MANEDA embarks on bringing 'smiles' to many marginalized people
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Kangpokpi, November 30 2014 : Manipur North Economic Development Association, comprehensively known by its acronym "MANEDA", strictly guided by its vision to work for the most marginalized and excluded section of the society, especially women and children with primary attention and care of the disabled people, has brought an enthusiastic smile into the faces of many marginalized people in the State, particularly in Senapati district.

A non-profit and non-Governmental organisation based at Senapati which also operates in other parts of the State, MANEDA was established in 1991 with a vision to create a society free from poverty and enable every person to put into effect his own rights to lead a dignify and meaningful life.

With such core values of vision and mission, MANEDA has multiplied smiles into the faces of many marginalized and excluded people, particularly persons with disability through the support and help from its different partners in development and various goodhearted people for more than 20 years since its inception.

MANEDA embarks on bringing 'smiles' to many marginalized people

A man behind bridging the gap between the two communities of Nagas and the Kukis during their communal clashes in 1993, T Peter Rangnamei, Secretary of MANEDA and Director of MANEDA Hope Centre, Senapati exclusively told Hueiyen Lanpao that just after two years of the establishment of MANEDA the Kuki-Naga conflict began whereby putting the entire environment in complete chaos.

"I was struggling hard to organize a 'Love Feast' during such situation to bridge the crevice between Kuki and Naga due to the conflict with the help and support from elders of both the communities", recalled Peter while delightedly claiming that he at last succeeded in organizing a big love feast at Chalwa, one of the worst affected in the conflict and that became the turning point for both the communities to look back at the peaceful environment.

Since then, MANEDA has provided loans to women vendors at Kangpokpi as well as in Senapati to uplift their socioeconomic status, and also organized 'Sing for Peace' tour to many interior parts within the district to bring back smiles into the faces of both communities.

Rangnamei asserted that a mentally-challenged little girl changed the primary attention of MANEDA towards the disabled people in the society who are completely in the dark about the giant picture of smile.

With much enthusiasm the team of MANEDA started implementing programmes for the disabled persons, as they were truly the forgotten section in the society, particularly in a place like Senapati district where bandhs, blockades, corruption, ethnic clash, drug abuse, HIV/AIDS and insurgency are a regular affair.

People in the district never knew about Disability Certificate or the 3% reservation.

It was just the beliefs that disabled people are a curse from God, shockingly rumbled Rangnamei adding that neither the NGOs nor the Government implemented such programmes for the disable people in those days.

Expressing the need for having a Disabled Peoples' Organization (DPO), gradually after four years of implementing CBR programme in the district, MANEDA set up a DPO in the form of Senapati District Physically Handicapped Association (SDPHA), now called Senapati Disabled Peoples' Association (SDPAM) through the initiatives of some disabled CBR workers of MANEDA.

In the absence of any day centre for Children with Disability (CWDs) in the district, MANEDA Hope Centre with the support of Liliane Fonds set up a daycare centre for catering the needs of the CWDs in its best possible way by providing functional therapy, basic lessons in activities of daily living, pre-schooling lessons for integration into general schools besides providing nutritional support.

With the establishment of Innocent Smile Foundation and Innocent Smile School for Children with Disability which was formally started in February 2013 by Willem and Else of Netherlands after visiting MANEDA, 8 children from around the Senapati District HQ are regularly picked and dropped daily for attending the Innocent Smile School while daily routine as earlier in MANEDA Hope Centre has also been followed up.

Having partners in development with CAPART, India; Development Commission (Handicrafts, New Delhi, India; Action Aid, Guwahati; CARITAS, New Delhi; Stiching Liliane Fonds, Varanasi; Embassy of Luxembourg, Bangkok; INGOU, Imphal; CBM, Bethany Society, Shillong, Meghalaya; Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Bombay; Indo Global Social Service Society (IGSSS, Guwahati); Light for the World, Austria and Stiching Innocent Smile, Netherlands MANEDA has been organizing and implementing various activities, programs, seminars, awareness, sports meet, exposure visit, poster campaign and wall painting etc.

for welfare of the society particularly the disabled community.

Under the same CBR programme MANEDA also worked with All Disabled Union Sadar Hills (ADUSH) in various activities for the welfare of disabled community in the district. Recently, MANEDA has given the most excited 'smile' to various marginalized and excluded people in the district including Imphal by organizing a fitment camp at its HOPE Centre, Senapati from November 22 which concluded on November 29 .

International brands of aids and appliances sponsored by Liliane Fonds, Netherlands through Jain Vikash Smiti (JVS), Vanaras collaborated with Mobility India, Bangalore have been fitted to beneficiaries in the Orthopadaedic Assessment held on May 16 by MANEDA at Senapati.

Beneficiaries within Senapati district including Sadar Hills were fitted with aids and appliances by a host of Mobility India, Kolkata members from November 22 to 24 while beneficiaries of Imphal have been fitted from November 25 to till November 29 at the fitment camp held at MANEDA Hope Centre, Senapati.

Pater Rangnamei further said enough efforts have been put in by the Governments to deal with poverty, which according to him is the worst enemy of mankind, but mostly failed to reach the common people due to lack of transparency in allocation, distribution and execution of welfare funds and schemes which cast a shadow of distrust upon the Government.