Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Visakhapatnam

Started in 1938 and taken over by the Ramakrishna Mission in 1939, this ashrama is situated very close to the sea (Ramakrishna Beach).

Activities:

1. A dispensary for the treatment of cerebral-palsied children, with facilities like physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, special education, speech therapy, counselling of parents, etc, treated 11,002 children this year.
2. A mobile medical unit through which 50 free medical camps were conducted (2477 patients were treated; 216 of them were operated for eye cataract).
3. A public library and a free reading room with 19,200 books and 60 newspapers and periodicals.
4. An English-medium secondary school, located a little away from the ashrama, with 431 boys and 429 girls.
5. An exhibition on the lives of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda.
6. Fifty-one values education programmes in schools and colleges benefitting 8198 students.
7. A vocational training centre with 63 women learning tailoring.
8. Religious activities: Daily worship, religious discourses in the ashrama and elsewhere, monthly retreats, and celebration of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and other spiritual luminaries.
9. Welfare work by way of providing scholarships to poor students and medical help to the needy.