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Vanaja Vasudevan

Umang – is Hope…doing great work and service. It is a home for the special needs children reaching adulthood. The residents are well taken care off, encouraged to learn & develop their skills on carpentry , painting , gardening., farming & lots more. Their skills shine in various rainbow colours during Diwali & New year in the form of Diyas & Greeting Cards. The caretakers see to it that the residents enjoy the special occasions like birthdays with a lot of fun & frolic.
With one visit to Umang, you feel the rejuvenating family atmosphere around .Our heads bow in gratitude to the people behind this serene home & to the Almighty, for giving us a chance to visit this wonderful place with its affectionate residents.

Rajalakshmi Ambady

I have been visiting Bal Anand from time to time to make small donations. I met Ms. Sulu Kalro there and on one of those visits was apprised about Umang. Thus began my relationship with Umang WWTI.

I visited Umang for the first time with Sulu. I did not know what to expect since I had no experience of dealing with persons who have special needs. But everything about Umang – from the compound wall with the cute warli paintings, a smiling Bittoo with a glass of water, the neat rooms, the orderly way in which the inmates had their lunch after a small prayer, the well tended gardens…. I found everything so impressive. It seemed, no, it was a happy home for these children abandoned by their parents and cursed by fate.

Since then, I have got to know the residents very well and have spent quality time with them. It’s always been a wonderful experience. Those who are able to, contribute to the running of the home and each of them is involved in an activity as per their capability. I admire the sincerity of the caregivers, from Sulu to Suresh to Bimla tai. Every effort is being taken to go the extra mile in keeping the differently-abled residents happy, be it celebrating their birthdays, festivals or visits to the beach, malls, or the zoo. One of my happiest memories is from a lunch we laid out for them, one Christmas Eve and singing Christmas carols with them along with two volunteers from the Netherlands.

I wish Sulu and Umang WWTI a bright future and would like to say, keep up the great work.

Sangeeta and Amit Mittal

Our relationship with Bal Anand / Umang stretches back 23 odd years. Sulu (as she is lovingly called) is timid upon first appearance yet a feisty young lady and the spirit behind Bal Anand WWTI and Umang WWTI.

Sulu, with her foresight, recognised the fact that some of the kids at Bal Anand would not find families of their own and due to the laws in the India, on attaining maturity the special needs and differently-abled kids could not continue to stay at Bal Anand after completing 18 years of age. This led to the birth of Umang, a lovely concept farm, set in Karjat where such kids lead a life of respect and dignity as young adults. We would not be surprised if this was a pioneering concept itself.

The young adults are provided vocational training which helps them to keep themselves fruitfully engaged; their creations are sold to corporates as corporate gifts; Umang truly lives up to the name.  All this would not have been possible without the foresight of Sulu, combined with the stellar execution by Sulu’s team to give birth to their vision of Umang into a live functioning institution and aptly giving it the name of Umang.

We are truly blessed to have been given the chance to come into contact with Sulu and the Umang residents during this lifetime.

God bless!

Sonal Bhatia

Senior Manager at Commtel Networks

Commtel as an organization has always strived to be a holistic entity. We are equally passionate about our professional and social commitments and go the extra mile to achieve desired results.

Our efforts to make a difference in the lives of children and the elderly, also the tenets on which Commtel Foundation was formed, saw us reaching the shores of Umang. Our association with Umang – a home away from home – for a few special needs and differently-abled children is now into its 7th year and we have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Our yearly visits to celebrate the Birthdays of three children – Sujit, Bittoo and Payal was as much about celebration as it was about learning and understanding that aspect of life which is seldom addressed in our day to day lives.

Umang is truly a home which takes special care of its residents, a close knit family which eats and stays together, witnessing the changing seasons of life with each passing year. With age they learn the ropes of making themselves self-reliant through various life building and nurturing activities. We are proud to be associated with Umang on a common platform of selfless service and contribution towards betterment of children’s lives and the society. We will continue our efforts to support Umang in every possible way and help it reach its goal of supporting children in their search of a meaningful, purpose driven, independent life.

UMANG IS INDEED A JOY TO ALL.”

Becky and Rumi Engineer

Lions Club of (Bombay) South Hill, Donor

We are sure we speak for our entire Club when we say that we were thoroughly impressed with Umang. The beauty and serenity of the place was like an oasis in the scorching Karjat heat. We loved interacting with the residents and were thrilled to see they were affectionate and kind, but also confident and entrepreneurial. They were proud that Umang was their home and were working together as a family towards its future.
Ms Sulu and her team have done them a great service. We are grateful that such a place exists for special needs members of our society and we pledge to continue our support.

Malathi Kembhavi and Abhijeet Gautam

Umang connects me to the core of myself. The bonding with the young kids is a sheer joy, each of them is matured, realistic and caring. Every visit to Umang is a gift. The talent and expression of these kids’ creativity and warmth brings me back to Umaang.

Kudos to the caretakers, social workers, international volunteers , and those in charge for investing their time and bringing about the change in each of these young kids of Umang.

Umang is one big family- it brings joy and warmth.

Volunteers

We, Birgitta and Leo has visited Umang a Home beyond a Home two times (2014 & 2017).
Our first visit was as volunteers in a group of 13 persons, the second visit was mostly as a donor.
Each time we felt very welcome.
The residents and staff were always very nice, helpful, and cooperative.
The caring of the staff for the residents was a pleasure to see and also the passionate work ethic of Sulu was for us a very valuable experience.
It is great to be a part of the Umang family and an honour to contribute to the development of a better and valuable life for all the residents.
The development of this community is very special to see, the quality of life for all residents is drastically improving and following the process of continuous improvements is lovely for us.
The living conditions of the Special Residents, for example the new kitchen is contributing to a better and improved life.
We are following the development very closely and every time we receive an image or information from Umang it is a pleasure to see and to read about this lovely family.
It would be a pleasure and high honour to visit all our friends once again.

Lakshmanan Ramakrishnan

Ayyappan Group

Kudos to Sulochana (Sulu) madam and her spirited team for literally building a wonderful home from scratch! Sulu Madam’s passion and enthusiasm at her age would put younger adults to shame!
We, the Ayyappan group, known endearingly to the Umang’s special family as “bandook uncles”, have been a witness to a vision becoming a reality despite many odds. Now it is a great home, catering to the development needs of the young adults, giving them a sense of self respect, pride, making them more independent, apart from teaching them to coexist with love in a large diverse group as brothers and sisters. Umang means zeal, undying passion to achieve. True to its name, both Sulochana madam’s team and the Umang residents display ‘Umang’ in abundant measure. Everytime one visits, one sees growth! We are fortunate to be treated as a part of the Umang family. God Bless Umang!! May there be many more successful milestones in this wonderful journey of life called Umang!!