Inde |
1) Calcutta 25/02/09 : The Telegraph : French duo's global ride for disabled kids
French duo’s global ride for disabled kids |
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| OUR CORRESPONDENT | ||
Siliguri, Feb. 24: Ailred Derivaz and Sylvain Vergobbi will travel a portion of the globe in an autorickshaw with a four-stroke engine to create awareness among people on the need to help physically challenged children. Both are engineers from France and they will commence the journey from Jalpaiguri tomorrow morning. “We will travel 16,000 km in six months in a small attempt on our part to convince people about the need to provide better care to physically challenged children,” Ailred said today. “We have worked with special children in France and India and have seen their sufferings. Although several efforts are being taken throughout the world to proffer help to them, we feel it is important that such aids become more intensive to ensure that these children get necessary medical treatment and become a part of the mainstream.” The duo will start from a centre of the Howrah South Point — known for its services to disabled and destitute children — located at Mohitnagar on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri tomorrow. From India, they will enter Pakistan, then move to Iran and after crossing Turkey, Serbia, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Italy and Tunisia, will finally reach France in August. “We had been to Howrah South Point in 2005 and worked there for 12 months or so. We are back and this time, we decided to take up the awareness campaign before returning to our jobs,” said the 28-year-old Sylvain. “Our contact with Howrah South Point will, however, continue.” The trip, Ailred said, would also help them know about the status of disabled children living in all the nine countries they will be crossing. “We would develop a database or document on the basis of our experience and interaction with people of these countries,” he said. Both Sylvain and Ailred know driving. They have made some improvisation to the three-wheeler, which would take them to Paris. Steel sheets have been used to cover the rear side where the luggage would be kept. The two will sit on front seat. Appreciating the gesture of the French men, Tereza Biswas, the in-charge of the Howrah South Point, said. “It was a big surprise when we came to know that the two would go out on a trip for six months, crossing countries and speaking to people about the physically-challenged children.” |
2) Calcutta 04/03/09 : The Statesman : Two men, 11 countries for one cause
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, March. 4: Two French engineers ~ Mr Ailred Rivaz and Mr Sylvain Vergobbi ~ are planning to cover eight countries in an auto-rickshaw to collect money for physically challenged children.
They started their journey this morning from Howrah South Point, an organisation that runs several homes for physically disabled children. The duo are planning to complete their journey in six months. Apart from India, they will visit Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Serbia, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Italy, Tunisia and to France.
South Point runs eight homes ~ four in Howrah and four in Jalpaiguri ~ for physically challenged children, benefiting more than 250 children. The organisation receives help from many countries, including France. The French engineers had been associated with the organisation for the past few years.
A senior official of South Point School, Ms Nabanita Chowdhury, said such a venture had never been undertaken before. Moreover, the journey will generate a great deal of hype, which will help in collecting money for the welfare of the children. [UTF-8?]
“Their motto is to bring more people together to help physically and mentally challenged children around the [UTF-8?]world,†Ms Chowdhury added.