Good morning. What a privilege and honour to be standing here before you to talk about how the Lord has enabled us to work for persons with disabilities through Agape in the past 29 years. I am Avitha, and if you had asked me while I was in college what I planned to do, all I would say is, “Eat, sleep, and be merry.” Because that was my plan. I’m just an ordinary person. When I accepted the Lord into my heart, I told Jesus, “Lord, my whole life is before you. You have given me so much.” I was so filled with gratitude.
God gave me good parents, a good church, a good education, good health, and all these things. Out of gratitude, I told the Lord, “Lord, my life is before you. Use it as you want.” It was as if God was waiting for me to finish that prayer. Just after I said that prayer, God opened the door for me to work in a place, teaching computer skills to disabled persons. And there I also received training in rehabilitation and we met — I met my husband — and we knew that God had a plan for us together.
So after marriage, when my son Samuel Tanosh was three years old and my daughter Esther Sukita was just three months old, we started Agape in a rented place. We are still in a rented place but God has blessed us through that — blessed many disabled persons through that.
God gave me good parents, a good church, a good education, good health, and all these things. Out of gratitude, I told the Lord, “Lord, my life is before you. Use it as you want.” It was as if God was waiting for me to finish that prayer.
When we got married in 1991, for our first Christmas, we decided to celebrate it with persons with disabilities. So we invited about 20 of them to our home and we had a very great celebration of the birth of Christ. And we continued doing that each year. And the number was increasing more and more. In 2018, we had 1,005 persons with disabilities in one room celebrating Christmas together. And then we thought we should be more effective, so we divided that into four Christmas get-togethers in the last five years, each time celebrating Christmas with about 1,000 persons with disabilities.
One group is people with locomotive disabilities — physical challenges. And the next one is blind persons, deaf persons, and persons with intellectual disabilities. These are the groups that we teach computers to, and they and their friends come for these early programmes. That’s how we have progressed. We started with persons with physical disabilities. Then God enabled us to pioneer teaching blind people computers. And of late, we are using computers for therapy for persons with intellectual disabilities.
I want to talk about the success stories. This is our Christmas Day programme. This is the computer training that we do. And let me talk about Ratna Gopi, who comes from a small village in Nagercoil. His mother is a deserted single parent, and he has two smaller siblings. He finished his ITI and he was looking forward to getting a job. But nobody would give him a job. He felt very dejected. And a sense of worthlessness came into him and he had suicidal thoughts. But accidentally, he saw in a newspaper: ‘Agape Rehabilitation Center is offering a free computer training course.’ He came to Chennai and his life was transformed. Now, he works in ISRO as a technician.
The same way, we can see Muruga Lakshmi there. She was born blind. And her own mother and grandmother wanted to kill her because she would be a burden to the family and society. She was unwanted. The affection of her father saved her. And she came to MTB and finished her college. Through MTB and another organisation, she came to Agape to learn computers. And now, you can see that she is teaching computers to other blind people. So that is the way we transform people.
He had lost both his hands, and we helped him learn to use computers with his feet. Now, he is managing a DTP centre in Kolkata. These are the things that we are able to do by the grace of God.
We can see in the next slide that we have a very special person, Oscar. He had lost both his hands, and we helped him learn to use computers with his feet. Now, he is managing a DTP centre in Kolkata. These are the things that we are able to do by the grace of God.
I’d like to talk about Aparna. She’s a person affected by polio, and she’s a wheelchair user from Dharmapuri. When she heard about the free computer training, she asked her father — she almost pestered them to somehow send her to Chennai to study. She stayed in our hostel, she studied computers and typewriting, went back to her place, and then started her own computer centre. And now there are 33 students studying there, and she trains them in computers and typewriting. And one thing she told us is, “Madam, I’m giving free training to three people.” She received free training and now she’s giving free training to others.
The other person is Kalaivani. When Lakshmi Devi, another disabled person… Many times, by word of Mouth, people bring disabled persons to our centre. So Lakshmi Devi brought Kalaivani to our place. And she said, “Madam, I told her that if she comes to Agape, something good will happen to her.” I’m looking at her and I’m saying, “What? What good will happen?” Because it is my limited thinking that is working. But we have an awesome God who works everything for good. And he is going to do everything, which I didn’t realise. So she hadn’t even passed her tenth grade at that time. So she came and she was crying because she was staying in her brother’s house and they thought, this disabled sister is a burden; what can we do with her? To make a long story short, she’s now earning about ₹30,000-40,000 per month. She’s married and she’s happy in the Lord.
One other thing that we do all the time is have a monthly gathering. We started a monthly gathering in front of our house on a thinnai (cement bench) with just three or four disabled persons coming. We have tea together and talk for some time. This monthly programme has grown so much that nowadays we have about 250 or 260 disabled persons coming in every month. So we have three different programmes based on their disability. One is for intellectually-disabled persons and their parents. They come as families to these programmes. They are so happy to come. They come in their best attire. And that is because they are not invited anywhere else. Sometimes, even when relatives have some functions, they say, “Don’t bring your disabled child.” But when they come here, they feel so welcome. And even if they cannot come, we call them and say, “We missed you.” They like to be missed. So they come and that is a good fellowship.
Sometimes, even when relatives have some functions, they say, “Don’t bring your disabled child.” But when they come here, they feel so welcome.
Then we have a programme for physically-disabled persons, where about 60-70 of them attend. So not only our students — any disabled person is welcome to these gatherings. They just go and tell everybody, “Why don’t you come there?” “Why don’t you come there?” It has grown like that.
