Where there is a will, there is a way may be a frayed expression but not for students of Oberoi International School, Goregaon, Mumbai, who organised a cycle riding event, Pedal-o-Thon, on January 26. Their main purpose was to raise funds for physically disabled children to learn vocational training. The students started working on the details of the event since September 2016.
Speaking about Pedal-o-Thon, Jhanvi Somaya, 17, said, “We wanted to connect cycling with a social cause. This event will also help in spreading awareness about the disability. The funds raised through registration and sponsors will be given to Fellowship of the Physically Handicapped (FPH), a NGO based in Haji Ali (Mumbai) to provide these children with vocational training.”
Through registrations and sponsors, the team of over 40 students has collected over Rs 55,000 for the disabled children. Amish Berry, 16, Head of Pedal-o-Thon, said, “We received more than 105 registrations for the cycle ride. We wanted to raise as much as possible. The paralympics games has inspired many of us. It has encouraged many disabled people too. I usually like to cycle to de-stress myself. I wanted this cycle ride to get connected with a social cause related to disability since many people are not able to use the cycling activity to destress themselves.”
True to the spirit of the event was their tagline ‘Celebrating this-ability and not dis-ability’. The group cycled from Bandra Fort to Worli Seaface. According to the students, the term ‘disabled’ is associated with ‘incapable’ which they aim to change. The initiative was organised by Class 10 and Class 11 students.
“People behave in a different way with disabled people and the perspective needs to be changed. According to me this is a good way to spread awareness by reaching out to people and also helping the NGO,” said Utkarsh Sikka, 16.
“Social media has helped us to connect through various people and spread awareness about our social event. This is the first time we are organising it. Besides social media, when we physically approached people to spread the word, our relatives and friends also motivated us,” said Samiha Joshi, 16.
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