In the "Valley of Gods", discover and follow the progress of the Handimachal programme for special-need children in Kullu (Himachal Pradesh, India).
On 9 September 2009, after six months of operation, the Handimachal Kullu Thearpy Unit for differently-abled children was inaugurated by Mr Nanta, DC Kullu (Himachal Pradesh, India). The presence of the new Deputy Commissioner of Kullu district, of the...
Since I came back to France one month ago, the daily routine of life and work in Paris has taken back its rights and leave less time for blog writing. Nevertheless, far away from us, in Kullu, our small Handimachal Kullu Therapy Unit is keeping up its...
23 November: this morning Evert sent me very positive news regarding activities carried out in the Handimachal Kullu Therapy Unit last week. Our team attended the D istrict Sports Event for Differently-Abled Children organized by the local welfare office...
On 17 February, the Handimachal team in Kullu organised a farewell party for Evert at the end of his six month mission. His mother and his girlfriend Daniela (a speech therapist) were there, as well as some local volunteers such as our friend Hem Raj...
Last Thursday I received this photograph of Vaishali, a 7 year old CP girl we have been taking care of since December 2009 (Evert, you will like this picture, I am sure!). I love Vaishali's smiling face, this ray of happiness and energy she is throwing...
Back in the UK after my 3 months working with the Handimachal project, my head is still full of it! Apart from supporting the ongoing work of the local therapy team, my particular task agreed with Dominique Dufau had been to contribute to the development...
In order to give you a glimpse of what happens in the Handimachal Unit on a daily basis, I have requested Mayur, our new physiotherapist, to introduce part of his activity in relation to some selected children who are representatives of the many disability...
When starting in the Handimachal unit 3 months ago I was really interested to look at the different varieties of seating available for the children, most have been designed by previous volunteers and Shruti, and are either a corner type chair or a made...
I am writing this blog on the first rainy day of winter, which also happens to be Disability Day at the Unit. Balloons and streamers decorate the Unit and now we wait for children, though it’s been raining hard throughout the night. Due to the dust, we...
Last Thursday was Holi in India, the religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus, also known as "festival of colours". As the Wikipedia encyclopedia states: “One of Holi’s biggest customs is the loosening strictness of social structures, which normally...
Our new OT volunteer, Sara Vinther Fredslund, who has agreed to give six months of her life to the Handimachal project, joined our team on 1st March. As you will see her perception of local life has already tought her the most important concept in Indian...
Article written by Evert, posted on his blog It’s Lori, a festival originated from Punjab , where everywhere fires are lit, peanuts are eaten and children come past the doors singing and asking for sweets and rupees. All these festivals. Yesterday we...
I am very lucky to be able to do home visits every Wednesday in Kullu area. This is a very enriching experience for an occupational therapist, as the approach is so different to what we usually do in Europe! On 3 June we went to Abhishek’s house. Abhishek...
On 20 April, I published a post on the French blog to relate the generous and altruistic initiative organised by one of my French friends, Jacques Crespy (whom I met during my first visit in the Himalayas in 1998) on his retirement party: instead of receiving...
To all the friends and supporters of the Handimachal project, I wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous life in 2011, may all your dreams and projects become reality in this world. All my gratitude to you who have helped us establishing the basis...
Dear friends of the Handimachal project! Field work in India and “blogging” are not always compatible – I really experienced this reality this summer, when, further to my delayed return from Zanskar and Ladakh, I spent the three remaining weeks sharing...
Last year I could not honor Yuv Raj’s invitation to visit his village and family house in Lahashni village: this time, in spite of my very tight schedule, no way to refuse! So here we are, after work, in local buses up to a village at the entrance of...
This Sunday 11 April was probably one of the most memorable days of my short stay in the valley as the Handimachal team held its monthly awareness camp in Manali, in the main playing ground of the Government Senior Secondary School. Our friend Raju monitored...
This is the title of a poem written by Arjita Singh, a journalist who came to give some of her time during her recent holiday in the Kullu valley. Arjita notably translated in hindi and designed some leaflets which are meant to give simple but efficient...
Thanks to a donation made by a small Dutch foundation, we have now engaged in a programme of home-based treatment in order to reach the maximum disabled children, notably in remote villages of the district which may not be linked to the valley by any...
Since Severine returned from her travels I have been focusing on developing the work started by the previous volunteer Emma Angebaud, in Nav-Chetna School. I will be returning to work in the Unit full-time after December, so my time at Nav-Chetna is unfortunately...
There are numerous ways of expressing happiness wishes at the beginning of a new year. People have so many different expectations in their life, how to address them on a blog? Finally, Evert, our occupational therapist from the Netherlands, gave me a...
This is a (late) translation of a text posted on the French blog on 21 March 2011 28 February, around 5 am, the night is black and freezing cold… The night bus between Delhi and Kullu just broke a record, covering the distance in just 11 hours instead...
My last days in the Handimachal Unit have come far sooner then I imagined. The last few weeks have been a time of change and growth for the Unit and the increased numbers of children attending have kept our days busy. We welcomed our permanent OT Shruti...
Arriving in Kullu at the beginning of February my first impressions were slightly skewed as the entire first week was spent with non-stop heavy rainfall, snowfall on the upper valleys, occasional bouts of electricity and hardly any children coming in...
