Shaping their future

Navaratri has come and gone. Among the many kolus we admired and secretly rated, our vote for the best should go to the one at Sivananda Orphanage. Three hundred children, 80 senior citizens and staff members celebrated Navaratri at the ashram with a beautiful doll arrangement, songs, slokas and speeches. A student performed the puja.

About 40 km from Adyar on the Chennai-Chenglepet highway, and located in a spot called Mangalapuri, the lush 14-acre campus has a few new and old buildings and two huge meeting halls. The new structures house the dormitories and kitchen for the children and the elderly. Across a maidan are more buildings where the kids attend school.

How do children end up in the ashram? A few months ago, the staff found a day-old baby wrapped in a plastic bag lying on the steps. Then, a hotel nearby called up to say that they had found a baby in a toilet. Local policemen too call with similar finds. Not surprisingly, more girls are unwanted than boys.

The orphanage takes these abandoned waifs into its fold. Sometimes, a father, a mother or a relative brings in a child saying they can no longer afford to care for it. These children are fed, clothed, cared for, educated and given some vocational training before they leave after the completion of Class X. The ashram has done it for 50 years.

As you tour the compound, the one aspect that stands out is the cleanliness all round. The neatly-made two-tier beds, the personal effects, plates in the dining hall, the giant washing machine, the study area and the solar-power-driven great urns in the kitchen, all speak of efficient organisation and the excellent training given to the children. Three British volunteer-girls share their appreciation of the highly structured life of the boys and girls. "These destitutes need the closeness of a family like any other children,'' says S. Rajaram who with his wife manages the ashram - a legacy from his parents .``That's why we celebrate festivals and invite guests. Interacting with other people gives these kids a sense of belonging. It helps them feel less isolated and gain confidence to achieve what the others are doing outside the ashram."

So what happens to the kids once they move out of the sheltered ashram life? ``This is where we need help from citizens of Chennai,'' says Lakshmi Rajaram. ``After a regulated, disciplined life at the ashram, the kids find it difficult to come to terms with the sudden freedom. Institutionalisation leaves them shy and fearful, and some recoil at the thought of being in a family. With no means to support themselves and no confidence to face a disordered world, there is every possibility they will go astray."

``We are trying to upgrade the school to Class XII and want to introduce vocational education. The major hitch in this enterprise is our inability to send the kids to the city for training. We are not happy about their being on their own all day."

``We would be extremely grateful if individuals and corporate houses could come here to run vocational courses for high schoolers during week-ends. We do need funds to feed and clothe the children,'' adds Headmaster Swaminathan. ``But what we need more is help from service-minded people. We are acutely short- staffed in primary and middle school. We could do with a counsellor for the children, someone they can talk to about their fears, someone who will give them faith and assurance to face the world outside. The boys somehow manage a life for themselves. It is the girls who walk into a problematic future."

Rajaram plans to expand the activities of the ashram. A training centre for the disabled, a women's hostel, a polytechnic, computer courses and a hospital are some of the schemes on the cards. He welcomes participation of Chennaiites in his ambitious plans.

Log on to their website www.indiadirect.com/sivananda-ashram. Call their office at 236 9444 / 04114 52345 or e-mail sivanand@md2.vsnl.net.in. Find out what you can do for the ashram's children.

G.P.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Features
Next     : Bins that spin a tale