CHERISH is Centre for Health and Rehabilitation of the Socially Handicapped
‘Don’t forget to feed the chicken’, Fr Joby reminds Rohan as he gets out of his house for shopping in the market for his young boys. On treading the way down the knoll he meets Nithesh and advices to manage the wormy-compost production. As he comes back in the evening he finds everything done perfectly well. As they gather together in front of the small cottage of Fr Joby after a toilsome day Shanu presents a brief account of the cashew processing unit.
You are reading not a report of a big rural industry, neither are these youth normal young men. They are special children. And we are in Amberi, a remote village in the Sindhudurg District of Maharastra, India. The surroundings of CHERISH, an acronym for Centre for Health, Education, and Rehabilitation in Social handicaps, is blessed with scenic beauty and green landscapes. Three little hummocks form the campus which is now popularly known as Nirmal Giri.
CHERISH is established to rehabilitate mentally challenged members of the society without detaching them from their cultural and social moorings. Rehabilitation of socially neglected in a cultural setting is a big question of our times. CHERISH is an answer to it.
The idea of rehabilitating the socially challenged had not percolated anywhere in the impoverished rural areas of Sindhudurg district till Fr Joby, a missionary enthusiast arrived at Zarap. Soon after he was ordained priest in MST, Fr Joby took the much thought out decision to start a special school namely Jeevdan at Zarap where he was posted first.

Fr Joby, a down to earth man and a person who befriends the ordinary village folk, made a survey to identify special children initially. The result was shocking. Fr Joby and his volunteers met many mentally challenged persons in highly dehumanizing circumstances. Some of them were even caged or chained just like an animal in a zoo. The ignorance about nature of retardation made their kith and kin consider them lunatic or to tease them like monkeys.

It was a hard task to convince their parents about the necessity of training and rehabilitation. But the harder task was to get trainers. No one was ready to take up this career as they had wrong notions about mentally challenged. The social stigma attached to it further estranged them.
After an year Jeevdan gained popular acclamation both from parents and the government officials. The initial suspicion of the people slowly gave way to generous and open attitudes. Those who hesitated to take any food we served started to taste it sweet. While the volunteers of Jeevdan worked strenuously with the children trying to boost their motor and mental faculties inside the class room, Fr Joby entered into dialogues with the parents or relatives who would come to school to drop children. It was during such talks that he sensed the sigh of anxiety of the parents about their children’s fate. Fr Joby realized that special education alone would not solve the puzzles of mental retardation.

The daring Fr Joby after much deliberation found a beautiful land in Amberi suitable for his dream of planting this rural folk without being cut from their agricultural roots. That is how CHERISH was born in Nirmal Giri. Presently 12 young mentally challenged male members are there in the small cottage of Fr Joby. With many supportive and generous people behind him he could start vocational and agricultural rehabilitation.

The members in CHERISH are no less than any skilled laborer in the fields of cashew processing and production of rice flour, curry powder, wormy-compost and so on. He has made the project viable by starting diary and poultry farms as well.
What is the uniqueness of CHERISH, if asked Fr Joby would reply thus: “It is not a programme for them, but a style of life lived together with them.” CHERISH envisages integrated training where mentally challenged members and local people are trained and work together. In the process they learn to respect each other.
“There are radical changes happening in and around Amberi”. Fr Joby becomes verbose in describing the attitudinal change of neighboring people who are radically orthodox and governed by the still prevailing laws of untouchability. “Now people invite these children to their houses to participate in festive celebrations. Last year Mr Madkar Goude, a farmer in the village invited all of us to his house. The family honored each one of us with aarathi and treated with delicious food. This attitude is now spreading to others also. Similarly people from far away places serve food here on occasions of their birthdays or other celebrations”. Integration with ordinary people and skill based rural living are the two main elements that make great impact in the rehabilitation of these challenged persons.
However, the path Fr Joby chose was a less traveled one. It was hazardous too. A smile of satisfaction blended with bitter memories would appear in the corners of his lips when he describes the first two years of his life in Amberi in a small bamboo shed. He had to fight the biting cold apart from the social and financial hurdles. But things are getting better now. The support of Fr Siju Azhakath strengthens him in all his activities. The Missionary Sisters of St Joseph extended their generous support in accomplishing his dream come true. They run a hospice for terminally sick and a home for the unaffected children of HIV positive parents at Nirmal Giri campus. Fr Joby expects CHERISH to flourish faster with newer programmes and more members in the coming years. The determination and commitment of Fr Joby is a great inspiration for any aspiring missionary.

Location

Cherish is situated at the centre of the Sindhudurg district and is meant to serve the mentally challenged persons mainly of the district of Sindhudurg and also of the areas nearby. Sindhudurg district was carved out of Ratnagiri and Kolhapur in May 1981. It consists of eight Talukas, viz Deogad, Vaibhavwadi, Kankavali, Malvan, Kudal, Vengurla, Savanthwadi and Doudamarg. Sindhudurg district is situated between North 15 37' to 16 40' latitudes and East 73 19' to 74 13' longitudes. It is bordered by Arabian sea in the West and Sahyadri hill ranges in the East. It is bounded by Ratnagiri district on the North and the State of Goa on the South and Belgaum district of Karnataka on the South East. CHERISH has become the first step taken by any private or government agency to help the mentally handicapped persons.

Objective

Vocational training and rehabilitation to 200 mentally handicapped persons belonging to the remote interior villages of Sindhudurg.

To make them socially effective and economically productive citizens.

Integration of the mentally handicapped persons, the local poor farmers and the unemployed women also will be trained with them in organic farming and agro based trades.

For this purpose a model farm will be developed at the centre where employment opportunities can be created as well as can be used for training and motivating the local farmers.

Mainly the various trades like Management of Diary farm, Goat farm, Organic Farming, Production of organic manures and pesticides, Production and packing of Chips (banana, Potato and tapioca), Cashew processing, Production and bottling of Souse, squash, Production and packing of Chilly powder, Masala, Pickle making, Making of environment friendly plate and cups and Making of craft items from bamboo which is locally available in plenty will be taught

Community Based Rehabilitation involves rehabilitation measures taken at community level, making use of and building up the resources of the community including the mentally handicapped persons themselves, their families and the communities.

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