SANJAY BHAVSAR 47 & TULA PATEL 44

BANSA, GUJARAT Founders of NGO Vishwagram

“BHAVSAR AND PATEL’S INNOVATIVE MODEL FOR REHABILITATING ORPHANS IS ONE MOSTSOCIALWORKERS AVOID TAKING UP.”

Ratilal Borisagar,

BHAVSAR ( FAR LEFT) AND PATEL ( FAR RIGHT)

Gujarati Writer

THE WORLD HAS many ugly corners. One of them is the world of orphaned children. There are dozens of them in Ahmedabad’s railway station, victims of exploitation by unsavoury elements of society. But 18 of them have found saviours in Sanjay Bhavsar, 47, and and his wife Tula Patel, 44, who run a unique orphanage at Bansa village near Visnagar, Gujarat, where they transform lives through innovative festivals and camps. Their traumatic stories, of lives on station staircases, addiction and sexual exploitation, are too grisly for Hollywood makeovers.

Both Sanjay and Tula went to village schools. When they met in Ahmedabad, Sanjay was pursuing BTech, while Tula was studying commerce. They fell in love and got married, united in their desire to serve rural India. In 1993, they floated Vishwagram, an NGO, which began by serving the poor and the youth. Then in 2006, they decided to take up the cause of the orphaned children. They tracked down some with the help of NGO Childline, and with a large donation, built an orphanage at Basna.

The world of the children here is truly unique. The duo set about transforming the children’s lives by changing their habits and influencing their tastes, weaning them away from their tragic pasts. Here, they attend festivals of films, books, theatre and sculpture that showcase wholesome classics, and are organised in collaboration with artistes. These run for a week, but leave an indelible impression on the children’s lives.