Prishan Foundation
We left this morning a little after 5am. Jainy, Abraham, myself and 15
of our little princesses hurrily rushed to the railway station just in
time for our train to Kerala.
Ever since I met Jainy she had told me about her home in Kerala. She spoke so highly of her 2 sisters, Joice and Jaya and would always tell me how much she loved them. There were so many resemblences between her life and mine and as we grew to know each other more we were so stunned to learn how much we had in common.
Jainy lost her father when she was 11, the same age as me when I lost my mother. She lost her mother when she was 16, I lost my father at that same age... her mother died from heart related problems, so did my mother. Her father died from stomach related problems, my father from stomach cancer. She was so close to her father but not so much her mother, exactly how I was...
After her parents died her older sister looked after her and her younger sister, working endless hours to provide for them. I too remember when my parents died, my brother Mehdi worked so hard to make sure me and my younger brother had everything that we needed. Without my 2 brothers, Mehdi and Amir, my life would have been so lonely. Jainy would always say the same thing - that her life certainly had tradegies but the fact that she had her 2 siblings by her side gave her the strength and determination to overcome those times, grow stronger as a person and give back to the world.
I loved spending time with her and I loved learning more about her past.
She moved to Orissa 10 years ago when she was offered a job as a nanny in a Girls orphanage, having felt the need to serve other children that had also lost their parents she took the offer emmidiately and moved permanently to Orissa, crossing 3 states having to leave her sisters behind for the first time in her life. It was at this home where she met Abraham. He was living in a boys orphanage that was across the road from where Jainy was working. They would meet secretly once in a while, exchange love letters and plan their future together. They decided to get married and 10 years later, 2 children (and 1 on the way!!!) they are still happily married, very much in love and together started Assist orphanage home for girls. Since then they have helped more than 100 orphans in Rayagada. Many of those children are now working as nurses, teachers and social workers! I am so proud of them both and so honored to be working alongside them now!
I promised Jainy that the next time I returned to India I would take her back to Kerala to see her sisters again and to see the home where she had so many fond memories.
Out of our 34 girls, four are between the ages of 18-27, they have been trained in social work and if Abraham or Jainy need to leave Rayagada for any reason these girls look after the rest of the younger children. When we were planning our Kerala trip, me, Abraham and Jainy decided that we would take 15 of the girls with us, 5 children per adult and 18 of the girls would remain in Rayagada to be looked after by our 4 older girls, Mukta, Suman, Baghya and Bidusi.
Now came the difficult decison of choosing which 15 of the girls to take! At first we decided to write each of our 34 girls names on a peice of paper and randomly pick out 15 names, seemed fair...but then we changed our minds. We wanted to take the girls who had never left Orissa before, the girls that had never been on a train before and had never seen the ocean...
This way worked out better and after explaining our decision to the rest of the children they all agreed that it was the best choice and every one was happy!
So here we are, all 18 of us embarking on the 39hr train ride to Kerala!
4hrs into our journey I hear our 4 youngest girls, Jamuna, Srooti, Ramya and Emi shreaking with joy! I looked down from my bunker and noticed them all fighting each other to get to the train window...
It was their first time seeing the ocean!!!!
I sat back, took a deep breath and watched the girls experience something that was quiet possibly the most amazing thing they had ever seen! I don't think I had ever seen them so happy! I wish there was a way I could stop the train so they could enjoy their special moment longer!
The ocean passed and the girls were still beaming with joy, shouting 'samoontro samoontro' (Oriya for Ocean) this is now my favourite word of all time!
The rest of the evening on the train we saw more beggars that I have ever seen in my lifetime, more than my heart could handle. Every child beggar that would come to our cabin, Jainy and Abraham would offer them a home with us, freedom from a life of begging, poverty and crime but none of the children wanted to listen. It was as if they were just not hearing what was being said. They were zombie like, tired of this world and didnt want what we were offering, they simply wanted money... they were children with a mind of an adult, they had to be this way to survive.
I wish, I wish, I wish, there was a way to save every child living in poverty.
I wish, I wish, I wish, there was a way to show every child in this world the love that they deserve.
Why are there so many children hurting in this world?
Why are we not doing more to help them?
It gave me a great opportunity to tell our girls just how lucky and special they are and to never EVER ignore someone who is hurting.
It is NOT normal to see someone suffering and not be affected. I never want our girls to grow up and not help other children. Help does not always mean financially. They can help someone with a simple smile, with a hug, with a 'you are so beautiful'.
I remember specific times when I have been smiled at by a complete stranger when I needed a kind smile. That smile changed my whole mood, made me forget about what I was thinking, even if it was for a few minutes. We were created with the ability to smile for a reason, please lets use this wonderful gift as much as possible!
I hope the girls will love Kerala and I hope there will be many smiles to be exchanged while we are there.
