"I have been associated with the NAB-K for about a year now as a volunteer for the spoken English classes. Initially language was a big barrier for me as I cannot speak Kannada and most of the students are from the rural background. But eventually we worked around the challenge. I do have some very special memories from the whole experience. For example, during the very first class, a 19 year old boy told me that although he had his father’s surname, he wanted to create his own identity and that was one of the reasons he went in for the computer training classes, so that he could be independent. I was amazed to see that he was so driven and motivated. So what I really learnt from the whole experience of interacting with the students at NAB-K was that they were always cheerful, positive and smiling, despite their physical challenge. So they actually taught me to be always positive and work towards my dreams with perseverance. In fact, one of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the blind is that they are always sad. So people hesitate to approach them as they feel sorry for them. However, I have realized that the visually challenged are very happy people, who are highly motivated."

-- Nitish Natrajan, 17 years

"I have been associated with NAB-K for 4 years as a volunteer and I take general knowledge and spoken English classes which involve moral stories, activities and quizzes. I try to make the sessions as enjoyable as possible and if a student comes and tells me that it was a good class, then I feel like my day was a success. Initially, my biggest challenge while teaching them was that there were students from different age groups, backgrounds and educational levels. So my teaching approach had to adapt to all of them. But I have learnt many things from the whole experience. To begin with, I learnt Kannada so I could communicate with them better. But beyond that, I also take back some very important lessons. For example, I find that blind children are smarter; they have sharp senses and it’s amazing how fast they grasp things. In fact, I feel blessed for having gone through this experience at NAB-K because it is only after that I realized how important my eyes are and how I take them for granted. We complain too much without realizing that we are so blessed. As for special memories, each day was a memorable one. But one thing I cannot forget is when one day I entered the class of about 30 students and one visually challenged child told me “Ma’am you look beautiful”! These children are so loving! I feel happy to see the pride and pleasure the student get from speaking a couple of sentences in English."

-- Rupal Badani, 52

"I volunteered for about two weeks at the NAB-K to teach spoken English to the students and I really enjoyed going there and teaching for 2 hours. The students were very bright. I felt I became more empathetic after that; the experience changed how I perceived things. I also realized more keenly that life isn’t easy and that it throws obstacles at you; but everything depends on how you overcome them. Of course, one of the biggest challenges was explaining colours to them; so it needed a different approach. But I figured it. I would also say that people have some misconceptions about the blind. They feel that when people can’t see, they can’t progress in life. But the fact is that visually challenged people have other senses to help them lead a good life."

-- Akashitha Shankar, 21

"I have been associated with NAB-K as a volunteer for about 6 months and I take classes in spoken English, general knowledge and inspirational stories about the blind from India. I use these stories to motivate them, tailoring the content to suit the needs of the students. Some of them are graduates, so I also help them with communication skills and job interview preparation. The whole experience started when I began to accompany my older son who was looking for some opportunity to volunteer. He volunteered at NAB-K to teach spoken English and I would go with him to help him communicate to the students. After a point, my son got busy with his exams, while I continued with the activity. Although it began as a spoken English class, we made it more fun and interesting and scaled up the lessons. No matter how hectic it was, I used to make it a point to go because I really enjoyed going there. The only initial challenge I faced was the language, as most of them knew only Kannada. But apart from that, there was no other challenge. In fact, there are only special memories and lots of lessons learnt. Prior to this experience, my understanding of the blind was different. But I realized that they have different levels of vision. Also, I used to feel sympathetic and assumed that they were sad. But when I interacted with them, I realized that they were very happy. I also began to feel that there was a lot we could learn from them. I found them to be very inspirational, especially when I saw how they were facing life head on. I think society can do its bit for them in many ways. The first step is awareness on visual challenge and understanding their needs. We as a society need to first educate ourselves on the visually challenged, rather than just feel sympathy. There are many NGOs who offer donations and things like that, but that only helps temporarily. What can really help is to make the blind independent and confident. I learnt this at NAB-K. Over there I saw that the students were quite confident when they walked or climbed the stairs and I was really amazed by that. So if you train them well, there is a lot of potential. In fact, I try reaching out to my own professional and social circles to explore employment opportunities for the students in NAB. Going back to my own experience as a volunteer, I felt that it was very easy to inspire them because of their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. They are always looking for people who can share their time with them and talk to them. There were also so many instances when I felt touched and emotional. They would also confide in me about their personal issues. We had really bonded and were like a family."

-- Shaila Natarajan, 48