The ‘Love the One’ team have restarted their Mercy Home clinics and have been travelling all over Kerala to see the children in seven Mercy Homes. Mary and Cat saw the children with the help of their trusted translators, Nimmy, Shalil and Preslin. Andy did an excellent job of entertaining the children through play and basic child health demonstrations whilst the children were being seen.
During just one clinic, there were many heartbreaking stories that the children had to tell. Many of the children have experienced all kinds of abuse before arriving at their Mercy Homes, including sexual abuse. A recent report by UNICEF and Save the Children found that at least 53% of all children in India experience sexual abuse, which probably means the rate is higher amongst the Mercy Home children. The needs were very great and there were a lot of medical problems to treat including scabies and other skin infections as well as undiagnosed asthma and eye problems.
Each child was counselled and received free medical treatment and the Mercy Home parents were encouraged to keep going in the amazing work they are doing. Over the following few weeks the team are continuing to travelling across Kerala to do weekly clinics for these needy children.