We promised to let our Neem Tree Trust supporters know when the bulbs are looking their best in the “Field of Dreams” at Byde Mill, Corsham, SN13 9QH. As the weather has been very unpredictable this year Christina invites you to view the bulbs in her garden on two consecutive Sundays – 22nd April 2018 […]
Author Archives: rich
For the last eight years our friends Mike & Alison Wells have held a Fairtrade Coffee Morning at their home in Winsley in aid of the Neem Tree Trust and have over the years raised over £6,500, As well as serving tea, coffee and delicious home made cakes made by supporters, they also […]
John and Michael raised an amazing £2,000 for The Neem Tree Trust in 2012. Read about the interesting way they raise money for our charity. We will keep our supporters posted on the dates and venues of John’s stalls in 2014. Ken and I have made many new friends since we […]
After completing a garden design course at Wiltshire College, Lackham, our friend Helen Harrison won a Gold Medal at the National Amateur Gardening Show at Shepton Mallet in 2007 and won Best in Student Class with her gorgeous garden design “An Indian Summer”, which beautifully depicted a scene straight from the Raj. So many visitors […]
Dr Haebus S. Vethabothagam took charge as Medical Superintendent of St Luke’s Leprosarium in December 2009. He is the great-grandson of Dr.Rathnam Vedabodakam, the founder of St.Luke’s Leprosarium and is a graduate of Christian Medical College, Vellore 98’ Batch. Dr. Balachandran, the Diocesan Medical Superintendent, visited Dr Haebus in 2008 in Dornakal, where he was […]
Arumugam is a boy who was affected by polio as a child and grew up at the Boys’ Home. With the help of the Neem Tree Trust he now has his own tailoring business, “Alex Tailoring”, and when Kathy visited him he proudly welcomed her to his new shop. He is a fine tailor, is […]
Our Neem Tree Trust Go Green re-usable, washable shopping bags are robust enough to avoid double bagging with a rigid base and reinforced handles. Over the years many of our supporters have bought our bags and we thought it would be fun to create a gallery on our website picturing the bags in interesting places. […]
John Leach of Prior Park Garden Centre in Bath heard about the Neem Tree Trust from one of his customers and has kindly agreed to stock our Neem Tree Trust Go Green Bags. The garden centre is selling the bags for £2 each with all proceeds from the sale of the bags helping the disadvantaged […]
On 21st November 2009 The United Church at Longwell Green organised a concert in aid of The Neem Tree Trust. The Longwell Green Orchestra generously gave of their time playing a selection of music including Light Classics such as Danse Macabre, Polovtsian Dances and Snow Maiden as well as Mission Impossible and the Typewriter! The […]
By Ruth Dawson It was with very mixed feelings and low expectations that I was returning to India. I knew I really wanted – even needed? – to go, but I was carrying memories of how it had been when I was there as an 8 then 12 year old child. At that time the […]
In February 2007, Colin and I had the privilege of visiting St Luke’s Leprosarium. All the staff we met were endlessly kind and patient. They treated us as ‘honoured guests’ – educating us about leprosy, explaining, and answering all our questions. Dr Jeyabalan, the Medical Superintendent, had arranged a very interesting three day programme for […]
Blindness is an occasional complication of leprosy. The plight of a BLIND leprosy patient is pathetic beyond words. A ‘normal’ blind person manages to grope his way thro’ somehow with his sensitive hands and feet. But very often a leprosy patient has no feelings in his hands and feet. In other words, he is blind […]
The year was 1971, Dr.G.M.Jeyabalan, the new Medical Superintendent has just taken over from Dr.Vedabodakam. One day, he was examining a 25 year-old woman suffering from lepromatous leprosy – the infectious type of leprosy with complications, which warranted hospitalization. “I would like to admit you as inpatients” said Dr.Jeyabalan. “You will have to stay in […]
Enlightening health-education has been the sheet anchor of St.Luke’s leprosy-control drive. The health-education van, armed with audio-visual aids, the St.Luke’s Health Education Team visits schools, and colleges especially Teacher-Training Institutes to teach the scientific facts about leprosy. The results have been very rewarding. The Tempo Traveller – St.Luke’s has been using in the health-education campaigns […]
India is home to the second highest number of HIV-AIDS patients in the World. In the opinion of some experts, India, home to one sixth of the world’s population is sitting on a HIV-AIDS-Volcano. When it explodes, the results will be catastrophic. Mumbai is one of the most populous cities in the world, it is […]
The Indian Government has claimed that leprosy has been eliminated from India. This gives the impression that leprosy has been eradicated from India. Later, by way of clarification the Government has defined what they mean by elimination. To the Government elimination means that leprosy prevalence has been reduced to one per ten thousand of the […]
My name is Antony Savarimuthu. I was a leprosy patient. But now, if you see only my face and hands, you cannot make out that I was once affected by leprosy. I am very much thankful to St. Luke’s Leprosarium, which has brought new hope in my life. I am from a poor family. My […]
While Eeswari was still in her mother’s womb, Eeswari’s father deserted her mother. A few years later she died. When Eeswari was ten years old, some patches appeared on her hands. There was practically none to care for this motherless child and none to take her to a doctor. After a few years, the leprosy […]
One day a father from a nearby village brought his 10-year old son to St.Luke’s Leprosarium. The child looked every inch a leper! So far advanced was the disease. He was a textbook picture of a lepromatous leprosy – the infectious type of the disease. The disease must have gone on for years. The doctor […]
I was born in a tiny village in the Tirunelveli District of Tamilnadu. I lost my father when I was hardly six years old. While in the VII Std., some pale patches appeared on my body. They did NOT hurt. Ignorant of the signs and symptoms of leprosy, my mother took me to an indigenous […]
