Project Update: The Kovalam Surf Club

This is where we share updates on our partner NGOs’ work with you – so that you, our friends and loyal customers, too can see where the funds raised by us went, what they were used for and whom they’ve helped. Today: the Kovalam Surf Club in India.

The Kovalam Surf Club motivates kids from surrounding villages to get off the streets and into school by offering them free surf lessons – while simultaneously enforcing a strict “no school, no surfing” policy. With €350, we helped the NGO pay for their students’ health care.

Kovalam Surf Club, run by the Sebastian Indian Social Project (SISP), has been providing medical care for its students for the past 19 years. There are 50 students enrolled in the school this year, for whom they provide regular medical care, including medicine for common ailments (fever, cold, stomachache, headache, cramps, fungal infections, injuries etc.) on campus. Whenever necessary, they take the children to the hospital, paying for all expenses (consultation fee, surgery expenses, food expenses etc.). The organization also provides for dental health care (root canal treatment, cavity treatment etc.), as well as eye care, also paying for glasses. Aside from this kind of practical help, the NGO also conducts cancer awareness camps, diabetes awareness and prevention camps, camps for identifying heart related ailments as well as dengue and malaria prevention camps in association with reputed hospitals in the city.

SISP students come from impoverished backgrounds – hence, their families have difficulties in providing medical care for their children. During the initial days, when SISP started 19 years ago, every morning there would be a queue of students waiting to be treated for fungal infections, fever, Tuberculosis, and Dengue. With the help of regular medical intervention, the number of students who need medical care has reduced drastically over the years. Moreover, this way children with medical needs can attend school regularly – regardless of their medical conditions, which would otherwise limit their access to education. Manju, for instance, is 12 years old and partially blind, with her vision further deteriorating. The organization took her to four different hospitals in the city for treatment. After attending regular appointments, her vision stabilized.