I don’t know how many of you came here one-and-a-half hours early for the programme. Anybody? I see just one or two hands there. So, we have a deaf get-together every fourth Sunday, and about 160 to 180 deaf persons come and attend this programme. And there’ll be at least 20-30 people waiting one hour before we start the programme. They are so eager to come. They don’t have such fellowships. So they are so eager to come for these gatherings, and they are so joyful. If you’re in Chennai, I invite you to come and join us in these programmes.
A question that I’m often asked is: How do you do this? I think it’s a no-brainer because the name of the organisation gives it away: Agape. God’s love. The God who died for me, who took away my sins, has poured His love into me, and I want to express His love by sharing it with others. So, that is something which has been coming to me very easily, that I want to love others because He first loved me.
And that doesn’t mean that everything is very very easy for me. There are so many difficult circumstances and situations. In those times, we cling to the promise which says, His grace is sufficient for you. And of course, as all of us know, prayer is our lifeline. We depend on prayer. We pray each day. We pray with and for persons with disabilities. And what are the other principles that we follow? One is to have disabled persons first. To give them priority. To have their interests first in any activity that we plan. If that is the case, it leads on to being a friend to a person with a disability. And for that, Jesus is our model. If you look in the gospels closely, you can find 31 instances of Jesus intentionally stopping and having a conversation with a person with a disability, touching them, spending time with them. That is being a friend. That is asserting to them that they are made in the image of God, as all of us are. So in that way, we are all equal. We are all made in the image of God.
A question that I’m often asked is: How do you do this? I think it’s a no-brainer because the name of the organisation gives it away: Agape. God’s love.
Talking about equality, we always make sure that the students feel that we are all equal. So we have — as I said — we have a small hostel. About 10 or 12 people, maximum, can stay with us on the ground floor, and we stay on the first floor. We eat the same food that the hostel students eat, just to make sure that the quality is maintained. So when a new person, a new student, came into the hostel. On the first day, we were having tea. He came slowly and peeped into my husband’s teacup. When we asked him, “Why are you peeping into the teacup?” He said, “I just want to check whether you are having the same tea or whether you’re drinking some other special tea.”
We are dealing with young people who look at our actions. So we have to be very careful all the time — 24/7. But unfortunately, if you think that we are very good, goody-goody, then I have to tell you some things to burst the balloon. So once, Analakshmi, a student with a spinal injury (she uses a wheelchair), came to me and she said, “Madam, I want to tell you something.” Then she said, “Ma’am, yesterday you and sir were arguing and shouting loudly. I heard everything.” How embarrassing it was. I don’t know what I replied to her. But not that we stopped arguing or shouting. We only closed the door and windows and did that in secret.
So God uses us in spite of who we are. I always ask God, “How come you’re still managing with me? You should have easily thrown me out.” But God is a patient God. Even lesson one in patience he keeps teaching me again and again and again. I always say that we are two zeros, and we have one powerful, great God. The one and only God who stands beside us. That makes us a 100. So again, if God is not by our side, we are just zeros again.
One verse that always motivates me is Matthew 7:12 — Do unto others as you would like others to do to you. So whenever I meet a person in a wheelchair, I think, What if I am the person coming in a wheelchair? How would I like others to interact with me? How would I like others to treat me? Then maybe say a word of prayer in our heart, and we know exactly what to do. The Bible tells us exactly what to do and how to do it. So when you meet a blind person, just exchange places. Then we know exactly what to do. We learned sign language from our deaf students. We used to ask them, “How do you do this?” “Write and show,” or something like that. So it’s over time that we learned how to interact with them. And that is God’s blessing. And many times we keep praying for love. For God to fill us with His love so that we can be more loving towards everybody.
God uses us in spite of who we are. I always ask God, “How come you’re still managing with me? You should have easily thrown me out.” But God is a patient God.
I just want to tell you that according to the World Health Organization, in any given population, 10-15% of people live with some disability or the other. That means, if there are 100 people in a place, 10 persons with a disability should be there. But unfortunately, this is a hidden group. We don’t find them at all. We don’t find them. They are the missing group. If we have 10 friends, make sure you have a friend with a disability also.
How did this happen? How were we able to, as individuals, as a couple, reach out to people in the marketplace? I think God used our experiences, or my experience. I was born with a hole in the heart. I had a very difficult childhood. Full of sickness. I had many limitations. I had delayed milestones. I started walking when I was four, and I started talking even later. And would you believe me — I had a problem of stammering and stuttering, and I could not utter a word in front of an audience like this. But God just enabled me, moulded me, and used my difficult circumstances. I underwent an open art surgery in 1980. Almost 44 years to date. In Chennai GH, in a government hospital. And underwent one year of post-operative care because of that. But I could empathise with all these sufferings in a small way with the physical disabilities and limitations of the persons I serve.
Friends, all the experiences that God allows in our lives, we can use that for His glory. If only, like I did, you listen to Him, obey His call, and surrender to Him. Be available to Him. And ask Him to use the skills that He has given to you. I’m sure that all the people that are listening to us are much more talented than we are. If you can listen to God’s still voice calling you and submit to Him, He will use your experiences to reach out to a particular group of people. At least to the people around you in the neighbourhood. God would definitely be able to use you as He has used us. May God be glorified, and I hope you learn and appropriate these lessons and the lessons from all the other speakers to follow. May God bless you.
