Santhi Sansar - Health Care Project Lift Off
Our first Health Care volunteer has arrived in Pokhara which
has finally given us a chance to get our new project off the ground. We have been welcomed into Santh Sansar, a
centre to help those with Cerebal Palsy, by the staff and students that attend. The centre has a school bus that picks up the
students each day so that they can attend basic lessons, have physio, and
socialize with others in similar circumstances.
This also helps give families a break and some much needed support. There is not a lot of help for families with children that have special
needs here in Nepal and the management
at Santhi Sansar do their best to keep it affordable for those families with
little or no money.
The centre was being funded by a group in Europe, but due to
the financial situation at the moment, they have had to drasticly reduce their
funding and Santhi Sansar is left wondering if they will be able to continue
helping so many students from month to month.
They have had to cut back their budget which unfortunatley has also
included staff wages. Many staff have
had to leave, and those that can afford to get by have stayed on as volunteers.
The staff at the centre are amazing and where quick to
invite us to there annual picnic for the students and their families. Normally this picnic is put on and paid for
by the centre and is held outside of the school grounds as an excursion. This year, however, the centre was not able
to afford such a luxury and the picnic looked like it would be cancelled
completely. The parents got together and
told the staff that this was a day that they and their children wanted and
needed to spend with the staff and other families going through the same
issues. They came up with the idea of
the centre charging a small fee for lunch (just enough to cover the cost of the
food) and hold games that people could pay to play to help with a little
fundraising. The picnic was also held at
the centre to cut out transportation costs.
100 people attended the small grounds at Santhi Sansar and
fun was had by all. After a few
traditional Nepali games (which of course Ruth, Lok, and myself joined in),
people began to showcase their traditional Nepali dancing as well. Since they had put on a great dancing show it
was decided that Ruth and I should get up and show them some western dancing. We did the only thing we knew how……..
nightclub moves! Luckily our audience
was completely amused and a few of the teachers got up and joined in to help us
out. Then a few parents stepped in and
showed us some wonderful Nepali moves (which we definitely need to practice),
and finally lunch was called (thank goodness!).
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