I am Raguram. I am 17 years old. My parents are poor agricultural labourers. At the age of eight, some patches appeared on my body. I told my parents. But due to ignorance, they did not care about it. I developed an ulcer on the right leg due to walking bare-footed. My parents took me […]
My name is Aanandthi. I am 22 years old. My parents are poor agriculture coolies. Some years ago my mother got injured in an accident and badly disabled. My father deserted my mother and married another woman. When I was studying Std. VII a Government leprosy inspector visited our school. He examined me and found […]
Mr Mohammed Yoosuf’s Story Mr. Mohammed Yoosuf belongs to Paththamadai in Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu. Paththamadai is famous throughout India for mat-weaving. His wife Seyad Ali Fathima helps her husband in mat-weaving. This couple have no children. Yoosuf’s mother also was affected by leprosy, was treated at St Luke’s Leprosarium and is now cured. When […]
Jesu Raj’s Story Kathy is privileged to know and to have become friends with a young man called Jesu Raj. She first met him in 1999 at St Luke’s Leprosy Hospital in Peikulam, south India. This is his story, told in his own words: “My name is Jesu Raj. When I was 12 years of age a […]
We have visited Grove Primary School in Trowbridge on a number of occasions to talk to Years 4 and 5 and it has always been a most rewarding experience, with the children showing a genuine interest in life in South India. In fact some of their questions are extremely thought provoking! They enjoyed the projects […]
You may have already tried the wonderful Neem products, which we sell in support of the boys in Tirunelveli. The Neem Tree is known as “The Tree of Life” in India and has long been revered for its many healing properties. Our supplier is Sidney Vincent of Perpetua Herbals (The Neem People) in Haverfordwest. Promoting […]
Alagurajan lived at the S.C.H.T. Boys’ Home for most of his formative years, from the age of six to eighteen. Like the majority of the boys at the home, Alagurajan had suffered from polio and came from a very poor background. He was nonetheless a very happy boy, growing up in the company of the […]
Our friend Mary has been making delicious jams, marmalades and chutneys for the Neem Tree Trust for over two years. She first contacted us after she read an article about the charity in the Bath Chronicle and wanted to know more about the work we do. Every so often she telephones us to let us […]
The Neem Tree Trust Grand Cricket Draw to celebrate the charity’s 5th Anniversary took place at The Poplars Inn, Wingfield on Saturday 27th September 2008 and was sponsored by Wadworth Brewery. Mr Bernard Camish, publican of The Poplars, had made arrangements for us to have lunch before the draw took place and for photographs to […]
Four lovely ladies ran for The Neem Tree Trust this year in aid of The Neem Tree Trust: Sheila Wall, Tina Vivian, Linda Ladner and Laura Kinzett, and the children we support in India cheered them on from 4,000 miles away, as they did last year! In fact the boys were so inspired by our […]
Essakimuthu was affected by polio when he was young and lived at the boys’ home for most of his life. He was educated at school in Palayamkottai, and in his spare time had the opportunity to learn music. He has now returned to his village and is living a productive and happy life. He runs […]
Every year the Paul Harrison Award is bestowed upon an alumnus of Christian Medical College, Vellore who has made an outstanding contribution to the health and welfare of people in need. Dr. G.M. Jeyabalan of the batch 1959 was given this award for the year 2002. The following citation was presented at the Graduation Ceremony: […]
Paddy Wall, his daughter Kayleigh, Patricia Kinzett and her daughter Laura as well as Graham Dove will be running the Bath Half Marathon in aid of The Neem Tree Trust in 2007 and are already out there training hard. We are extremely grateful to all five of our runners for choosing The Neem Tree Trust […]
The Union budget for 2007-08 has provided a significant outlay of Rs.1,290 crore for polio eradication and announced a revised immunisation plan, particularly for some districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where the virus persists. This important effort is part of the campaign to eradicate the indigenous wild poliovirus from one of the last […]
It was both a culture shock and a temperature shock to move from the cold of February in Edinburgh to the heat of South India. We had undertaken much planning for our trip – emails back and forth to Dr Chelliah, lots of reading, and long telephone conversations with Kathy – but nothing could have […]
A Charity trekker will be putting his best foot forward in three long-distance events this year.Graham Dove is determined to complete more than 50 miles before his 50th birthday in aid of the Neem Tree Trust. In 2004, the 49-year-old raised nearly £1,000 for the trust by running the Bath Half Marathon. This year he […]
The plight of a school for handicapped boys as highlighted by a Bath charity has moved the England cricket captain to offer his support. The Neem Tree Trust has raised thousands of pounds for boys disabled by Polio in India. For founder Kathy Miller, a former IT teacher from Bradford on Avon, it has become […]
“What a hero! Graham Dove dared and succeeded, running the Bath half-marathon well within his ambitious target of two hours. Despite the biting wind and at times driving rain he had enough left for a sprint finish down Pulteney Street, cheered on by Neem Tree Trust supporters. It was a wonderful effort reflected in his […]
AFTER THE POLIO outbreak of 2002, the sharp drop in the number of cases reported in 2003 all over India is a commendable public health achievement. India is among the last seven remaining nations in the world where polio is still endemic. The majority of polio cases reported worldwide are from India. A reduction from […]
The Royal National Institute for the Deaf Workshop in Wells Way Bath has had a close association with the boys’ home in Tirunelveli, Southern India for a number of years. Before Kathy Miller set up The Neem Tree Trust charity she helped as a volunteer at the workshop in Bath, and whilst she was there […]
Our very dear friend, Theresa Hewat, a BA (Hons) Graphic Designer, created our logo for The Neem Tree Trust when we became a UK Registered Charity in 2003. Theresa’s design was inspired by a drawing by Krishnamoorthy, one of the boys at the home in Tirunelveli. On one of Kathy’s visits to the home […]