The Jamdoli Story

A few kilometres out of Jaipur, on the Agra road, is the government home at Jamdoli for children with intellectual disabilities. Around 250 residents live there, brought from every part of India. The Foundation's work in Jaipur began here, and in many ways this is still where its heart is.

"This whole journey began with the vision and inspiration of my mother, Rashida Suterwalla," our founder writes. "It was her dream to provide a place for those less fortunate, somewhere they could have hope and something to look forward to. My brother and I grew up with parents who made charity the first principle of life. I am merely carrying out the vision my mother put together."

In September 2016, at a meeting with the then Chief Minister of Rajasthan, the family spoke of its intention to take up charitable work in Jaipur. The Chief Minister pointed them to one project in particular. A tragedy at the Jamdoli home, in which twelve children had lost their lives within days, had left it in urgent need of funds and of change. The family went to see it. They have been going back ever since.

The work was practical from the first day. More than eighty beds with reclining systems and mattresses. Furniture, blackboards, coolers and curtains for the classrooms. A proper medical room with equipment for immediate care. A commercial washer plant for the laundry. A borewell and a reverse osmosis plant, so that unsafe water would never again put the children at risk. A chimney for the kitchen, tables and chairs for meals, and bright posters on the walls.

Much of it was handled in person. "I personally meet the suppliers and contractors and negotiate the items required for the school, whether it be beds, tables or a playground," Taher says. "I ask them to join me on a school visit, and many times that encourages them to donate too, by removing their profit margins."

His own summary of those first years says it best: from eating on the floor to eating at tables and chairs; from sleeping on the floor to comfortable beds and mattresses; from washing clothes by hand to a commercial washer plant; from bare rooms to decorated classrooms with desks and coolers.

His brother puts the family's belief plainly. "Charity is not an optional extra in society. Too often, even in this day and age, children with special needs are set apart and excluded. They are made to feel there is no place for them, that they do not count, that they have nothing to contribute. That attitude is a grave disservice to these beautiful children, and it is simply not true."

"My ability is stronger than my disability." A line from the children of Jamdoli that the family carries home after every visit. The work has never stopped. Over the years the family's support has widened across the Swayamsiddha campus: the children's home, the special school, and the old age home at the Apna Ghar Ashram, with an 80 bed building of its own. And in April 2026, on the birth anniversary of Dr B. R. Ambedkar, the Honourable Chief Minister of Rajasthan inaugurated its newest chapter, the Forever Learning Centre: a library of 482 books, 150 reading seats and 12 computers for the children and women of the campus. Ten years after a tragedy first brought the family to Jamdoli, the same ground now holds a mini-campus built entirely for its future.