WHAT HAVE you been up to these holidays? The answer to this question for 16-year-old Kabir Chadha was that he went to the Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy (IICP) in Calcutta for one week last month.
Kabir wanted to help those with cerebral palsy, a condition that affects people's control of their muscles and movement. He also wanted to find out more about the institute and launch a sponsorship campaign in Hong Kong to help those in India.
During his visit, he spent much of his time at the IICP's Centre for Special Education, a school that caters for 200 children with the condition. The first of its kind in India, the centre hopes to become a role model for similar schools to be set up across the country for the 11 million cerebral palsy sufferers.
One of the students that Kabir met at the centre was Deepak, who could only move his feet. Kabir was struck by how well Deepak had learned to do everything with his feet. In fact, Deepak's writing was far neater than most.
As well as providing schooling for children, the IICP has an Adult Training Centre where they teach silk-screen printing, computer programming and catering. With India's high unemployment rate, such vocational training can be beneficial to the community.
The IICP has helped Subroto, a student learning silk-screen printing, to set up his own shop. It has also taught Subroto's parents how to do silk-screen printing, so that they can help him.
As well as enjoying meeting students, Kabir was also impressed with the sophisticated technology that the IICP used to help students to communicate.