Alencode, Kanyakumari District, India

The Church of South India Rehabilitation and Training Center, located in Southern India, provides care for children with polio, a highly infectious and debilitating disease that is finally close to disappearing from India. Despite a large polio outbreak in 2002, intensive vaccination efforts have brought the disease under control. India is on track to stop polio transmission by the end of 2004. This is a great public health achievement, but thousands of Indian children live today with paralysis caused by polio.
The C.S.I. Rehabilitation and Training Center was founded in 1981 as the C.S.I. Home for Polio Children by Global Ministries partner church, the Church of South India. In 1982, the Center added a primary school. The Center’s services were expanded in 1985 when a physiotherapy unit and an orthopedic splint unit were established.

The Center’s primary areas of work are:

To provide residential care to physically disabled children.
To educate and develop the children academically, socially, and spiritually.
To rehabilitate the children physically and mentally and enable them to face life’s situations.
To provide vocational training, counseling, and placement services.
To make the community aware of the crippling disease, polio, and build resources through cash, in-kind, and human contributions to address its effects.

One hundred seven children from the Center were enrolled in school in 2004. The largest concentration of students is in the seventh to tenth grades. The staff of 20 provides comprehensive services to the children that come from poor rural communities. In addition to the education provided, the children’s growth is monitored by regularly measuring height and weight, and physicians from the hospital in Neyyoor conduct routine medical check-ups. Each morning, a physiotherapist leads the children in exercises.

One orthopedic splint technician and two orthopedic leather technicians staff the Center’s Orthopedic Splint Department. They make and repair walking aids for the children and outpatients of the Neyyoor hospital.

The children regularly visit vocational training institutions and factories to learn about job possibilities for those who are physically handicapped. A part-time tailoring instructor teaches the skill to interested students, and career talks, career guidance counseling, and other discussions take place during the holidays.

The Center provides school uniforms and nice clothes for Christmas. In addition to meeting the mental and physical needs of the children, the Center is committed to the children’s spiritual development. Also, the children do their part by serving food during meals and washing dishes.

The Center’s community outreach program is active in several areas including polio vaccination; care and rehabilitation awareness; resource development through government grants, scholarships, and loans; promoting the services of local individuals and volunteer organizations; providing physical exercise and training; and forming self-help groups.