Children need hope, they need REWA
Children need hope, they need REWA

For over 20 years, the association Ladakh-Hilfe e. V. has been helping to improve therapies and living conditions for children with disabilities in the high-altitude region of Ladakh in Western Himalayas, Northern India.
 

The initiative was started by a young medical student, Johanna Klein, who in 2001 was teaching English to Buddhist nuns in a remote mountain village. There she met a young mother whose second daughter Rigzin had been severely disabled since birth. Johanna took the family under her wing and promised to send help. Back in Germany, she placed an article in a renowned physiotherapy journal asking for help for the child in a remote mountain village. This article appeared in July 2002 and physiotherapist Karola Wood read the article and immediately knew that this was her mission, because she had been interested in the country of Ladakh and its people for seven years. Johanna and Karola found that their motivations and qualifications matched. Now began a long phase of preparation, which included the founding of the association Ladakh-Hilfe e. V. in June 2003, of which Johanna was a founding member. Karola Wood and her husband prepared thoroughly for the mission in Ladakh. They used their annual vacation for this.

In August/September 2003, the five-week trip to Ladakh in North India, in the Western Himalayas, followed. They brought many aids for the residents with them: children's shoes, clothing, medicines, bandages, useful gifts, food, toys and therapeutic tools for treating Rigzin. They met the friendliest people on earth, encountered Buddhism up close and personal, and fell in love with the land of the high passes, its culture and its people. It was hard to say goodbye, especially to Rigzin, who had become very dear to their hearts. She lived with her mother, sister and grandmother in very poor conditions in a mountain village that could only be reached after a four-day trek. As a result of the success of Rigzin's treatment, other disabled children were introduced to them with the request to organize help for them. Back home, she came to terms with her experiences and kept her promise: Karola wrote newspaper articles, gave slide shows and radio interviews to spread the word and expand her circle of friends. She organized physiotherapists who would continue her work in Ladakh as volunteers.
 

In February 2004, she received another request by email that took her by surprise: a severely disabled girl had been found in another remote mountain village who had been hidden by her parents for 17 years out of shame.

 

Would they come and treat the child? They didn't have to think about it for long, and the association's members actively supported them.
 

So it came about that during this second mission, the parents brought their children to Karola Wood from all over, asking for help. Important local contacts were made and plans for the future were forged. Many locals began to volunteer to help.

Konto-Account:

Ladakh-Hilfe e.V.
IBAN: DE52 7315 0000 0008 1879 81
BIC: BYLADEM1MLM
Sparkasse
Schwaben-Bodensee

 

Kontakt-Contact: 

Ladakh-Hilfe e.V.

Peterbergstraße 23
79117 Freiburg,
Germany

 

E-Mail:

info@ladakh-hilfe.de

 

Flyer Ladakh-Hilfe e.V.

 

Druckversion | Sitemap
© Ladakh-Hilfe e.V.