By Hilary Crowley

Sound Off

Life in rural India

Dec 3, 2019 | 4:08 PM

I just returned from South India a few days ago. I was there checking out Samuha and helping them with their work with children with disability and adults with spinal cord injury. This work is supported by S.O.D.A, Samuha Overseas Development Association, which is a Prince George based charity. I was there for International Children’s Day and they had organized a camp for 50 children and their families. It was a busy time as we helped to individualize the therapy for each child and teach the parents how to manage on a daily basis. It was a residential camp over 5 days.

I also spent time at the spinal cord injury centre, where there were 10 clients with paraplegia. One young man sustained his injury nine years ago and had been in bed at home ever since, suffering from depression. I found this hard to comprehend. How could someone stay in bed for nine years? He had acquired a severe deformity of one hip and was very de-conditioned. We organized an orthopedic consult for him and hopefully he will be able to get corrective surgery for his hip and then be provided with a wheel-chair and undergo some vocational training so he can re-build his life. He had some computer skills so this should be a suitable option for him.

Most people sleep on the floor in rural India and after recovery from acute injury, the client is discharged home with no instructions or follow-up. We built the spinal cord injury unit to address this dilemma so patients can spend three months there and learn self-care skills as well as upper body strengthening exercises. They are provided with a wheel-chair and most of them are given leg braces and crutches for home mobility. Home modifications are made to provide ramp and accessible toilet as needed. Options for vocational training are discussed and facilitated.

While I was there in India, we realized that this was the 25^th anniversary of my involvement with Samuha, a community-based rehabilitation program. They provided a celebration for me for this event and even the State Commissioner for Disability was in attendance.

There have been many changes in India since I first went there in 1994. Polio has been eradicated. The literacy rate has risen from 11% to over 70%. The villages now all have toilets and some individual homes have their own toilet. Most of the ploughing is now done by tractor instead of the single tine plow previously pulled by a pair of oxen. Traffic has increased substantially with many private cars now on the road. Traditional mixed farming has largely been taken over by cash crops such as rice, sunflowers, cotton and sugar-cane. There is still much poverty.

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I took 12 copies of my recently published book, Footsteps to Freedom, with me and presented them to people who were featured in the book. The highlight of the trip was giving Kaveri, who featured on the front cover, her copy. A broad smile spread across her face and her mother proudly showed it to her neighbours. She was a young girl who had a below-knee amputation and Samuha made her a prosthesis and she is now able to walk independently to school and manages well.

Last month Samuha Overseas Development Association (SODA), held our annual fund-raising dinner at the Hart Crown Banquet Hall. Through the generosity of the people of Prince George, Summit Lake and the surrounding community, we raised $20,000.00 which helps to fund Samuha’s disability program. All of these funds raised go directly to Samuha, enabling them to continue their dedicated and much-needed work. Proceeds from my book, Footsteps to Freedom, also goes to help these families provide therapy for their children.