The Chen Kuang Crippled Children's Home, situated near Taipei, houses some 150 mentally and physically handicapped children. Although a few are too mentally retarded to make significant progress, most of the children are helped to lead new lives through their upbringing at the home. The physically disabled, most of them polio victims, can receive normal education, and special education is provided for those with an IQ of less than 80.

Shih Ching, or Grandma Shih as she is known to the children, is the founder of Chen Kuang. After graduating from the Department of Education at Yenching University on the mainland, she set up a foundling nursery in Lanchow in Kansu Province in western China during the war of resistance against Japan. At one time, the nursery had in its charge some 2,000 war orphans, and Grandma Shih's confidence to carry on her work was reinforced.

In 1949, Shih moved with the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan. No sooner had she settled down than she started to sell curios, and inaugurated the Yikuang orphanage from the proceeds.

Shih had discovered during the course of her work that disabled children tend to feel insecure in the company of normal children. In some cases they have to suffer the indignity of being mocked or imitated. As a result, she decided to set up a home specifically for the disabled.

Using funds she had collected and some of the land she owned in Taiwan, Shih was able to put her plan into practice, and soon the number of children in her charge grew from 45 to 150. After providing the basic food and board, Shih opened classes for mentally normal children and vocational classes for older residents. She is now planning to establish the Cheng Yu Handicraft Training School to provide education for all types of handicapped children, to enable them to lead independent and normal lives.

Though she is now in her 80s, Grandma Shih still inspects the children's living quarters each day. She regards the children as members of her own family and devotes all her energy and love to improving their lives.

In April this year, the rehabilitation center at Chen Kuang was finally inaugurated. With 80 beds and expensive electrical and water equipment for physical therapy, the center provides treatment for 40 resident children and many outpatients.

"Nothing is impossible in this world," said Grandma Shih confidently. Chu Chung-hsiang, aged 15, bears out her philosophy. A victim of muscular dystrophy whose limbs are completely paralysed, Chu was only given six months to live six years ago. But time has proved the efficacy of Grandma Shih's optimistic approach.

"We never give up hope. Physical therapy and Chu's will to live have created a miracle." Though he knows full well that he will probably die before he reaches the age of 20, as the wasting reaches his heart muscles, he has never despaired. Three days a week he undergoes electro-therapy to prevent his muscles from deteriorating at too fast a rate. He is now learning how to repair watches to enable him to lead a useful life. Chu Chung-hsiang is one of many children at Chen Kuang who are making brave efforts to stand on their own two feet.

Because of her advanced age, Grandma Shih has gradually been handing over responsibility for running the home to her daughter-in-law, Mou Ling-huei, who is currently dean of the faculty. The two devote Protestants recalled the difficulties they encountered when Chen Kuang was first established. Even though there was not even enough money to pay salaries, the two did not give up.

One day, for instance, Shih found a baby lying sick and hungry in front of the main gate. She immediately sent it to hospital for emergency treatment, even though she did not know where the money would come from. Fortunately, she found a benefactor to save the life of the child, who has now become a soldier guarding his nation. Other problems connected with the installation of tap water and health care facilities have all been solved, as Grandma Shih puts it, "through our faith in God."

Dean Mou issued a warning that close relatives should not get married, since this increases the chance of an abnormal child being born. She also urged parents to visit the home frequently to provide psychological support for their children. The children at Chen Kuang have been divided into six families according to their age and nature of their disability, so they can enjoy as normal a live as possible. A nanny is assigned to each household to act as a surrogate mother.

Mou said that many volunteer workers became frustrated by the difficulties they found in teaching the children, and left after only one or two days. Others, however, got caught up in the work, and helped to enable the home to carry on.

One of these workers, Chen Sou-chen, 67, has been at the home for 10 years. "At first, I felt sick and had no appetite when I realized the enormity of the task. But then I realized that the children needed me and I needed them," she said. Now she works 10 hours a day, and gets up several times each night to make sure each child is comfortable. Though the workload is heavy and pay meager, Chen has found true happiness.

College graduate Lang Yu-hsien has also found satisfaction in working with the children. For her, children are like "walking flowers." Though they may be simple and sometimes unresponsive, they are usually lively and always pure. She never stops to think that her salary is only half of that of the average factory worker. After receiving a year's training in a class for mentally retarded children, Lang has now become chief of the classroom section at Chen Kuang, and is currently engaged in preparing teaching materials for disabled children.

In many cases, older children help to take care of their juniors. Though one of his legs is paralysed as a result of a polio attack, Chu Hai-fen, 14, helps to bathe and feed other children. Even his younger brother Lin, who also suffered from polio and had to crawl into the clinic when he first arrived, helps with the laundry.

Unbounded love from each member of the "family" has helped to make the Chen Kuang Children's Home place of hope and fulfilment for the disabled.

[Picture Caption]

1. Children frolicking in the yard of the Chen Kuang Crippled Children's Home. 2 & 3. Children receiving physical therapy. 4. A teacher uses therapy to train children. 5. Grandma Shih and two of her young charges. 6. A young volunteer who has dedicated herself to special education.

Children in the music class and undergoing physical therapy.

Right: Instruction in balancing, and opposite, water therapy.

Children receiving physical therapy.

Children receiving physical therapy.

A teacher uses therapy to train children.

Grandma Shih and two of her young charges.

A young volunteer who has dedicated herself to special education.

Children in the music class and undergoing physical therapy.

Instruction in balancing, and opposite, water therapy.

Instruction in balancing, and opposite, water therapy.

Instruction in balancing, and opposite, water therapy.