Deepti Centre
..My other charitable trustee role is with CANDLE which supports supports the Deepti Centre for children with cerebral palsy ain Kerala. The first impression to hit me on arrival in Kerala was the heat , the temperature scarcely falls below 30 at night , which required sleeping directly under the fan at full blast ,with all the windows thrown wide open. At least three showers a day were necessary, and although I was getting more used to the heat at the end of my 5 day stay it was a little enervating.
Yet it was worth enduring , Susan and Matthew have done a tremendous work in setting up this centre , and kind supporters from the UK, Singapore and China have enabled the centre to operate with a Physio (and assistant) , Teacher ( and assistant) , a school bus and a wide range of donated equipment. Caroline Molloy ( chair of CANDLE) was there after hosting a Creative Play workshop with her friend in the previous week ( see Caroline’s excellent blog for details). This enabled us to have some very useful and constructive discussions with Susan and Matthew. A morning ride on the school bus took us through the beautiful Kerala countryside. The most rewarding aspect was spending time with the children who were so responsive to attention. Having seen so many disabled children left to beg in other parts of India it is was very moving seeing the children so well cared for.
It was also great to see Susan, Matthew and family who returned to India from Durham last year. We were very well entertained , and fed great quantities of delicious Keralan food. I had originally thought that this might be a one-off visit on my part, but we have made so welcome that it would be difficult to resist returning .
If you’re interested in learning more about Deepti visit www.candletrust.wordpress.com or contact me or Caroline ( who returns to the UK shortly)
Staff Parents and Children at Deepti
