Schieffelin Institute of Health

The Director, Dr. Mannam Ebeneezer and his right hand...er...woman, Gladys.

The rubber mill, dedicate by one of our own members...

The process of making the micro cellular rubber ready for special shoes...it is soft and spongy, yet tough enough to protect sensation-less feet.

The rubber is harvested from rubber trees in Kerala and then prepared for transport in this form...

The the micro cellular rubber is taken to this building where...

shoes are made for...

all types of feet...

or for those who have no feet...

or for those who have lost parts of their feet...

I bought a custom made pair of sandals to take back with me for "show and tell" at our Diocesan Meeting in December...this is the chap who made them...

This is one way to keep pressure off injured feet...but this only comes after the ulcer is cured...and that may be a long time coming...

Surgery can reverse the complications of leprosy in the hands of sufferers...the hand on the left was once like the hand on the right...this man was waiting for the next part of the process...

The man on the right is an electrician...a man who needs his hands...without the surgery his claw-like hands would have made his job difficult if not impossible...

Then there are sad stories like this...this man ulcer became so bad that his leg had to be amputated...this could have been prevented, but there is only so much the staff at Karigiri can do...

There is a great need for education in the villages...