On OPD days at the B J Wadia Hospital, Mumbai, excitement in the RMHC Family Room is at its peak. Kids and parents huddle together to sing old and new songs with Rakesh Bahwa, a music teacher and a volunteer at RMHC India, a subsidiary of Westlife Development Ltd.
Bahwa has been associated with the Wadia Hospital for the last four years now. On OPD days, kids and their parents wait for their doctors or their blood sample to be taken for tests at the hospital. Bahwa’s music sessions keep them engaged during these hours.
Talking about how it all started, Bahwa says that he used to think that cancer was something to be afraid of. But when he first met kids at the Wadia Hospital on ‘Rose Day’, things changed for him. “These kids were singing and dancing and it was a revelation to me. I realised that cancer is not to be feared. It is like any other disease which can be cured if proper treatment is given. So while we are here, why shouldn’t we have some fun?” he says.
“When you start something like this, you begin with the thought of giving something back to society. But once you start doing it, you realise you are getting much more than what you are capable of giving. The love that I get from these children is something I will never get anywhere else,” he adds.
Bahwa has been taking these music sessions with the kids for four years now and his experience at the new Ronald McDonalds Family Room has been good. “The Ronald McDonald Family Room is bigger. More children can participate. There is an AC as well. We like it here,” he says.
