Day 13 Wednesday 21st February 2024

Wednesday was our last day in India.

After some last minute shopping we went back to Happy Valley for a final few hours, giving us a chance to get to know some more of the children.

Annisery suffers from Cerebral Palsy.  When she came to Happy Valley one side (leg and arm) was disabled, but physiotherapy has rectified this.  She also needed a heart operation.  She continues to suffer from autism and a low IQ.  Her mother also has a low IQ, and her father ran off when she was born – sadly, a common reaction to a disabled child in India.  She originally came to Happy Valley in 2016-2018, but then went to a government school which failed to cater for her needs, so she has recently returned to Happy Valley where proper special needs teaching has enabled her to learn the alphabet (no mean feat – it has several hundred symbols), basic arithmetic and the ability to understand simple words.  This does illustrate so well the benefits of flexible and tailored special needs provision, something that Happy Valley does so well and government schools do much less well.

Annisery

Amina has Down’s syndrome, which was compounded by a stroke last year which has left one side of her paralysed.  Physiotherapy has enabled her to recover some movement in the arm and leg affected; the hope is that this will improve with further attention.  She also has a dropped foot which is being corrected by means of an orthopaedic boot.

Amina

Vishnu has now learned how to feed himself – a great boon for him and his hard pressed family.

Vishnu

We rounded off our visit with a relaxing couple of hours at the beach, watching the boats launching for their evening’s fishing.  Then it was time for the long trek home – and the shock of a cold wet British winter that we had almost forgotten about.

On the beach