The India Immersion Programme

In October 2006 a group of ten students, together with three teachers, went on a two week visit to India.   It was part of the Immersion Programme, organised by the Irish Christian Brothers, to give students an experience of life in the Third World.   Their time was spent in Delhi and in the city of Chandigarh, which is three hours north of Delhi by train.

During their stay they met and interacted with people in a wide variety of situations – children in slum schools and orphanages, teenagers in care and in the detention centre, people in a shelter for the homeless and people suffering from leprosy and their families in a leper colony.  

They also visited children suffering from cancer in the local hospital.   The hospital gets 300 – 325 new cases of childhood cancer every year.  However, socio-economic constraints preclude treatment in about 30% of cases.   These 100 or so children go home to their villages and never return to the hospital.

The Chandigarh Children’s Fund:   Since returning home a Fundraising Campaign has been launched, co-ordinated by Mr. McGlade, to raise money to provide medical care for some of those children.   To date (November ’07) €10,500 has been sent to India for this purpose.   It is administered by the Sahayta Charitable Welfare Society – a voluntary N.G.O.   The cash has been used to treat eleven children named below.

Sharanjot                     aged 8             Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Seema Rani                 aged 13           Hodgkin’s Disease and Takayasu’s Arteritis

Shallu                          aged 3             Kidney Tumour

Nitin                            aged 14           Ewing’s Sarcoma

Pragat Sing                  aged 9             Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Parikshit                      aged 9             Hodgkin’s Disease

Abhishek                     aged 2             Wilms Tumour

Mukul                          aged 18mths    Wilms Tumour

Geeta Kumari              aged 8             Hepatic Malignancy

Sahil                            aged 5             Hepaticoblastoma

Vijay                           aged 11           Hodgkin's Disease

Progress Report November 2007:   Unfortunately Seema Rani lost her battle for life and died last June.   However, the other children are doing fine.   Both Vijay and Shallu have completed their therapy.   Sharanjot, Pragat, Nitin and Parikshit are still on chemo and are coping well.  Geeta has had surgery and is making good progress and her treatment, together with that of Sahil, should be completed by early next year.   Mukul and Abhishik have not turned up at the hospital for some time and their places on the programme have been taken by two other children, Megha and Yuvraj.   However, if they do return Sahayta will definitely see them through their treatment.  

Many thanks to everyone who has either contributed or is contributing to the scheme.   Your help is greatly appreciated as it has almost certainly saved the lives of some of the above named children.

Christmas Fundraising:   It is our intention this year to launch a pre-Christmas Fundraising Drive so that we can help another group of children during 2008.   If you are in the habit of giving to a charity at Christmas why not make the Chandigarh Children your special charity this year.   Details of how to do this will be forwarded to you in the near future.

Visit to Don Bosco Children’s Home	Some of the children in the hospital. Nitin is in the centre. All suffer from cancer.	Local children in Chandigarh.
A family home.	A one room school.