The India Pingalwara Trust was established in 1947 by Bhagat Puran Singh to provide shelter to homeless orphans, cripples, incurably sick, mentally and physically handicapped citizens. To best understand the future of Pingalwara, it is best to understand its past. This began as a dream in 1924, of Singh when he was only 20 years old and from a very poor family. His wanted to help others like himself and among the first environmentalists. He went to Amistar, and continued his mission. In a hand-pushed carriage, he took crippled and ill people to any abandoned building near the Rail Station. In 1952, through donations, he was given a permanent location to take care of handicapped and sick. He called it Pingalwara. In Punjabi, the word 'pingal' means handicapped people; the word 'wara' means a compound or shelter.

After his death in 1992, his visions gained momentum, and in the slums a school was created. In 2005, the Ardash School was added to the location, followed by the school of deaf, one year later, and Home of Hope was there to help them move forward.

When they began, there were only 16 deaf children, and now there are 63 children who are orphaned, poor and they come from villages and slums. They are guided and inspired by R.P. Singh, a former Group Captain who had been in the Air Force for 32 years, and has been working with deaf children for twelve years.

In early 2010, R.P. Singh joined forces with Jill Ellis, the co-founder of the Center for Early Intervention on Deafness, in Berkeley, California. They created the Sister City Project, a six day seminar was incredibly rewarding. The audience included nearly 100 key physicians, nurses and teachers, each anxious to learn more.

It is the beginning of a cultural change in India. Traditionally, handicapped children are ignored or abandoned. It is important to identify early

   HOH's Goals

The Sister City Project, partially funded by the Home of Hope, Inc., is to share cultural perspectives about deafness and educational opportunities for children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

1. Introduce early identification and intervention to the teachers at Pingalwara and the community
2. Introduce CEID's early intervention model to the medical providers in India, including video tapes of auditory training, speech therapy, parent education and creative classroom activities
3. Arrange meetings with key stakeholders at Pingalwara and provide recommendations for teacher training, curriculum enhancement, improved classroom learning environments
4. Initiate a Newborn Hearing Screening program and parent education program

Also, the current scope of Home of Hope helping the India Pingalwara Trust is limited to the Amritsar branch only, the Manawala Complex. We hope that an increase in donations will allow us to implement this program in other branches in Jalandhar, Pandori, Sangrur, Goindwal and Palsora. The medical needs for all these children need to be updated.