Community Based Rehabilitation
When our team first met Gulnar, a six-year-old girl diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) and a suspected case of CHARGE syndrome, she was unable to walk or communicate. Her mother, devoted and eager to help, joined our rehabilitation programme for children with disabilities (CWD) to learn how to support her daughter’s development at home.
For ten weeks, we worked closely with Gulnar and her mother through intensive therapy sessions. During each visit, we provided a homework programme filled with physical exercises and playful communication games designed to help Gulnar grow stronger and more engaged.
After completing the initial programme, Gulnar and her mother continued to attend monthly follow-up sessions, maintaining steady progress. Eight months later, the results are remarkable: Gulnar is now walking with support — holding onto chairs, tables, or her mother’s hand. She uses a communication board to express herself, and her eating and swallowing have greatly improved thanks to consistent speech therapy and the use of special equipment provided through our programme.
But Gulnar’s story doesn’t end there.
Recently, her mother reached out to our team with an urgent message. She was pregnant again and had been told by doctors that there might be complications with the baby. The doctors advised her to have an abortion, and her husband supported that recommendation.
When we met with her to listen and offer support, she shared these moving words:
“Seeing Gulnar growing up, it doesn’t matter to me if there is something wrong with the baby. I love Gulnar, and I will love this baby too. I have peace about the situation, and I don’t want to go through with the abortion.”
Her strength and peace deeply touched our team. Together, we encouraged her to seek a second opinion at one of our partnering medical centres and to have an open conversation with her husband about her decision.
Gulnar’s story shows how our rehabilitation work goes beyond physical progress — it builds trusting relationships with families, enabling them to share their challenges and find hope, courage, and resilience in the face of uncertainty.
Name changed for privacy
Professionalism Produces Results
Practical training like this empowers therapists to be more professional and to achieve better results in their treatment.
Empowering Mothers
“It is so important that you know your rights!”
Now He Sits Like a King!
Positioning and proper support for children with cerebral palsy is crucial to their development and also to interacting and engaging with their environment.
Grateful Families
The parents of these children hosted a celebration to say thank you to our partners who have helped their families.
Don’t Give Up, There Is Still Hope
After a year of working with her, she is now able to feed herself, shower independently and help with cleaning around the house! When we first started working with her,
What a Difference a Chair Can Make!
Adaptive equipment can make a big difference in a child’s life!
Partnership Opens the Way to School
There are many barriers for a child with disability to access education in Tajikistan. Sometimes this barrier is seen in the attitudes of people that think children with disabilities don’t belong in school or should be kept separate from other children.
Partnership for Change
Both organizations continue to work in partnership with the mom and her son and we are seeing positive changes in their lives.
A Family Effort
Perseverance is one of our five key priorities at Operation Mercy. In our city, we often meet children and families who have endured immense hardship — through war,
Hope Stored in His Heart
Most of all we sense that Haitham now has hope stored in his heart that he did not have before.
Investing in the Future
There are new sounds coming from the centre these days.
New Horizons
The view of the horizon from the CBR window is changing. As new life sprouts up and lurches forward around the CBR Center and throughout the villages,
A New Chair
She really enjoyed her new chair and even after this very short time, it was recognisable that her body posture had already been improved.
Exploring New Ways of Moving
Yousif, a 4-year-old diagnosed with spina bifida, lay curled up in the corner of the living room floor. The doctors had told his family to give up hope—he was disabled and would remain that way for the rest of his life.
Schooling Requires Cooperation
Adnan loves school. His mother smiles with pride and says to the Operation Mercy team, “Every day he wants to go to school.” Naturally gifted with a friendly and bold personality,
Wheelchair Gives New Hope in Life
The wheelchair has not only contributed to Amir’s improvement physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well.
An Event for Mothers
“This is for me?” One of the ladies asked, looking at the beautiful hand-held mirror she just decorated. Her question is perhaps not surprising. For these village women,
Training for Local Health Care Professionals
Kangaroo care and skin to skin contact between mother and newborn baby – these are vital practices unheard of in the local Kazakh neonatology hospitals.
Never too late to learn!
With the support and help from the staff I learnt how to take care of a child with disability.
Truth Boost
In spring 2023 we partnered with another NGO. Their local staff were running a centre in the old city for children with learning disabilities.
They wanted to integrate children with physical disabilities and asked our physical therapist (PT) and our occupational therapist (OT) to work specifically with these children.