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| Mar Gregorios Rehabilitation Centre, Moonnammoodu, Vattiyoorkavu, Thiruvananthapuram |
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After 6 years of immobile life and 3 years of constant and painful treatment, Shamnad is learning to take his 1st steps. Though crutches are close by, there is the ray of hope in his eyes. And the instrument of this change was the workers of the Mar Gregorios Rehabilitation Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
Today around 400 such physically challenged persons benefit from the helping hand of the Rehabilitation Centre. The Community worker from the Centre visits the beneficiary’s family once a week to give necessary guidance. In addition, the Centre arranges vehicle to take them to the hospital.
The birth of the Centre was from the rehabilitation of an abandoned blind boy, whom the late Philipose Mar Theophilos lodged at the Students Centre. He was then the President of the Mar Gregorios Orthodox Christian Student Organisation. In 1983, he started the Mar Gregorios Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind, the forerunner to the present Centre.
After 10 years, the Centre shifted its activities to a better equipped location at Moonnammode. In addition to the blind, deaf, mentally retarded and physically challenged were brought into the purview of its benevolence. “The Centre aims to rehabilitate the needy in their own homes with the support of the family and the community,” says George Varghese, Director of the Centre.
The Centre selects beneficiaries based on survey in nearby Panchayats. The Centre also provides the capital and training for their self-employment. It is the work of about 15 dedicated volunteers that keeps the Centre going from strength to strength.
Training for the physically challenged at the Centre
Courtesy: Malayala Manorama, March 28, 2003
Contributed by: Administrator
