Category: Orphans
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Vishranthi Trust: an NGO for children who are abandoned on the streets
ONE day, a few people found some children who had been abandoned in brick factories, bus stations and railway stations – all alone and frightened. The children were suffering from severe malnutrition and anemia and had not eaten in days. The little ones were unkempt and disheveled and were evidently uncared for by a parent…
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Udayan Care: an orphanage in Delhi offering care to orphans
UDAYAN Care is an orphanage in Delhi that has been working tirelessly since 1994 to bring about a transformation in the lives of abandoned children, orphaned children and disadvantaged youth. Udayan Care is a source of hope for these underserved sections of society, operating in 36 cities across 15 states in India. With its holistic…
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Snehwan: Breaking the cycle of poverty and child labour for orphans of farmer suicides
In the desolate and drought prone areas of Maharashtra, farmer suicides have become a painfully reality. Although the issue gets sporadic coverage in newspapers the extent of the problem is rarely highlighted. But behind this lies an even graver issue, the silent crisis of those left behind after a farmer dies by suicide. The issue…
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No Child Orphaned: Give’s mission to support orphans
THERE are 30 million orphans in India, which is a significant portion of the population of young people in the country. The hardship that an orphan faces is so much more than the absence of parents in their lives. Without guardians, an orphaned child has little to no access to basic rights such as education…
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Don’t let homeless children remain invisible
The streets are no place for their young lives to play out AT 13, Satender Sharma ran away from home to escape an abusive father. His father beat the entire family mercilessly and even killed his mother by hitting her head into a wall. To get away from a life of more abuse, a petrified…
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How it began at Delhi Council for Child Welfare
Delhi Council for Child Welfare was established in the year 1952 by a group of 10 women. The Council first started its work among children who had been displaced, lost, or abandoned in the riots surrounding the partition of India in 1948 by providing them with mid-day meals and recreational activities. Over the years, they…
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How it began at Operation Shanti
“I came to India in 2003 from USA to learn Yoga,” says Tracy, who is the founder of Operation Shanti. After earning degrees from both Harvard and the University of Chicago, and after a brief stint as a computer programmer, Tracy had spent eight years as an investment banker on Wall Street in New York…
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Asha Kiran works for the ‘untouchables’ of Harijanwada
One of the areas that Asha Kiran does invaluable work in is Harijanwada. Here there are no proper roads, just small lanes with cacti on either sides, huts made of dried grass, exposed to the heat and open drainage. I was taken into a small hut, with just one room which served as a kitchen,…
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How it began at Asha Kiran
The mission of my trip was to see firsthand the wonderful work that Mr. Prakash of Asha Kiran was doing for the underprivileged. I was so eager to reach my destination that I was standing by the door of the moving train. It was around eight in the morning. The fresh breeze invigorated me. In…
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Giving Children Hope
“From rags to riches” is a common phrase. But at The Hope House, everyone is “rich” in love and care. Driving to The Hope House (THH) even the sun’s rays feel welcoming and loving. There were no houses along the road, just an oasis of trees and colorful flowers. The old red building is the only one in…
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How it all began at The Hope House
Raised in a Christian family, Mr. Ruby Nakka, who started the The Hope House, trusted his intuition and staunchly believed in his calling. “I used to live in a hut in Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh. The roof used to leak when it rained, and we had no electricity, no money. I had three sisters. My grandmother…
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This NGO aims for ‘irreversibility’, so that the people they help will never be able to go back to how they lived before
Vatsalya is a highly ambitious NGO, whose work currently focuses around five programs. The flagship and biggest of these is Vatsalya Udayan which is the residential child care program for orphans and abandoned children. As I chatted with co-founder Hitesh Gupta, I couldn’t help but notice the pride he took in his work. Hitesh candidly…
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How it began at Vatsalya, Jaipur
Vatsalya is a Sanskrit word which means ‘unconditional motherly love’; the organisation was registered as a charity in 1995. Mrs. Jaimala Gupta grew up in a well off family and it was a childhood dream of hers to work with street children and improve the quality of their lives. Her husband Hitesh also shared this…
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Giving a childhood to children who never had one
No matter what I put down here, my words will not do justice to my visit to El Shaddai. The Kurians extended their welcome to me by inviting me to stay at their old Children’s Home, which is where El Shaddai volunteers now stay. On my first day, I visited Shanti Niketan, which is a…
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How it began at El Shaddai Charitable Trust
El Shaddai was founded by two individuals from very different backgrounds. They lived on opposite sides of the world but shared the same idea. One of them is Anita Edgar , a grandmother, who lives in Devon, UK. In December 1996, she took a last minute holiday to India to rejuvinate from her long working…
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This NGO gives abandoned and orphaned children an environment akin to that of a regular family
“Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.” ―Howard W. Hunter This famous quote by Howard W Hunter is what came to my mind after my visit to 8-acre SOS Children’s Village, on the outskirts of Delhi. An organisation which has its roots in the Second World…
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How it began at SOS Children’s Villages of India
On June 23rd 1919, Hermann Gmeiner was born into a large farming family in Vorarlberg (present-day Austria). When he lost his mother at the age of five, his elder sister Elsa took on the responsibility of caring for the younger siblings. He missed his mother tremendously and often used to express this feeling as, “There…
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An organization that takes serving the poor seriously
It was my first trip to Pune and little did I realize it was going to be such a memorable one. Amidst heavy rains, I boarded a bus at the ever-crowded Dadar for the Maharashtrian capital. It turned out to be a three and half hour serene journey as the monsoons made the ride through…
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Being parents to children who have lost their own
My visit to the NGO Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) came on a hot June afternoon. I headed north from the picturesque CST station and into the urban district of Thane. Coming from the UK, I was shocked to witness the midday rush of people hopping on and off the trains but managed to reach…
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How it began at SOFOSH
SOFOSH was primarily established with the noble intention of financially aiding economically challenged patients of Sassoon The organisation has grown over the years and has its fingers in numerous social welfare causes today. In fact, the story of how the organisation came about and its growth thereafter is quite an interesting one. The story goes…
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One good deed today, a full-fledged organisation tomorrow
by Apoorva Deshpande This question goes out to folks in Pune – how many times have you walked past the Sasoon hospital? In fact even if you’re not from the city but frequent it often, you would have passed by it as it’s located really close to the city’s train and bus station. But have…
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Thanks to ACCESS, children are working at BPOs instead of construction sites
The next time you see an upcoming building in Bangalore, spare a thought for the families of the labourers who help cities develop. That’s what Mr. Thomas Swaroop and five of his friends did back in 1992. Infact, they continue to do so through the organisation that they set up to better the lives of…
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Providing loving, group foster care for orphans in Delhi
by Yashika Sharma I entered the Udayan Care Ghar (“Home” in Hindi) and all the children, in a surprisingly coordinated way, greeted me with “Hi!”. Entering the room filled with girls smiling, running, drawing and chatting, I would never have been able to guess that all of them come from abusive and ugly pasts. While…