"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. " Albert Einstein
Hope & Compassion is a charity that works with other organisations abroad to improve the lives of children with Special Educational Needs and their families living in poverty in developing countries.
At the heart of Hope and Compassion is a team of experienced professionals from the UK, qualified in education and specialist therapies. The countries abroad where we are working have very few practitioners with equivalent qualifications, so we are sharing our skills and best practice to train project staff abroad. We work with local charities to train and educate their members of staff, giving a lasting legacy of high quality skills and experience abroad.
Our sole purpose if to re-ignite the flame of Hope and Giving. We aim to bring hope and kindness to people in need, through selfless service, compassion and respect for those whose circumstances are such that they have difficulty coping with the simple things in life. Coming together collectively, we are determined to make a difference to the lives of those who are socially disadvantaged, in pain, disabled, or have special educational needs.
We are a team of volunteers who have undertaken projects in the UK and India, we help and support organisations in the area of special needs – Pingalwara was our first charity where we learnt the way of Bhagat Purans Singh Ji’s selfless service and his vision, today after 9 years we still work with them closely. Another organisation who we have been supporting for many years and they now have their own special needs school is Sarv Sikhia Abhian. A government initiative who have really taken the advice and guidance from hope volunteers, replicated and developed it further to make a difference in the children’s lives they work with.
One of things we have noticed about the children we work with is the thirst for love, the thirst to be loved and the thirst to love. It’s amazing when we live in a material world and all they want is to be loved and wanted. It’s truly unconditional love, our team work tirelessly when they go to India. They work with parents, carers school and organisation to help raise awareness of disability and try to change the attitudes and mentality of the way disability and SEN is seen. They have been fundamental when donating resources, equipment, materials, stationary to the various projects, they fundraise and volunteer their time and specialist skills.
H & C now wish to make a difference in their local community in the UK, in the area of Autism and then other disabilities. Dialogue is now being taken place in gurudwara’s to help the community understand what Autism is and how it affects the child and their families. Volunteers are going into the gurdwara and speaking in Punjabi and resources are also being translated into different languages. Young professionals are encouraged to come on forward to help with getting the message out there and put interventions in place with the team.
Here is a recent speech given by Manpreet Kaur at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sedgley Street, Wolverhampton UK:
The Hope team still continues their trips to India twice a year with the vision to have children’s respite and care homes opening in the UK and India. It is only possible with the support of volunteers, community and sangat we are totally grateful for the continuous love and blessing Hope has received and with God’s grace continues to do so.
Read More: Living with Autism and Coming from an Ethnic Minority Background