Hope Centre Visitors

Weekdays are very busy at Hope Centre. Regular patients come for physiotherapy, the creche children arrive in the van, and then there are always visitors and people who have heard of the Centre and hope to be helped by Sami. And then there are visits by the Indian military people. They have a lot of time on their hands.

This little girl arrived with her parents one day. Her parents are not poor, but they have found no one who can help their girl, and are hoping Sami can. I know Sami showed the parents some exercises, but I don't know if she will be returning. I loved her outfit.















Rajah comes several times a week to Hope Centre. He contracted polio when he was 8 years old, and lost the use of his legs. The Social Welfare Department gave him his hand cycle, and they give him 300 rupees per month ($10 NZ) to live on. His father is dead, and he has two small brothers and an unmarried sister. The entire family struggles to get by on only 1000 rupees per month, about $20 US. Rajah has picked up some computer training and English along the way. He is bright, and has the potential to run his own business. His goal is to run a shop in his village doing photocopies, filling out forms and letters and e-mails for people in his village. All he needs is a laptop computer, and a printer/scanner. And then he could support his family.





Paraffin Treatment for Arthritis
Lalia, the nurse at Hope Centre, gave a paraffin treatment one day to an elderly gentleman who came to the Centre. I had never seen this done before.

















I am not sure where Sami found these children, but they showed up at Hope Centre one morning with their mother. Sami had made arrangements to them to take a bus into the capital, Srinagar, to be seen by one of his doctor friends. There is something wrong with their eyes.














Rihana showed up one day with her little brother, for some follow up physiotherapy. It was great to see her walking without a cane or any support. And even more wonderful to see her play volleyball with her brother in the front yard of Hope Centre!

You would never know by looking at her that polio had shortened one leg by 5 inches. Her leg was lengthened by the Ilizarov technique, developed in Russia in the 1950s. It has been wonderful to watch the final stages of her recovery during these past couple of months.