'Smile and the world smiles with you'
Ever since I met Jainy she had told me about her home in Kerala. She spoke so highly of her 2 sisters, Joice and Jaya and would always tell me how much she loved them. There were so many resemblences between her life and mine and as we grew to know each other more we were so stunned to learn how much we had in common.
Jainy lost her father when she was 11, the same age as me when I lost my mother. She lost her mother when she was 16, I lost my father at that same age... her mother died from heart related problems, so did my mother. Her father died from stomach related problems, my father from stomach cancer. She was so close to her father but not so much her mother, exactly how I was...
After her parents died her older sister looked after her and her younger sister, working endless hours to provide for them. I too remember when my parents died, my brother Mehdi worked so hard to make sure me and my younger brother had everything that we needed. Without my 2 brothers, Mehdi and Amir, my life would have been so lonely. Jainy would always say the same thing - that her life certainly had tradegies but the fact that she had her 2 siblings by her side gave her the strength and determination to overcome those times, grow stronger as a person and give back to the world.
I loved spending time with her and I loved learning more about her past.
She moved to Orissa 10 years ago when she was offered a job as a nanny in a Girls orphanage, having felt the need to serve other children that had also lost their parents she took the offer emmidiately and moved permanently to Orissa, crossing 3 states having to leave her sisters behind for the first time in her life. It was at this home where she met Abraham. He was living in a boys orphanage that was across the road from where Jainy was working. They would meet secretly once in a while, exchange love letters and plan their future together. They decided to get married and 10 years later, 2 children (and 1 on the way!!!) they are still happily married, very much in love and together started Assist orphanage home for girls. Since then they have helped more than 100 orphans in Rayagada. Many of those children are now working as nurses, teachers and social workers! I am so proud of them both and so honored to be working alongside them now!
I promised Jainy that the next time I returned to India I would take her back to Kerala to see her sisters again and to see the home where she had so many fond memories.
Out of our 34 girls, four are between the ages of 18-27, they have been trained in social work and if Abraham or Jainy need to leave Rayagada for any reason these girls look after the rest of the younger children. When we were planning our Kerala trip, me, Abraham and Jainy decided that we would take 15 of the girls with us, 5 children per adult and 18 of the girls would remain in Rayagada to be looked after by our 4 older girls, Mukta, Suman, Baghya and Bidusi.
Now came the difficult decison of choosing which 15 of the girls to take! At first we decided to write each of our 34 girls names on a peice of paper and randomly pick out 15 names, seemed fair...but then we changed our minds. We wanted to take the girls who had never left Orissa before, the girls that had never been on a train before and had never seen the ocean...
This way worked out better and after explaining our decision to the rest of the children they all agreed that it was the best choice and every one was happy!
So here we are, all 18 of us embarking on the 39hr train ride to Kerala!
4hrs into our journey I hear our 4 youngest girls, Jamuna, Srooti, Ramya and Emi shreaking with joy! I looked down from my bunker and noticed them all fighting each other to get to the train window...
It was their first time seeing the ocean!!!!
I sat back, took a deep breath and watched the girls experience something that was quiet possibly the most amazing thing they had ever seen! I don't think I had ever seen them so happy! I wish there was a way I could stop the train so they could enjoy their special moment longer!
The ocean passed and the girls were still beaming with joy, shouting 'samoontro samoontro' (Oriya for Ocean) this is now my favourite word of all time!
The rest of the evening on the train we saw more beggars that I have ever seen in my lifetime, more than my heart could handle. Every child beggar that would come to our cabin, Jainy and Abraham would offer them a home with us, freedom from a life of begging, poverty and crime but none of the children wanted to listen. It was as if they were just not hearing what was being said. They were zombie like, tired of this world and didnt want what we were offering, they simply wanted money... they were children with a mind of an adult, they had to be this way to survive.
I wish, I wish, I wish, there was a way to save every child living in poverty.
I wish, I wish, I wish, there was a way to show every child in this world the love that they deserve.
Why are there so many children hurting in this world?
Why are we not doing more to help them?
It gave me a great opportunity to tell our girls just how lucky and special they are and to never EVER ignore someone who is hurting.
It is NOT normal to see someone suffering and not be affected. I never want our girls to grow up and not help other children. Help does not always mean financially. They can help someone with a simple smile, with a hug, with a 'you are so beautiful'.
I remember specific times when I have been smiled at by a complete stranger when I needed a kind smile. That smile changed my whole mood, made me forget about what I was thinking, even if it was for a few minutes. We were created with the ability to smile for a reason, please lets use this wonderful gift as much as possible!
I hope the girls will love Kerala and I hope there will be many smiles to be exchanged while we are there.
'Smile and the world smiles with you'
Posted 23rd February 2012 by Prishan Foundation
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