National Association for Blind, Karnataka Branch
Volunteering at NAB-K can be a rewarding experience, as many of our volunteers have shared in their testimonials. NAB-K regularly welcomes volunteers to get involved in our various training programs and other activities for the visually challenged.
Here are some of the ways you can volunteer at NAB-K:
- As an organization/corporate: You can encourage your staff members to volunteer with us or get involved as an individual volunteer.
- As a trainer: You can train visually challenged people in various skills, such as computer literacy, braille, and life skills.
- As a mentor: You can provide guidance and support to visually challenged people as they pursue their educational or career goals.
- As a fundraiser: You can help us raise money to support our programs and services for the visually challenged.
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Volunteers Speak - Testimonials
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 Natrajan17 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 Badani52 Years
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 Shankar21 Years
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 Natarajan48 Years
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