Community Report


He was born a blue baby, seven months premature, put on a ventilator for days at a stretch with little hope of recovery.
At birth, he weighed 1 kilo and 160 grams — about the size of a broiler chicken. He now weighs a lot healthier.
“We’re sorry Mr Sukumaran, but we don’t think your son is going to be able to do anything productive in his life; he has cerebral palsy” — these were the first words my parents heard and are echoed in my medical report of 1991...”.
Thus spoke Sujit Sukumaran, the youngest Distinguished Toastmaster in the Middle East, who conducted a grand workshop “Discover Ability” recently at the Oryx Rotana, Qatar.
This event of DIVISION E Qatar was organised by Area-12 & 18. Area Governors Thayalan and Juttal Paul co-ordinated the event along with Division-E Governor Saquib Raza Khan and Assistant Division Governor Education and Training Nasimudheen A Hameed.
It was difficult for one to imagine how much courage and determination must have gone in the making of Sujit Sukumaran.
He was on a two-day trip to Qatar, managing to rub off some inspiration where ever he went. First, he conducted a workshop called “Discoverability and Competition Dynamic” and followed it up another one called “Way to DTM”. DTM is the highest educational achievement or in other words the pinnacle of Toastmasters Learning.  
DTM Sujit Sukumaran’s feat in transforming his disability into ability is remarkable. Seeing him command the stage with his powerful words and captivate the attention of 185-strong audience one would stop to think if this he was the same gentleman, who, couldn’t even stand and used to crawl using his hands.
He is a professional with more than six years’ experience in operational and strategic HR; his prior training assignments include coaching assignments for large corporates, psychometric testing module design, leadership and communication training. He is a TED speaker and a Dubai Quality Group Awardee for Innovation in Training.
On the community front, he is a founding member of the Society for Advocacy and Awareness Towards Holistic Inclusion (SAATHI) a non-profit disability rehabilitation formed under the aegis of the Indian Consulate of UAE, where he leads the advocacy initiative for people with disability, himself being a cerebral palsy survivor.
The first workshop was divided into two segments where, the first half was dedicated to “Discover Ability” and the second half “Competition Dynamics”. Although this workshop was organised for the benefit of the toastmaster’s fraternity in Qatar, there were many non-toastmasters, who attended as guests.
As Sujit Sukumaran quoted, “Disability can be broken in Discoverable Ability” and you can only imagine how inspiring the first half of the session was when it came from a person who discovered ability out of his disability.
Everyone has 24 hours in a day, not a second less or more. What matters is how determined we are to do something different and stand apart. His talk revolved around finding one’s special ability within the toastmaster’s culture that can be cultivated into strength. He inspired people to indulge more in activities of toastmasters and relish the abundant benefits.
Some of his memorable quotes: “Never forget to thank the people who helped you become better in toastmasters, they could be your mentor or a fellow toastmaster,” and “If you dare to aspire, be prepared to perspire.”
After a sumptuous break, the workshop reconvened to start another exciting session called “Competition Dynamics”. This was like a crash course in becoming the world champion of public speaking.
Sujit let out the secret to win an International Speech Contest in just 40 minutes. Many people are born speakers. However, how to conquer the number one fear in the world — public speaking — is no longer an alien technology. Dr Ralph Smedley started toastmasters’ movement 89 years ago in a small basement of YMCA. Believe it or not, millions have benefited from toastmasters since then. Sujit dismantled a speech structure to bare nuts and bolts and explained what a winning speech should look like. It was a real eye-opener for many.
Aspects such as content, delivery and language were elucidated. In a toastmaster International Speech Contest, content carries 50% marks, delivery carries 30% marks and language carries 20% marks. Well, if you wish to speak like Obama, go the toastmasters’ way.
At this function, the Assistant Division Governor for Education and Training TM Nasimudheen Hameed announced the names of seven clubs, which had reached distinguished club status. The club presidents were called on stage and given a certificate. A toastmaster club has a yardstick called Distinguished Club Program where a club aims to achieve 10 out of 10 points to be in the Presidents Distinguished Club. However, reaching a minimum of five out of ten make a club ‘Distinguished Club’. The clubs, which were awarded on that day, were Doha Toastmasters, Qatar Toastmasters, ICC Eves, KMCA Toastmasters, Filcom Toastmasters, EF Toastmasters and Dukhan Toastmasters.
The following day, a special workshop by DTM Sujit was organised for those toastmasters, who had completed their basic communication manual in toastmasters called the “Competent Communicator” and were looking forward to choose from the 15 different advanced manuals. It is believed that the real toastmaster stuff happens during the advanced communication series and the competent communicator is just elementary. There are varieties of manuals available to a competent communicator such as special occasion speeches, talking on a television channel, technical presentations, persuasively speaking, humorously speaking etc.
The level of learning one can get for just $72 a year is noteworthy. This workshop enabled many to decide on their next manual or many to act on their current manual.
Area 12 Governor TM Thayalan and Area 18 Governor TM Juttas Paul thanked their respective area councils and congratulated them for a job well done. Division E Governor TM Saquib Raza Khan said both the workshops were conducted to incubate champion speakers among the toastmasters in Qatar and a stepping stone towards bringing out the champion of public speaking from Qatar. He had announced that something big was on its way in first workshop on September 27 and it did arrive with a bang. Yet again during the workshop on November 8, he promised the toastmasters another grand workshop soon.

Instilling hope at Hope Qatar
On the morning of November 9, Division E organised a visit to the organisation for children with special needs.
Officials from Division E and Sujit Sukumaran visited HOPE Qatar and offered very educative counseling to children and parents. HOPE Qatar is a private, non-profit training centre that provides meaningful and affordable training in a caring atmosphere that focuses on bringing out the best in each child.
A testimonial on their website from none other than Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh says, “You are doing God’s work on earth. Keep it up”. HOPE Qatar has been operating in Doha since 2005 and has been applauded for its services to community by Dr Saif al-Hajari, Vice Chairman of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.
Dr Nizar Kochery President advisory board; Dr Cibi Mathew, Director Hope Qatar; Dr Rajeev Mathew founder and advisory board member co-ordinated this visit.
Many parents were invited to listen to Sujit’s talk on “How to deal with your children with special needs”. Although it was a non-working day for the school, many parents turned up. Sujit inspired and instilled hope in the children of HOPE Qatar. He was a living example of what determination and commitment can do for one. He said, “The first thing in dealing children with special needs is to start treating them as normal”. Sujit also reiterated, “Help them but don’t make them helpless”. He gave few tips and suggestions to the parents which were well received as evident during the Q & A session. He also spoke to the school officials and assured them of his guidance and support even after leaving Qatar.