A Creative Learning Initiative for children with cancer and their caregivers, providing educational and spiritual support along with creative play and activities.

ON 12th april this year we received a call from Meenakshi -Tejas’s mother from her home. She wanted to enquire about us and update us on the progress that Tejas had made at school after being discharged from hospital. He had been at hospital for over a year undergoing treatment for cancer. Then he was in first standard. He missed his entire school year of 2nd grade and attended Samiksha whenever he could, during this time.His mother was a most encouraging  ward mom, always helpful, always smiling and hopeful for the kids..Unlike many mothers there, Meenakshi was a well travelled, educated and talented woman-she had left behind 2 older sons at home to be with little Tejas at the hospital. She bubbled with joy when she called me to say that Tejas had been doing very well at home and at school He got 79% in his 3rd standard exam even though he had missed the whole year there. Thanks to the people at  Samiksha, he was able to get back to school and normal life with pride and joy. Whenever he is upset with his routine in regular life, he tells his mom that he wishes he were back at the Samiksha school at the hospital where he was happy and had so much fun. Thank you Meenakshi for acknowledging our work. Good luck Tejas Kumar. We all wish you well and a great school year ahead.

We hope you do not have to come back to our school ever again! Cheers to your new life!

There are many such success stories we cud share but for sake of privacy of the kids, we will not be putting them all up on our website.

Here’s a small note on my first visit to Samiksha…

I was struck by the cheerful and positive atmosphere in the Kapoor ward of Kidwai Hospital, the morning that I visited. There was no reflection of discomfort or ill-health in the children’s eager, smiling faces. Their absorption with school work and reading seemed total. One of the girls in the ward was being medicated through an intravenous drip. She was sitting and reading, heedless of the drip.

I could see that Samiksha Foundation is fulfilling more than a felt need in the children’s ward of the hospital. It is a dream for children to be surrounded by books, stories and people to assist their learning needs, even in the hospital environment. The learning activities must surely be having a healing effect on the psyche of the children being treated there.

I am glad I dropped by to visit the Kapoor ward. I wish Samiksha Foundation’s work more strength and good cheer!

Charumathi Supraja

Freelance Journalist, Bangalore,India

Charumathi visited Samiksha at Kapoor Ward, Kidwai Memorial Hospital on 13^th Jan, 2011.