RMF-HOAP HOME RMF-HOAP HOME TUITIONS PROJECTTUITIONS PROJECTRMF-HOAP HOME RMF-HOAP HOME

TUITIONS PROJECTTUITIONS PROJECT

Background• The Oct 2005 earthquake in Pakistan left hundreds of

survivors with spinal cord injuries (SCI), confined to their homes, burdening their resource poor families.

• Many SCI children were deprived of an education due to physiological immobility or wheelchair limitations in the rough mountainous terrain.

• These SCI children had already lost one year of schooling in 2005-6 and would most likely grow up to be homebound, illiterate and dependent on caregivers.

Project proposal GOAL: To promote productive and meaningful lives for SCI children

AIM: To sponsor teachers to give home tutoring to home bound SCI children

The teachers will go to each child's house every day, Monday to Friday, for a predetermined number of hours and teach the local school curriculum according to the relevant grade.

They will also get permission from the local board of education to conduct the examinations at the homes of their students.

Beneficiaries• The home bound SCI children

• Other children, especially girls, within the neighborhood of each SCI patient who are denied access to an education due to poverty and gender discrimination.

• Employment opportunities for locally qualified teachers

Grant• Grant made possible by funds raised by

students of Patana Primary School, Bangkok, Thailand, led by Peter Hockley.

• In collaboration with Marc Gold from ‘100 Friends Project USA” who made the mediation possible

Selection of SCI children

• RMF-HOAP had adopted the medical welfare of three SCI children, in collaboration with Dr. Zeba Vanek from UCLA, who is sponsoring their upkeep.

• Teachers were hired from the communities of the SCI patients

• Monitoring and evaluation will be conducted by ground staff coordinator of the RMF-HOAP Health Unit in Talhatta

Kaleemullah

Kaleemullah is a 9 yr old paraplegic. He lives in a remote village in Batangi. The approach to his house involves a 2 hour precarious jeep ride up a torturous road

Kaleem is in the 2nd grade. Five boys (left) from his village are also studying with him andthey are in grade 1, 4,5 and 6.

En route to the next child

On the way to Mian Rafique’s home in Jabri

Mian Rafique

Mian Rafique is a 15 year old paraplegic in grade 7. He has four girls cousins sharing his home tuitions. Two (in the background) completed their primary school till

grade 5 and dropped out of school due to gender pressures. Now they are able tocontinue their education. The other two (not in the picture) have never gone to school,so they are in grade 1. Dr. Zeba (left) personally delivered his monthly sponsor check

Awais Rehman

Awais is a 14 year old paraplegic (center in beige dress) and lives near Mian Rafique in Jabri, so their teacher is the same. Awais is very bright and managed to pass grade 7 exams all on his own efforts. So he is now in grade 8. Two boys (right) share his home

tuitions and are in grade 7 and 6

(L-R) Dr. Rubina Mumtaz, Country Director RMF, Dr. Zahoor, Health Coordinator RMF-HOAP Heal Unit and Dr. Zeba Vanek, UCLA, Sponsor

of all these SCI children.

We thank the young students of Patana Primary School, Bangkok for their fund raising efforts. We also thank Dr. Joanne Dish, Ms Rozina Bhimani, Aparna Godavarthy, Dr. Ruth Ross, Kay Wicker

and Dr. Laila Gulzar for their donations to RMF which have been incorporated in the Home Tuitions project.