By Mahesh Trivedi

Ahmedabad: Babubhai Sabuwala’s both legs are paralyzed and the middle-aged man walks with crutches. Yet, he is not weak either at his knees or in his resolve to help others.

The small-time Muslim scrap dealer, who is a dyed-in-the-wool social worker, champions the cause of other hard-pressed differently-abled people like him.

Rotary Club of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, recently honored him with its prestigious annual Vocational Award for exemplary social service.

Come September, the Good Samaritan will organize all-religion mass marriage ceremony for 21 cash-strapped couples. The brides as well as grooms are disabled and belong to different faiths.

Special wedding

Sabuwala now goes around the western Indian city on his weather-beaten three-wheeler scooter, spotting poverty-stricken disabled Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and Christian youngsters wanting to tie the knot. He also passes round the hat among philanthropists and looks for priests who would perform various religious rituals gratis.

Every year his 21 beneficiaries are paraplegic, visually-impaired, deaf or mute beneficiaries – aged between 24 and 42. They dress in their Sunday best for the great occasion. After the marriage, he gifts them a sofa set, a double bed, a steel cupboard, a kitchen set, a sewing machine, grains for one month and, of course, religious books.

“Each pair of these poor men and women gets household goods worth 50,000 rupees to start their new life,” says Sabuwala who has been bringing smiles on the faces of such less fortunate souls for the past several years.

Self-employment kits

Apart from orchestrating mass marriages disadvantaged young people, he also distributes self-employment kits to the poor and essential food items on special occasions such as Ramadan.

Several residents of the Muslim-dominated industrial locality of Vatva in Ahmedabad will remember forever this year’s Ramadan. Thanks to philanthropists, the Vikalang Sahyak Kendra (center to aid the challenged), a voluntary organization headed by Sabuwala, gave away 500 rupees in cash and a food kit to some 250 crippled and poor people, mostly Muslims living nearby.

The kit contained basic food items such as rice, sugar, dates, custard, sherbet, wheat flour, gram flour, edible oil, tea leaves and chili powder, just enough to last for a month.

Seeking support

Time and again, Sabuwala also fixes up functions with the support of lawmakers and businessmen to hand over tricycles and self-employment kits to the poor.

“The Gujarat government has a scheme for providing financial aid for marriages of underprivileged classes but boasts no such facility for its handicapped citizens who are an unhappy lot,” Sabuwala regrets.

Says industrialist Magan Patel, one of his financial backers: “NGOs and other voluntary organizations receive millions of rupees and grants. But Sabuwala has done what they have not been able to achieve for years.”

Some 21 million people in India suffer from one or the other disability, with Gujarat accounting for one million.

(Source: Al Arabia English on June 30, 2017)