In 1949, a young lawyer named Murlidhar Devidas Amte — Baba Amte — encountered a man dying of leprosy by the side of the road.
He did not cross to the other side.
He stayed. He sat with the man. He later said: I ran away from that man in my heart, even though I sat with him. And I decided that the running was the thing that needed to die.
He went on to become the founder of Anandwan — the Forest of Joy — in Maharastra. A community of people considered untouchable by society, living with leprosy, which grew into a thriving self-sustaining campus with schools, farms, hospitals, and workshops.
His principle was radical and simple: the person who receives charity without also having the dignity of contribution is being harmed, not helped.
Every person at Anandwan worked. Not because Baba was hard. Because he understood that dignity and dependency cannot coexist. A person with purpose is a different person from a person with only need.
This principle runs through everything we do at Divine Care Foundation.
Mission Pragyachakshu — our work with the visually impaired — is not just about services for blind persons. It is about building capacity, dignity, and contribution. A person who was blind and who now teaches others — that person is not a receiver of charity. That person is a giver.
Mission Youth Empowerment does not hand young people a list of opportunities. It builds the inner infrastructure — confidence, skills, purpose — from which young people generate their own opportunities.
Baba Amte was the guru of dignity in service.
We carry his understanding with us.
