Though deaf Gandesha can ‘hear’ the plight of the poor

Feb 03, 2009

IT all began in Kampala: The experience that brought me into contact with Pragna Gandesha, a simple, but inspiring woman. Gandesha is a Ugandan-Asian working as a financial analyst in the retail credit card arm of Barclays Bank, UK (Barclaycard). She was

Though deaf Gandesha can ‘hear’ the plight of the poor
By Stephen Ssenkaaba

IT all began in Kampala: The experience that brought me into contact with Pragna Gandesha, a simple, but inspiring woman. Gandesha is a Ugandan-Asian working as a financial analyst in the retail credit card arm of Barclays Bank, UK (Barclaycard). She was born deaf, but her parents did not realise it until she was about six.

For sometime, her family lived as refugees in the UK after President Amin expelled the Asians in 1972. She went through a difficult time going to school. People did not easily accept her, perhaps because of her condition.

“One of my teachers once told me that I had to work three or more times as hard as other people to prove my abilities,” she recalls.
All this did not deter her. Today, Gandesha is one of Barclays Bank’s most inspiring figures, revered not just for her dedication and excellence at work, but also for her efforts to help disadvantaged people in her community.

Last year, she won the Barclays Bank Chairman’s Award; an annual honour that celebrates achievements of bank staff who excel in supporting their local communities. Gandesha was recognised for her exemplary service. Her nomination was judged against 311 entries from 24countries around the world.

As part of her reward, Gandesha was given an opportunity to visit Katine sub-county, one of the most deprived areas in Soroti district. Katine benefits from a three-year integrated development project designed to improve the lives of the people. It is jointly supported by the African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), The Guardian newspaper in the UK and Barclays Bank.

For all her achievements, Gandesha is modest at heart - almost childlike in her desire to reach out to others. From her simple dress style to her assuring smile, she comes across as a very likeable person. For three days, I witnessed her generous spirit as she reached out to the disadvantaged children in Soroti’s villages.

Her unflinching zeal to share in their passion, to make a conversation, to return a smile, to lend an ear; even to share her story, springs from the depths of her own experiences. A difficult childhood, rejection and uncertainty about the future, have all been part of Gandesha’s life.

Childhood days in Uganda

Born into a wealthy business family, Gandesha’s life took a sad twist when Amin expelled all resident Asians from Uganda.

“We left behind all our family property - bungalows, farms and a commercial truck,” she recalls. Her father, Pratap Gandesha operated a thriving coal processing business.
In the UK, life was hard. “We were all crammed into one huge camp for days before we moved into a permanent house,” Gandesha says.

It took time before Gandesha’s family settled into a small apartment in Corby, where they survived on handouts as her father looked for a job. He eventually found one as a cleaner at a Weetabix factory, but this did not help matters.
“My father was never happy with his job. He earned very little, barely enough to sustain us. He became increasingly frustrated and eventually quit his job.”

With her father out of work and with her uneducated mother unable to support the family, the Gandeshas survived on welfare state support to low income families. All this took a disastrous toll on her father. He sank into depression and later died. One of her brothers also suffered from depression and later developed mental problems.

The hard school days

Gandesha’s first six years of education in Uganda were disastrous. “I attended a school that did not have facilities for disabled children. The teacher often confined me to a corner of the classroom and asked me to repeatedly write Number 2- for hours, days, terms…” she recalls. “I did not learn anything.”

In the UK, she attended lessons with the help of a hearing aid. Even though she did not learn a lot of English, she read a lot of comic books.

“I had a helpful teacher who paid close attention to me and followed me through the different stages of school.” Pragna later went through speech therapy and with drawing exercises, was able to read and write by the age of 16.

At Tresham College, Kettering, she studied Maths, Science, Accounts, Administration and Typing. Here, she met a German teacher who, despite putting her through rigorous academic drills, shaped her destiny. It was this teacher who got Gandesha a job at Barclays when she completed college 24 years ago.

Gandesha plunged herself in her work, well aware of the challenges it would bring, but she embraced it with zeal. Her first days at work were difficult as she had to use gestures to communicate to colleagues. She could not use a phone, so she walked over to whoever she wanted to talk to. With the supportive management, she was able to acquire type-talk facilities which enable her to communicate easily.
“E-mail has also made life a lot easier,” she says.

Rise to the top

From a data entrant over two decades ago, to financial analyst, she has gone through some of the most demanding responsibilities at Barclays Bank. As an analyst, her work involves handling the Card Scheme Management.

She is also responsible for forecasting, budgeting and raising appropriate accruals from different scheme fees.

Her responsibilities have brought her in touch with disadvantaged people in her community and her work place. From some of her deaf colleagues to disabled children in her neighbourhood, she lends a helping hand to the needy - mentoring and inspiring them.

She is currently involved with charities that rehabilitate deaf and hard-of-hearing children. She organises meeting and learning sessions where her hearing-impaired colleagues meet and work with affected children to improve their image and skills.

Through charities like Talking with Hands, she works with deaf and/or disabled children on creative works and on communication skills to build their self-esteem and social skills, twice a month.

She holds Sign Language tester courses to raise awareness and teach basic sign language to Barclaycard colleagues during her lunch break.

This is what won her acclaim. “Pragna has been a member of my Disability Listening Group for three years. She’s always there. She’s always got good things to say. She is a role model, and we all take pride in her achievements,” John Varley, the Barclays Chief Executive officer said.

It is with the same spirit that she visited disabled children in Ochuloi Primary School and gave them words of encouragement, talked to the poor communities in Tiriri and encouraged the frustrated souls of Amorikot.

It is an experience that she learnt from, but one that made Gandesha’s return to her birth place worthwhile.

“I have been touched with what I saw. I hope my visit will bring a ray of hope to these people.”

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