From a humble beginning to keep our own premises clean, Avacayam has become a movement addressing the global concern of river pollution.
| Temple flowers added ……It so happened that the priest of a little temple located at the boundary of our facility hired a young man to dispose the garlands from the temple in the Yamuna. The young man was a lazy fellow and would instead store them in an alcove in front of our facility everyday, and then carried out the jal-pravah in the Yamuna only once in 10 days. In the interim, the garlands would decompose, letting out an odor that belied its previous status. In the meanwhile, the trainees and workers at the facility, tired of persuading the lazy young man to carry out his task regularly, approached the priest to seek permission to do it themselves… |
Phase 1: The Avacayam program in its initial pilot phase examined the processes involved – both in manufacturing and marketing. The experiment provided the roadmap for the next phase.
Phase 2: With the concept proved, the next phase focused on plans for expanding the multipoint strategy that consisted of (a) means of earning; the opportunity of joining a mainstream movement of environment conservation by generating an alternative for temple flower disposal; a way of contributing to the larger society by making available eco-friendly and non-toxic colors for use during the festival of Holi, for Rangoli; for Agarbati, Natural dyes and Pot-pourri; (b) involving persons with any category of disability to be involved in the other processes, thus completing the entire supply chain.
Avacayam provides a platform for persons with disability, especially those with intellectual disabilities to participate in issues of concern to mainstream society, contribute to their resolution and in the process help themselves become a part of this mainstream by being economically viable.
Avacayam serves in large part to fulfill the common vision, ie, the dream of a world where every person with disability will have the same access to opportunities and services such as education, healthcare and employment; the opportunity to use and develop their inherent talent to the fullest potential; the opportunity for respect for their capacities and be valued for their efforts, thus enabling them to be viewed as equal members of society.
