Page 12 - Up_and_Aware_Class_5

Father: (surprised) Really? It is such a huge campus.

Old man: Yes. Its foundation was laid in 1954.

Father: I know that it is quite old.

Old man: Now the campus consists of two hospitals, a university, an orphanage,

a school for the visually-impaired and several departments. The
ashram is a self-sufficient unit and about 5000 people are dependent

on it for livelihood.

Anu: (curiously) Why did Baba Amte start it?

Old man: (smiling) He wanted to work for the people suffering from leprosy. In

those times, nobody even touched such patients. Baba Amte started
11 weekly clinics around Warora and later started Anandwan.

Anu: Was he also from a poor family?

Old man: No, not at all. He belonged to a family of landlords but he was

compassionate towards people. He was so distressed by the poverty

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