Asha Kiran Ashram children are making great progress!
Grace Ministries is coming to the centre three days a week and is gaining knowledge and experience of the centre’s activities, in anticipation of the handover by Pastor Santhosh.
The staff have been joined by a new special needs teacher who also assumes the role of principal. She is well qualified as an M.A. and B.Ed. (Special Education}, and lives nearby. The centre also has a new physiotherapist who will bring a new range of skills to help the children.
On August 15th, the centre celebrated Indian Independence Day. Students and Staff actively participated in that programme.
The children have continued to thrive and develop. One such is Sree Lakshmi, a 17 year old girl, who could do little when I visited at the start of the year and spent her time in a foetal position.
Sree Lakshmi when she arrived
As a result of intensive physiotherapy, including exercises to stretch her muscles, increase the range of movement of her joints and strengthen her spine, training on the parallel bars, and standing and gait training using a KAFO (knee and foot orthosis), she is much improved. She is gradually obeying commands such as to bend and extend her arms, and can standing independently with the support of KAFO for 15 to 20 minutes, walk three meters by holding the horizontal bar, and walk a few steps without support by dragging her feet along the floor.
Sree Lakshmi now in 2023
Often with the children it is simply a matter of one little improvement at a time. Mariya Anthony is a disabled boy, and for him it has simply been learning to feed himself: rolling the rice and curry sauce into a ball and putting it into his mouth. One more thing that he can now do for himself, and one less thing for his parents to have to do for him. Each child is unique, and success comes in all shapes and sizes. We celebrate each one with the children and the staff who make this possible.
An assistant working with Mariya Anthony
The transformative work at Asha Kiran Ashra is due to the generosity of HHI supporters in the UK. We thank you all so much.