About Us
Today, CHAI ‘s focus is on supporting projects designed and executed by local non-profit groups and rehabilitation professionals in mostly rural areas. However, our first connection to Ladakh was in 2005 when we received a request from Cynthia Hunt of HEALTH Inc, a Ladakhi NGO, for rehabilitation staff at Sunny Hill Health Centre (SHHC), part of BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, to provide educational tours for Health Inc interns who were visiting Canada. This collaboration led to a visit to Ladakh in 2007 by SHHC rehabilitation professionals to learn about the distinct difficulties faced by people of all ages who have a disability. In partnership with local medical personnel, educators, and community groups, Canadian occupational and speech therapists participated in several health and wellness projects in the city of Leh and outlying villages.
Subsequent visits from 2008 to 2017 built on these relationships and the team grew to include physiotherapists, educators, a pediatrician and a psychiatrist. Through our partners in Leh and Kargil districts, we were fortunate to collaborate with many “change-makers” who were dedicated to making health care and educational opportunities more accessible and inclusive in Ladakh. In 2018 we were pleased to extend our involvement to the Kullu region.
Historically, there is a strong cultural stigma against disability and the differently-abled in Ladakh. Many families with differently-abled children do not receive adequate support for their children’s disability needs due to a lack of local services. For example, there is limited or no access to occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, or other specialized services, which could help these children adapt to their disabilities and flourish. Often these children do not go to school, receive medical attention, or have social contact outside the family.
Our Vision
Our vision, meaningful exchanges enabling every child, every home, and every community to create and maintain healthy futures.
Our Mission
The Canadian Himalayan Association for Innovation (CHAI) develops healthy communities, primarily with society’s marginalized peoples, through partnerships to build skills, exchange ideas and improve infrastructure in the Himalayas.
Our Purposes
Purpose 1: Promotion of Health:To promote the health of marginalized people in the Western Himalayas by providing individuals with disabilities, mental health issues or specific infectious diseases with access to rehabilitation, counseling, information and support programs.
Purpose 2: Advancement of Education:To advance the education of Western Himalayan marginalized people and health professionals by providing leadership, life skills and health training, and to share these experiences with youth in order to further awareness and understanding.
Purpose 3: Relief of Poverty: To relieve poverty by providing seed funding to marginalized people for small-scale income generation projects in their home villages of the Western Himalayas
Alexis Davis (President )
Alexis is a pediatric occupational therapist who has been involved with projects in Ladakh since 2005. She was in Ladakh as the team leader for the Ladakh Disability & Rehabilitation Training (LDRT) project in the summers of 2007-2012, again in 2014 and then supported the Canadian team remotely in 2017. Through her experiences in Ladakh, she was inspired to complete her MSc in Global Health & Development and to establish CHAI as a registered charity. Alexis is excited to visit Ladakh in the winter, one day soon!
Elizabeth Makepeace (Vice President)
Beth is a pediatric occupational therapist who has worked in British Columbia, Alberta and the United Kingdom as well as in a volunteer capacity in Malawi, Tanzania, Nepal and India. In 2010, she joined a group of health professionals in Ladakh to support work at the Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital in Leh and communities in the district of Kargil. She is currently involved with CHAI and lives in North Vancouver.
Nadia Stuewer (Secretary)
Nadia has acted as Secretary for CHAI since 2019. She lived in Delhi from 2018 to 2021 and twice visited Ability Camp in Ladakh. She has a background in International Development.
Diane Wickenheiser (Treasurer)
Diane is a pediatric physiotherapist who has been involved in projects in Ladakh since 2014. As a physiotherapist, she has worked in early intervention, rehabilitation and in motion analysis. She has shared information with a multidisciplinary team of therapists/physicians to the medical staff at the Sonam-Norboo Medical Hospital, participating in workshops within the city of Leh and in remote communities.
Deborah Simpson (Social Media)
Deborah went to Ladakh in 2007 and 2009 as part of the Ladakh Disability and Rehabilitation Training program. As an occupational therapist in Vancouver’s community mental health services, Deborah shared information about psychosocial rehabilitation with medical staff at SNMH, and participated in workshops with village youth on health and wellness. Deborah was also part of a team that accompanied a theatre company from Leh on a tour to remote villages to increase awareness of mental health issues.
Mary Doherty (Member-at-Large)
Mary went to Ladakh in 2012 as part of a multidisciplinary team. She is a psychiatrist and was a resource for Dr Iqbal, a general practitioner who wanted to improve his psychiatric skills as he was increasingly managing and treating people with psychiatric problems in Ladakh. Mary says “it was probably the most fascinating experience of my professional life.