Update information: As of December 2007, 2 teenagers are at St. Joseph Center for rehabilitation and adult education. A boy and a girl at Srisangwal School www.sswal.th.edu  The boy is undergoing surgical treatment to correct the feet posture. The girl is under special rehabilitation to improve her ability to learn. Both require 24 hours care takers. Yogananda Foundation financially supports them. Another young boy is going to enroll at School for Hearing Impaired in Chiang Mai. The remaining children are waiting for the next official school year to open in 2008.

Keeping warm by sharing clothe donation from warm hearted people.

The meeting of the first subcommittee volunteers group for Yogananda Foundation Chiang Dao Center for the Disabled. There are 5 disabled members and 1 manager. They represent the members from different locations in Chiang Dao District.

Rehab tools and equipments:

Yogananda Foundation utilizes the donation fund to provide exercise rehabilitation tools and equipments to better the physical and living conditions for the disabled persons at the center and at homes.

The exercise walking rails, the waling cane, the seated toilet.

Thai Massage service provided by interns from Thai Massage School of Chiang Mai
in November. 2007.

Home Visit the disabled at Chiang Dao District:
Yogananda Foundation organized home visit to reach out for the disabled in several villages at Chiang Dao District. The truth is so painful seeing many of the disabled children and adults are living in the unacceptable condition for even healthy people, much more so when they are ill. These pictures are only a fraction of the reality.

There is an elderly man who lost both arms and eyes to accident and lives alone in
a little cottage by the road side in the village. We could not bear to show his picture to the public.

The visit to Phrae Punya Nugoon School in Phrae District in August 2007

The government special school for mentally disabled children accepted the 3 children, Bia, Fai and Mek to their next school term. The children will get a chance to learn not just education but the opportunity to lead normal living.

All children will start the class next school semester. The help is there, but the access and the arrangement is the key for the disabled children and people. Yogananda Foundation helps facilitate in the search for their rights to get help and take them there.

Some children will require their mothers to be with them at the school, Yogananda Foundation will utilize the donation fund set a side to support the mothers while look after the children at the school. The mothers still have other children to support. For them to be able to stay with the children at the school, they will not have income to support the others. With some help from the Foundation special fund, the disabled children will be able to obtain the treatment, education and the lives they deserve.

Rehabilitation at the Wang Nua Disabled Center:
Yogananda Foundation purchase necessity equipment to help basic rehabilitation for the children at the center… the standing table...

To be able to stand can be an impossible task to some disabled children or adults. This tilt-able table can make many children smile like Mae, Tom, and Aun.

Touching story of a friendship…

Sanga is a mental disabled young man. He hardly speaks. But he volunteers to baby sit Aun – an autistic girl- for 3 weeks while Aun’s mother take the Thai massage class at the center! Aun listens to Sanga more than to her mother. And Sanga to take care of the girl by hand-in-hand is only by the soul quality.

Review therapeutic massage activity to the mothers:

Thai Massage by Disabled People:

The class composed of 4 disabled students and 14 family members of the disabled people at the center. Sixteen of them are able to complete the intensive program within 3 weeks. All 4 of the disabled students graduated with great result.

Several of them are able to earn income and the rest are waiting for the center to complete the renovation and set up the massage service area for the public.

While TMC teachers were at the center during the 3 weeks training, they had gone home visit and trained – reviewed therapeutic massage technique for the family member to perform for their love ones at home. The outcome was tremendously for both the disabled members and the teachers to share.

Yogananda Foundation built the walking rail for TOM to exercise his walk at home.
This has been his wished until we found him. See the smiling face with the walk!

The closing story of the home visit. The teachers met this blind elderly woman on the way and followed her to her home. She cooks and does sewing to support her two grand children! What an amazing task.

Painting activity before remodeling the center:

The last use of the original center on 30 September 2007. Afterward the center will expand to double the size. The members will be using shade and under the barn for the mean time for order of Earth Bag coming in from the kind hearts’ orders.

Jan, president of Yogananda Foundation, presented the income earned from painting Earth Bag to members. The money will help their basic needs.

Proceeds from the Earth Bag activity supported by Yogananda Foundation for the Wang Nua Disabled Center given to the disabled members and the center from April 2007 – October 2007 was 591,159 Baht without at administrative cost charged to the project. Yogananda Foundation received donation from the public for the center 40,500 Baht. Total fund given to the center was 631,659 Baht. In addition to was the expenses to support the activities at the center during this period was 166,902 Baht. Combined funds to the center was 798,561 Baht.

Children here like to learn while they can:
Kanchanoo, vice president of Yogananda Foundation, tutor 2 children
during the break time.

The battery tricycle, manual hand push tricycle, wheelchair pusher

Aumnoy can now go to the market and come to the center on her own.

Pranee can go to sell food at the fresh market with less strain when go up the hill using this battery power and combination of manual tricycle. She also help transporting members nearby to come to the center.

Patong volunteer to paddle this wheelchair pusher for the members.

Maetee received the adapted motorized tricycle. He lost both legs last year. A father of 3 children. Now he has the mean to go out and perform work and also help the disabled members.

The members received their earning from participated in painting the earth bag. This money can help improve their living.