One of the main projects supported at present in Kerala by Health help International is the Happy Valley Special Needs School in Nedumangad. The present school building provides the base for the Banyan Trees operations in Kerala and from here Philip Mathew, successor to Tom Sutherland is spearheading HHI’s activities in southern India.
Philip and his team of ten staff at the school care for upwards of thirty handicapped children and young men and woman suffering from a variety of life limiting physical and medical disabilities.
These young people are brought to the school each morning and returned home later in the day using two people carriers with each of them usually having to make two journeys each time.
One of them is nearing the end of its useful life and is falling apart due to the dreadful state of the roads in Kerala. Without these means of transport these young people would be unable to receive the education and treatment which Philip and his team provide for them.
SFHHI has already raised or had commitments for a large part of the £16,000 needed to buy the bus but due to the lockdown and present restrictions some of our fund-raising plans have had to be shelved meantime.