Conference call minutes: Mr. Venugopal - Ashraya founder and coordinator Praveen Gopalakrishnan - CNJ Project Steward Pravin Shankar - CNJ Project Steward * Music therapy - been successfully carried out in Ashraya with great results - indian classical music and vedic chanting, etc. - has had great success in retention abilities in the Ashraya children who are mentally challenged - can follow up with universities in US which teach music therapy and set up a liaison between them and Ashraya - such a liaison can help both ways, it can help the university by seeing real results of the theoretical ideas, possibly as a great case study, it can help Ashraya by knowing of the advancements in this field in the academia, and also by means of PR for Ashraya * Greeting cards - we can buy more greeting cards from Ashraya (made by Ashraya daughters) - probably 300 is a good number - these can be 1) given to marathon runners, 2) bought by marathon runners to give to their donors, 3) bought by people in general - the profits can be 1) shared back with Ashraya, and 2) donated to other projects with similar focus as Ashraya in other parts of India and the world, so as to promote the great work done by Ashraya daughters, and also give back to others in a small way. * Ashraya website - current website - http://ashrayam.org/ - needs to be added to the project page - Manoj will email with details - we (at Asha) can reply back with ideas/suggestions for the webpage * Early Intervention program - newborn kids - early intervention - it can help with lot greater probability than treating when they are 5-6 years old, - the idea is to check when they are newborns itself - need to raise awareness among villagers, it should become another common step like vaccination - Dolly will email with details * Artificial Limb Unit - artificial limbs are frequently donated by many orgns such as Rotary, etc. - only 2-3% people benefit from these. others throw them away. These are readymade and not made for them. Such limbs need to be customized. No two polio affected legs are the same. - we at Ashraya tried to make these limbs to suit our children. - Lesson to take home is that Its a long process - first pain -- then some modifications.. it takes time for kids to get accustomed and adapted to the limb. - The Goal is to set up an Artificial limb unit - So that we can bring children here, give them the limbs, and the training, etc. until they are comfortably adapted with the limb - Lot of technical knowledge required. - can asha help? by contacting other places in US who make advanced artificial limbs and share their knowledge and technology - There is an orgn in seattle - path.org - we should follow up with them - Need: material should be lightweight, easily mouldable, as the child grows, it should be modifyable - cost - currently good limbs cost 5000-6000 Rs in India, varies acc to height of child. can we reduce the price? goal = 1000-2000 Rs. - they use plastic material. it can be bent by heating. - question is lighter material possible? - another place - jaipurfoot - famous place - but the limbs they make are crude models. very artificial. Limbs should ideally blend, and have a natural feel. The fact that they are using an artificial limb should not be perceptible. * Purba visit - she could buy greeting cards from them (depending on how many she can carry) - she could spend 2 days say one weekend there and see the place in more detail * Malu - Malu is a child at Ashraya who is paralysed below the waist - father deserted, seaside ppl, very poor- first student at Ashraya. came in 2000 april. they initially taught her at home. - Her iq is perfectly normal. Thanks to the artificial limb, her mobility is also now normal. - She recently cleared 10th std with above 70%. - Ashraya is considering putting her for medicine course. - Small fear however is that she may not be able to cope. but if she can it will be great. Possibility for her success story to make her a great role model. * Ranaji - senior Asha volunteer - can he visit ashraya and share his vast experience - also his brother could possibly share his experience about artificial limbs for the proposed artificial limb unit Asha To Do's 1) Contact music school students to see if they are intersted in taking up formalizing 'music therapy' (Owner: Pravin) 2) Present Mr Venugopalan's idea of donating proceeds of Ashraya greeting cards to other projects with challenged children, in Asha CNJ meeting. (Owner: Pravin) Ashraya believes that it should support other such initiatives This can help give challenged children in other places the initiative and confidence to do something similar 3) Email Purba and Ranaji for site visits (Owner: Praveen) 4) Email PATH for help with artificial limb unit (Owner: Praveen)