I am back at home in Canada now but had another great trip to India. The highlight was village visits to see Kaveri & Balavva who featured in my book, Footsteps to Freedom. Kaveri is in high-school now and Balavva is working as an early education teacher. I gave them each a copy of the book and the smiles that radiated across their faces was priceless! Kaveri features on the front cover and Balavva was a young girl with polio who underwent corrective surgery and was supplied with braces and crutches when I first went there in 1996 and now is leading a full and productive life in her village. Her mother immediately proudly showed her neighbours the book, which has several photos of Balavva inside!
While there, we realized that this was my 25th year of involvement with Samuha. They amazingly arranged a celebratory party the next day, which included the presence of the State Commissioner for Disability! We had a full and busy 3 weeks with Samuha and Barb Purdie, a paediatric physio from Ontario, agreed to come back in January 2021, which would be awesome.
Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and a fulfilling New Year in 2020.
Hilary
