of neighbors and society towards her changed as well. Earlier, who perceived her as burden on the family now respect her for the courage and support her whenever required? Along with all these positive changes after using the vehicle, Durga has her challenges too. The male members of her family, especially her brother has still not accepted her going out independently in a vehicle. As a result, he seldom helps her in taking care of the vehicle and maneuvering it through the narrow streets leading to her house. It is the neighbors instead who come forward to help her. None the less, Durga is going strong and enjoying every aspect of her life she can .