FS: Divya’s Secret Gift

Flat Sujata is a little girl who, like Flat Stanley, is as thin as a piece of paper because she got flattened by a box of mangoes. Flat Sujata moved to Mukti Mission where she loves her new life and all the friends she has made. These stories will help you understand what life is like for children at the Mission – children about the same age as YOU! We hope that you enjoy these stories of Flat Sujata and her friends so that you can pray for them every day. *Note: These stories are inspired by real-life stories from Mukti Mission.

“Oh, Flat Sujata,” moaned Sami, her best friend. “I’m so bored. Nothing exciting ever happens here.”

“That’s not true,” responded Flat Sujata.

“Tell me something exciting that happened today then,” insisted Sami. Flat Sujata sat thoughtfully for a minute and then her face brightened.

“Ms. Rao told me something exciting,” stated Flat Sujata boldly.

“Who’s Ms. Rao?”

“She works in Mukti’s Special Needs School and she told me about Divya.”

“I know Divya,” Samil noted. “What’s so exciting about her?”

“Let me tell you the story that Ms, Rao told me.”

“Okay,” agreed Sami a little more interestedly.

“Ms. Rao was reading to the girls who attend the school….”

“And they lived happily ever after,” said Ms. Rao as she finished reading the fairy tale to her Mukti daughters. The girls always enjoyed hearing Ms. Rao read stories to them before bedtime; every night, they would pick up the book she read to practice reading as they looked at the colorful pictures. Divya watched her Mukti sisters gather together and take turns reading a page. Even though her sisters invited her to sit with them, she was sad.

“I wish I knew how to read, Mother Rao,” Divya said to her house mother, “Braille is for blind people. But can a deaf person like me read?”

Ms. Rao listened and smiled; Divya’s question gave her an idea! And 8-year-old Divya did not know that this idea would help her help others!

Soon Divya mastered sign language and lip reading, Ms. Rao introduced her to teachers at Mukti Mission who would help her learn how to read. Divya has partial deafness, so she had to use sign language, lip reading, letter cards, and the bit of hearing she still had to learn to read. As years passed by, she became a great reader and was even able to read to her Mukti sisters! But Divya, who is now 16 years old, did not want to stop learning. She knew that reading as a partially deaf person was an important skill. She told Ms. Rao and other Mukti staff that she can help others learn the same!

That’s when Divya was asked to be a tutor at Mukti Mission! Her first student was a completely deaf 10-year-old boy, Aman. She taught him to learn how to read. Aman liked Divya because she understood how difficult it felt to be deaf, and his teachers knew he needed extra help. After 3 months of tutoring, Aman was already showing progress! He was proud of himself, and Divya was so happy that she could help him. Divya is becoming a gifted teacher!

“That’s amazing,” Sami exclaimed. “I didn’t know that Divya had struggled so much.”

“It’s not easy being deaf,” agreed Flat Sujata.

“Thanks for reminding me that even though I am bored there are lots of things that God is doing in people around me.”

“That’s okay, Sami. I guess we always need to remember that life isn’t always about me.” Flat Sujata smiled at her friend Sami and they got up to go visit Divya at the Special Needs School.

Names changed for privacy and security. Images representative.