Sick & Disabled Children
  
Consultation time in the clinic A mentally ill little girl A little polio patient
The second project of the Tara Foundation has been set up to help totally incapacitated children in Indian's poorest state of Bihar. Initially the help was explicitly oriented to the relief of seriously disabled children. But recently we extended this help to all the children here, at the centre, who urgently need medical care to survive or to recover from serious diseases.
In this project we are co-operating with the Shakyamuni Buddha Health Care Centre at Bodhgaya, a small hospital with a clinic, which is trying to alleviate the suffering of the poor casteless population as much as possible. The clinic works mainly with western volunteers, included trained nurses and doctors, and there is a small Indian staff, for the treatment of many serious illnesses. The treatment team visits some of the villages in the area on a regular basis. Many people walk for hours or even days, with their family members or sick children on their back, to be able to get treatment at these places. Often when they see a doctor here - it's for the first time in their life!
The treatment of the disabled children
Most of the children here are seriously disabled as a result of diseases such as polio, meningitis or bone-tuberculosis, for which many families in poor, rural India still cannot afford a vaccine.
These illnesses are unfortunately still very frequent in this underdeveloped area. Even as recently as a few years ago about 100 children died after an epidemic of contagious meningitis. Because of local government corruption, most of the western aid and vaccination programmes also could not reach the population here in time to save these children.
In many of the cases, the limbs of the disabled children have grown extremely deformed. As a result of this it is not possible for them to walk and even to sit normally.
They are forced to move on their hands and knees over the filthy streets and their only prospect is that of a short and hopeless life as a beggar, living on the streets. Due to lack of funds and resources, only a part of these children can currently be treated in the hospital in Bodhgaya and by the treatment teams in the villages. But this desperate can change, through donations from the west.
In many of the treatments the children's limbs are stretched, thus straightening out, and making more flexible, their bones & muscles. The mothers are also learning to give this stretching treatment, so that they can give it to their children at home, themselves. In this way there is an important continuity of the treatment, between the official treatment days in the clinic, and also helps to create a loving and therapeutic bond between mother and child. If the children's arms and legs can be straightened after some time, the child will get prosthetic limbs and any other appliances necessary for their mobility. If not, then the children's limbs are operated on, and the stretching can usually work quite well. They can then learn to walk, in most cases, for the first time in their short lives.
They are then able to go to a school (of a related organisation) and go on to have a far more happy, independent and fulfilled life.
The hospital has also started a project for health education for the undeveloped population, to help them survive better and to prevent unnecessary pregnancy, illness and death. This is especially relevant, concerning the extremely high mortality rates surrounding childbirth and that of small children in this part of India.
A mentally ill little girl
Boy with prosthesis
For a photo-reportage of this treatment click here
For a photo-reportage of the general work of the treatment team in the village click here
A patient
You can help this work for the sick and disabled children by making a one-off or periodic donation. Periodic donations are particularly useful because they guarantee the continuity of this important work.
We are also looking for qualified doctors, nurses and physiotherapists who can volunteer to help these disadvantaged children, in the clinic at Bodhgaya, in India. So if you're qualified, motivated and would like to help these kids and their families, and have the experience of a lifetime, get in touch with us. (This type of voluntary work will also look very good on your CV!)
To sponsor this project click here.)
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