Kashmir Late May 2

The Younger The Better
I have learned from working with Sami that it is far easier to fix a bone deformity early in life. So he focuses his efforts and his limited resources on finding the children whose disability can be reversed by relatively simple surgery while they are still quite young, as this patient in the photo. And education is important, too, so that some deformities can be prevented before birth. I recently came across an article which said that no polio cases have been reported in Kashmir in the past 8 years because of a World Health funded vaccination programme. I sent it to Sami for his comment. Most of Sami's patients are polio victims, so either the article is wrong, or I haven't been paying close attention to the age of Sami's patients.

Visitor from Jammu
One day we had a visit from a man from several hundred kilometers away - from Jammu, in the southern region of Kashmir. This state of India is called J & K: Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu is the wintering area of the Gujar people - warm and flat. Our visitor had had an accident and lost his leg. He had heard about Sami and came to get help with a couple of his friends. Sami took a good look at his stump and advised him on exercises to strengthen the muscles so he could wear a prosthesis. They gave Sami a most welcome donation of 2500 rupees ($50 US) as they left.

During the visit of Handicap International, Andy and I and Wes and Mathieu rode with the creche students back to their homes in the van/ambulance to drop them off. We saw where they lived, and got to see a few family members. Mubeena, the girl who had lived in a corner of a room for the first 18 years of her life, was photographed by Andy in her room. Here they are reviewing the photos he took of her. She is so full of joy, and so intelligent, and so happy to be experiencing life outside her room.

Sunday cleaning
I find that Sundays are the best days for me to help with cleaning. There are no staff, no children, no visitors, and it is really the only time the floors can be washed without a lot of foot traffic. So a couple of times I have washed the floors of the centre. Sami wants me to leave it to the cleaner, but she typically only sweeps, not scrubs. Here I am sweeping in preparation for scrubbing the floors.

One day I was walking to a village to visit some disabled people. Sami was ahead of me, and these ladies were on the footpath. One of them asked me to take a photo of them. Why not? Typical village ladies heading out to do some shopping, perhaps. They were very good natured, and happy just to see their photo in my camera.