Quota International of Sainik Farm, India
Muskan, Eye Camp, Home for the Aged, and Preschool

Quota International of Sainik Farm's newest initiative, Muskan, was a tremendous success last year. Taking its name from the Hindi word for "smile," the program is a vocational training and work center for intellectually challenged people. Its participants earned wages for preparing food items, making candles and crafts, and performing other tasks to contribute to mainstream society. Awarded the Godfrey Phillips Award, which recognizes exceptional acts of social courage, the Muskan program has given the Down's syndrome community public visibility and promoted acceptance and understanding.

The club also provided much-needed medical services to residents of villages of Punjab, a once-healthy state that is now impoverished by lack of industry. With the help of a committed eye surgeon, members ran an eye camp that screened more than 600 people. Those with eye infections received free treatment, while 300 people received free spectacles and 73 successful operations to remove cataracts were performed. The club provided a range of other services, including kidney surgery and diagnostic mammographies.

Club members continue to run a play school for underprivileged children (2 1/2 to 6 years-old) and a home for seniors, providing books, toys, nourishing food, electricity, and staff for both.

• To read about the Sainik Farm club's 2007-2009 Club-to-Club project, click here.

• If you wish to donate to this project, please click here.
  
  
• To learn more about India, click here.
  
  
• To return to the Club-to-Club World Service page,
  click here.