This is Yamuna Jaisi, a 21-year-old who was born with an intellectual disability and whose life has been changed by being employed at HDCS’s Kotjahari Organic farm. In her formative years she was incessantly bullied, discriminated and teased for her disability by her classmates so she decided to leave school when she was in the second grade. Soon she became an awkward and reclusive girl as she was not allowed to participate in social events and gatherings in her community. At the tender age of 7 and having dropped out of school she began to help her mother with daily household chores and take their goats for grazing in the forests.
This is how she continued to live her until about a year ago, when our staff invited her to participate in a youth with special needs training program. That is when she learned about HDCS and our Kotjahari farm. At the farm we seek to employ people with intellectual and physical disabilities with hopes to provide them with a means to earn an income whilst also receiving horticulture therapy and gaining an improved social status. Hence, Yamuna, who was deemed to be a perfect candidate was employed to work at the farm.
At the farm, she has learned a great deal about growing a variety of organic vegetables, making fermented greens, baking millet cookies, and caring for buffaloes and oxen. Working at the farm has enabled her to learn and keep up with daily living (life) skills like preparing food, washing clothes, and taking care of her hygiene and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. She is happy to learn more about herself and now she relishes that she has many friends and has earned money to provide for herself. The other staff at the farm say that she is diligent and everyone is happy to have her as a part of the team.
Yamuna is one of many others employed at the farm who have been empowered, enabled, and equipped despite their disabilities. We are proud that we do not see their limits and inabilities but we nurture them to grow and become self-sustained capable humans. We are thankful to our partners who are investing in this project that is proving to change and impact lives around us.