MEND

In a rural village 35kms from the summer capital, Srinagar,  click here for map  MEND has helped our partner; Hope Centre, to build and run a modern rehabilitation centre that is quickly establishing itself as an innovative and effective place for disabled children to regain their mobility and independence.

Webby Talents has a movie here about the Centre

Here is a recent Internet News Article : http://thewip.net/contributors/2009/03/promoting_selfhelp_not_sympath.html

Combining special schooling with intensive physiotherapy Hope Centre has 20 'day students' who are collected each morning in a van that was donated by the Indian Army. Hope Centre has 250 registered members of all ages and disabilities including deaf, blind, cerebral palsy, post-polio, birth defects, war injuries, accidents and mentally challenged.

She Hope Society was  registered in 1999 as a society to assist disabled and disadvantaged people of   Kashmir to live independently and with dignity through rehabilitation programmes involving corrective surgery, mobility, skills’ training and employment, small business development supported by a micro-loan scheme, awareness-raising, advocacy, access and human rights.      She Hope has established itself as a leading, transparent, innovative NGO that is effectively targeting and uplifting many neglected and poor disabled persons, in  remote regions of the Kashmir Valley where the number of disabled persons grew rapidly during the 16 years (1991- 2007)  of militancy which caused government medical services and trained personnel to retreat back to the city of Srinagar  to avoid exposure to terrorism.  Militancy also caused Kashmiris to socially close up and physically avoid seeking help on dangerous,  curfewed roads. Although no accurate survey has been carried out to determine  the exact number and types of of disabled persons in Kashmir it is estimated that about 20,000 people urgently await basic assessment and  rehabilitation.

In Kashmir, causes of  disability include  cerebral palsy, polio, war injuries, accidents, hearing, speech and sight loss, birth deformities, burns, surgical and medical  errors and mental problems. Due to lack of mobility, poverty, low status in the family, and parental apathy, few disabled youths and children attend any school.

"We don't have and big donors and we don't have any government help over here to rehabilitate disabled children", explains 27-year-old physiotherapist Sami Wani. Social factors such as poverty and prejudice add to the problem.

Hope Centre also provides basic education and micro-loans to give its patients a leg-up onto the next rung of independence. In just two years of operation the Centre has helped some 700 disabled people - and Sami has big plans to start another centre in a more remote area of Kashmir.

Hope Centre is located in Wayil, Gandarbal, 25 km from Srinigar on the way to Ladak.  Click here  for a map of the area, and here  for a global zoom into Kashmir, thanks to Google Earth and Webby Talents.

And here is the link to the BBC World Challenge site, where The Hope Disability Centre was a finalist in 2008: http://www.webbytalents.com/play.php?vid=568

Hope Centre Visitor & Vol info Feb 2010.doc

Hope Centre VolunteerApplicationForm.doc

VolunteerApplicationForm.doc

Please save then complete the form.

 E-mail to the following address.

hdcwayil@yahoo.com

Hope Kashmir Annual Report 2007-8.pdf

In 2007, the Hope Centre began an outreach project in the  Kupwara District; a remote farming district near the Indo-Pakistan border that has had 17 years of militancy and also damage from the 2005 earthquake. This effort was sponsored by the Abilis Foundation http://www.abilis.fi/index.php?lang=1&main=1&level=1 , with a generous grant of $15,000.

Progress so far includes:  Assessed 500 disabled persons. Rehabilitated 75 kids and youth. . Provided wheelchairs, crutches, callipers & prostheses  to 60 beneficiaries.. Organised 17 cases for corrective surgery. Provided  special schooling and  regular  physiotherapy. Set up skills’ training of members, supported by a micro-loan scheme

If the local community donates Hope suitable land a permanent Centre will be built in Kupwara in 2009. 

MEND's goal is to have a rehabilitation centre in every district in the Kashmir Valley. There are 10 districts.  Each rehabilitation centre would have two physiotherapists. We could help 1000 new children every year.  Because of the ongoing conflict in the Kashmir Valley, there are few medical centres left. There are an estimated 200 physiotherapists, and no jobs for them. With a relatively small investment, we could put these physios to work and greatly improve thousands of lives in the Kashmir Valley.