A Much Needed Outreach

 

Background

In recent years the unmet needs of special needs children in India became very clear to us. As a result, we began seeking ways to reach out to such children who live in the villages around our His Rest Retreat Centre. Here is a report of what happened in the last half of 2022:

Thus far we have discovered 25 of these children. Their needs include hearing and speech impairments, mild to severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, and physical disabilities. Most have parents who are close blood relatives. The families are very poor, and most are day laborers. The challenges of caring for these children have left the parents physically and mentally exhausted. They need encouragement, prayer support, counseling, and financial help. To date, we have conducted three one-day camps to address the needs of the children and their parents. Here are some of their stories:

Ritheesh (3) & Lishanth (1)

These brothers have intellectual and developmental disabilities. Their older brother Guna is in 5th grade in a regular school. Their father is a day laborer while the mother is caregiver for the boys. They are very poor and live in a one room house with a tin roof. Both Ritheesh and Lishanth need special training. The mother and the two younger boys attended our one-day camps and took part in all the learning activities.

Singaperumal (5)

Singaperumal lives with his parents and grandparents in a concrete house. His father is working for daily wages. His mother is a homemaker. His two older brothers are in fourth grade and sixth grade in regular school. Singaperumal can interact with others but cannot walk and cannot sit without support. We believe physical therapy will help the child. With regular therapy he may be able to walk. If some support like groceries for the family and clothing for Singaperumal are given, it will be a great benefit for them.

Nagaraj  (7)

Nagaraj is in second grade and lives with his parents. His older brother is in fourth grade. Their father is a day laborer. His mother is a homemaker. His parents are close blood relatives. Nagaraj’s major issue is that he does not have a thumb on either hand. He struggles a lot to hold a pencil. His mother reported that if he writes for a long time, he cries due to pain. He could be trained to hold a pencil in a good way to help him write without pain. Physical therapy will be very helpful to the child. The family also needs assistance with groceries and school uniforms..

Akilesh (7)

Akilesh lives with his parents in a tiled roof house. His father works for daily wages. His mother works at our Retreat Centre campus. He has an older sister who is in fifth grade in regular school. Akilesh has had hearing and speech disabilities from birth. In his first year, he had surgery to implant a hearing aid. But when we saw him at school, he didn’t speak with us. His teacher reported he does not speak, and they don’t know if he can hear or not. Learning sign language will help him immensely so he can communicate with others. Groceries and school uniforms will also help the family..

Sokkamal (15)

Sokkamal is severely disabled. She cannot do anything on her own; her mother feeds and cleans her. Two younger brothers attend regular school. The parents are very poor and are exhausted taking care of a child with special needs. As a result, Sokkamal is neglected by her family. When our team visited her, she was not fully dressed, was dirty and had skin problems. The family lives in a mud house with no facilities. We plan to help with medical care for the child, and clothing and groceries for the family. We are encouraging them to take better care of Sokkamal. Counselling and prayer support will help them also.

Vishvanath (10)

Vishvanath has intellectual and developmental disabilities. He often has epileptic seizures and suffers from lack of sleep. He has a 12-year-old brother who is in regular school. The mother is a day laborer and is taking care of both her sons. The father has abandoned the family. Vishvanath and his mother came to our one-day camps. He participated in learning activities such as eating on his own, washing his hands, sitting down, getting up, walking without help, and games to improve hand-eye coordination. His mother was encouraged through counselling and prayer.