The Sebama Foundation was started in 1988 with the primary aim of rehabilitating leprosy patients in the villages of Dharmapuri district in Tamilnadu. While working with the leprosy patients the health workers were confronted by the plight of large number of disabled children in the villages. The disabilities ranged from mental disabilities to visual impairment to orthopedic disabilities. Sebama F
oundation, therefore, started a residential school called "Mercy Home" for the physically and mentally challenged children of the villages. In the long term, Sebama Foundation hopes to expand the service to a larger fraction of mentally challenged children in Dharmapuri district. Sebama Foundation runs a residential center called ‘Mercy Home’ for children with orthopedic, hearing and developmental disabilities and mentally ill destitutes in Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu, India. There are about 150 inmates at Mercy Home