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Karola Kostial 2009 in Leh Toward the end of august they started their five week journey to Ladakh, North India, a country in the western Himalaya. With them they carried many aids for the poor mountain people: children's shoes, clothes, medication, useful gifts, food, toys and therapeutical aids for the treatment of the little Rigzin. For the couple it turned into a journey into medieval ages. They met the friendliest people on earth, encountered the Buddhist religion everywhere and fell in love with the country of high passes, its culture and it's inhabitants. Saying good bye was difficult, especially leaving Rigzin behind. They had grown very close by then. Rigzin lives with her mother, her healthy older sister and the grandmother in extreme poverty in a small village only to be reached by a five day trek. Because of the therapeutical success with the Lingshed girl other parents brought their children and asked for help. The Kostia's promised to do so Contact to the "Namgyal Institute for the Handicapped", the only organisation caring for the disabled in Ladakh was established. Back in Germany they tried to adjust to "normal" life and started to create a chain of events: They wrote newspaper articles, held many slide-presentations and a radio interview to spread information. They organised Physiotherapists willing to continue their work in Ladakh. In February 2004 a dramatic e-mail reached them: Another severely handicapped child had been found in a remote village. She had been hid by her parents for 17 years because they were ashamed.
Would they please come and help this girl? They did not have to contemplate long and their friends supported them. With lots of public relation activities the finances for the new trip was generated. So it happened that June/July 2004 found them back in Ladakh. Only nine months had passed since they left the country. The parents came from everywhere bringing their disabled children with the plea for help. The couple made contact with the many NGOs and organisations who were able to link up with the vision and started to help. A book with many explaining pictures for parents with disabled children was printed. Our goal: Help them to help themselves "Give the hungry a fish and you save him from death today. Teach him to catch fish! He and his family will be taken care off the rest of their lives." Working with the people in the remote areas requires a lot of patience and sensibility. To try to convert those to our western standard will cause frustrations and problems. The last years have confronted them many new things out of the west, new ideologies and they are very confused. Their wonderful ecological structures are endangered. Those very practical people with a little help will be able to move a lot themselves in behalf of the handicapped. To describe the totally different situation of the mountain people we will use Rigzin's problem: She is five years at the time and still small enough to be carried on her mothers back. She cannot walk or sit on her own. On her mom's back she still gets around the very steep mountain village, meets people and get stimulated and trained this way. But soon she will be to big and heavy to be carried. In Germany one would think about proving the child with a wheelchair, basically a good idea. But it is impossible to push a wheelchair around in the mountains with all those rocks! But a little donkey with a special saddle to hold the child may move up and down those steep slopes. The craftspeople in Lingshed were able to make such a saddle. As a matter of fact, a donkey only cost about 60 $ and a saddle about the same. This aid is still much cheaper than a wheel chair in Germany. The animal may also be used for fieldwork by the family and this pays for his own fodder.
The problems of the villagers: They believe that a disability is contagious. That's one reason they hide their children away. Because of the secrecy there is no possibility to officially register the disabled and the kind of disabilities in Ladakh. As the parents are really coming out of their hiding now we are finding out about the many severe handicaps of young children, lots of them with cerebral palsy. Despite the hiding the children are well taken care off by their families. They are a member of the family and are not forsaken. They live with the false hope that one day an operation or a special medication will cure their child immediately. The parents have very little time for their children, because they work in the fields all day long So far there has been no place in Ladakh where the parents could get help and advice for their special problems. We feel that we at the right place at the right time: 1.With the "Enablement Centre", the home for the handicapped in Leh, the parents will have a place to help them. During the winter months the parents may come to the Centre and be thought and their children can be treated properly. Prejudice and superstition will be substituted with healthy and practical thinking. The daily life situation of the family will be changed to integrate the child more. Starting in 2005 there will be qualified personal permanently present to be able to help the families with aids like sitting- and standing chairs, scooters etc. From Germany will we do everything to support the Centre in any way possible: By sending volunteer teachers and instructors, teaching material, shipment of aids for children, financial help. 2.Locals will be educated by our German Physiotherapists, local doctors and medical trained personal to become so called "Barefoot Physiotherapists". They are to gain a solid theoretical and practical knowledge about the subject. Then they will to out, knowing their own and speaking their language, visit the villages and the special children, treat them and teach the parents to handle their children and try to integrate the entire family and the village in the therapy.
3.The printing of written material is also planned: with digital pictures that had been taken during the summer operation, with simple explanations and in two local languages parents are informed and guided. They may take those books back to their villages and find practical instructions for their daily life. 4. We will continue to help Rigzin's family and try to find ways together with them to establish means of living for a life away from the sting of poverty. We want to encourage you to browse through the pages of our website. Escape into a world so different to ours and allow you to look through the treasure of information to discover many hidden secrets of which some of them may be unbelievable, yes, even close to a miracle.
This story is a story of miracles and human compassion. Maybe you also get infected by this virus; it has infected so many of us. Within you it causes enthusiasm and dedication for this land and its people and will enrich our own life immensely. It will be fun to work for and support those wonderful people of Ladakh. Karola
Kostial, Director of Ladakh-Hilfe e.V. |
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