A couple of months ago we started working with Swanthana, an organization for street-abandoned children who are differently enabled. We started with going out in small groups of 3-4 to understand their needs. The children needed some physiotherapy equipment; we bought them some. Spend a day blowing up the physiotherapy balls in different sizes. Most of the credit goes to Raj for that! They also needed a children's park. We worked on a meager budget with a lot of contributions coming from our team itself. These are special kids and a normal kid's park is not suitable for them. We worked with a vendor to tweak the swings to suit their needs. The merry-go-round came with sit-in bucket seats to support their backs. The slide with a different plastic material so that they woudn't hurt themselves. Also a jungle gym for which the guys in our team dug 1 metre deep trenches in the torrid Indian sun.
Then, a few days ago we went to see how the kids were doing. We know most of them by name now. The biggest feat for most of us!! (there are 35 kids at Swanthana). Starting right from cudly little babies to 13 year olds who can beat you at a game of basket ball the moment you blink. My team is quite special in that way. They jump at opportunites to sacrifice their weekends, dig out stones weighing kilos with a chisel, paint parks (and their clothes!) and baby-sit kids at Swanthana. And yes, we also love going out of the city on weekends together. Our next trip is to Wayanad, Kerala, which we are trying to convert into an eco trip. Its nothing phenomenal. On the two days that we will be there trekking along the hills of Wayanad we plan to carry those big black garbage disposal bags and collect all the litter thrown away by tourists. I know its not something that is gonna have a lasting effect on the landscape. But the cleaner surrounding might just prevent that next tourist from swishing his cola can on the way.
2 comments:
Hello,
We are in the process of adopting a little girl from this orphanage. I wonder when you might have been there as it appears as though you were there when our daugther was. While she is no longer there having been moved into a foster home, I wonder if you might have some pictures of her. We are trying to compile as much of her history through words and pictures as we can. If you might have some pictures, perhaps we might be able to contact you to get some copies if she happens to be in them. We have to be careful what info we share so as not to jeopardize the adoption. Thank you for your work there.
Hello Garen,
I apologize for the late reply. I was travelling for the past few months and was unable to access my blog.
I would be glad to send you pictures of Swanthana. Please send me your e-mail id and I will forward the pictures to you.
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