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HRDC | Children's
Home | Shanti Sewa Griha | Rokpa
International
The Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children (HRDC) All
Together Now International has been helping for several years to fund
Nepal's first and only spinal surgical center for children, the Hospital
and Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children (HRDC), located near Kathmandu
in Banepa, Kavre, Nepal. HRDC's objective is to identify spine problems
early during childhood, and to institute effective management plans for
these young patients. The Centre's efforts are focused on very poor children,
most of whom are less than 16 years old. In addition to dealing with the
spinal disease processes occurring in their bodies, these children also
deal with severe socioeconomic disadvantages and the social stigma that
accompanies all of this.
The HRDC spine program involves center based screening, case selection,
patient management including operative and non-operative treatment, a
special spine clinic for surgical intervention when necessary, and requisite
patient follow-up. Additionally, HRDC operates 50 mobile clinics each
year that travel to remote parts of Nepal. Several suspected cases
of spinal disease have been identified and recommendations for further investigation
have been made. Also, a school screening program has been implemented to look
for cases for early intervention and to explore the epidemiology of spine
problems in Nepal.
HRDC has made great strides in the recognition and intervention of spinal
disorders in Nepal. During the last four years, more than 100 children with spine
problem have been
treated, ten schools have been screened, with a total
of 9,397 students being evaluated. The spine program has accomplished
many goals and has shown promising results. However, HRDC aspires to reach
and treat more children by: developing programs to continue spinal screening,
introducing new screening methods, training CBR (community based rehabilitation)
workers, recruiting spinal registrars, enhancing the skills of all the
staff, and acquiring new equipment and instruments.
HRDC relies heavily on the donations provided by ATNI to support existing
and future programs that are helping to make a difference in the lives
of so many disabled children.
Located in Kathmandu, Nepal, Shanti Sewa Griha (Peaceful Helping Home)
is the name of our leprosy and medical clinic project, where some of the
most desperate patients are helped. Leprosy still carries a terrible stigma,
and so the afflicted are not only sick, they are social outcasts cut off
from any contact with their community. Leprosy is curable, however, and
the afflicted individuals can receive vocational training despite disfigurement
and the loss of fingers that sometimes occurs. Shanti trains the patients
in weaving, knitting, and other art forms so they can be productive and
self-sustaining. Given medical treatment, job training, respect and love,
these former outcasts are offered the chance to live a meaningful life.
The Shanti Sewa Griha facilities include a community clinic, leprosy
clinic, handicrafts center, community kitchen, and a preschool and kindergarten.
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Rokpa means 'help' in Tibetan. Based in Switzerland, the Rokpa International
organization has 18 branches around the world. Akong Tulku Rinpoche and
Swiss actress Lea Wyler founded Rokpa in 1980. All Together Now International
supports the branch in Boudha, Kathmandu, which features a residence for
children from the street, a soup kitchen that feeds the homeless during
winter, a medical clinic, and a clothes depot. Rokpa has also initiated
a sponsorship program within which children receive financial and material
support to better provide for their living and education.
Through a special partnership with Shanti Sewa Griha, the children's
mothers take part in workshops to learn useful skills such as sewing,
in order to improve living situations at home. At this time, more than
fifty children who were orphaned, working in carpet factories, begging,
or starving on the streets are living at the Rokpa Nepal Children's Home.
These children receive food and lodging, education, and health care at
the residence. A project to develop a Rokpa village complete with workshops,
housing, and a garden is ongoing.
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