Image – A therapy session at the Chingari Rehabilitation Centre in Bhopal
The funds raised through this appeal will go to help so many more children find their feet and their voice."
We are so very grateful to the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 listeners who together raised the incredible amount of £24,599 - thank you so much.
Our appeal told the story of Suraj. Suraj was born in Bhopal, where in 1984 a pesticide factory owned by Union Carbide leaked a huge cloud of lethal gas across the city, in central India. Thousands died and official figures record more than half a million injured.
Union Carbide left Bhopal without properly cleaning its factory. Monsoon after monsoon washed toxic chemicals into the groundwater used by local communities. Poisons known to cause liver disease and cancers are found in dozens of wells. Children are born damaged with lifelong disabilities.
At eighteen years of age Suraj was unable to walk, talk or even sit unaided. Following 18 months of intensive therapy at Chingari’s Rehabilitation Centre, Suraj took his first unaided steps. Weeks later, and for the first time in his life, Suraj spoke his mother’s name.
Since the Radio 4 Appeal Suraj is going from strength to strength, we now see him walking unaided into the Chingari Centre every morning to continue his therapy, during which he can now walk independently on the treadmill too.
Last year the Chingari Centre saw 25 children standing unaided for the first time and 22 walking without assistance. 34 children with necks too weak to support their heads able to hold them high and 11 who could not utter a single word now speak their names and communicate their needs. The funds raised through this appeal will go to help so many more children find their feet and their voice. We really can’t thank you enough.
If you would like to find out more about our work and how you can get involved please visit our .