In a country like India, where it is estimated that 2.1% of the population suffers from any kind of disability, people with this problem suffer double discrimination: because of their disability and belonging to a lower caste. This makes these people live marginalized and deprived of their fundamental rights, because in a subsistence economy in which much of India’s population lives, respect for the individual is given by their ability to contribute to the family economy.

In this context, the sisters of the Congregation of St. Ana of Tiruchirapalli, opened a center for the care of children with disabilities in Karattuputhur, a rural community severely affected by the 2004 tsunami and where these minors did not have any center for medical treatment neither a special school.

The Annal Hope & Joy Special School, which is a day care center and an orphanage for some of the children, develops training and therapy to 100 students, without difference of caste, creed, ethnicity or religion in order to improve their quality of life, and develop their skills to achieve greater autonomy than their disabilities permit.

The school provides basic training, formal and non-formal also various therapeutic programs, physiotherapy and recreational activities. The activities are tailored to the needs of each child. For the development of these activities, in addition to teachers, there is a therapy programs carried out by physiotherapists, psychologists and speech therapists.

We also developed activities to enhance their own talents  and encourage socialization. Among these activities is the practice of sport, dance, music or theater also game development, hosting events or holidays, or attendance at exhibitions, religious sites or cultural programs.

The Foundation has been supporting the school since 2010 building and expanding the installations, improving its facilities and financing the annual maintenance cost per user.