A new name for Baby

Baby came to us this May (see post here) and has become a real joy to have at Karunya Mane. At about 20 years of age (she doesn't know her birth date), she's a very pleasant and cheerful woman, is well-mannered, and helps out however she can around the facility.

Given a difficult and unfair early life, Baby never got an education. She did learn to write her name in caps -- BABY -- but was never given the chance to go to school. The people she worked for said that she wouldn't have been capable of going to school and learning. It is what "they" say here about many of the lower class/caste destitute kids who work in their homes or in their shops.

We don't believe in such thinking, and as proof of the human spirit's desire to improve oneself, one day while getting a checkup from a doctor, Baby told him that she wanted to stay at Karunya Mane and get an education. He relayed this information to us, and Baby now attends tutoring class every day at Karunya Mane, and is quite the avid student.

Baby and Reeta have become good friends while at Karunya Mane, taking tutoring class together and hanging out. A few days ago, Reeta gave her friend Baby a most amazing gift -- a real name: Sandhya. Sandhya, an auspicious word in Sanskrit, means "twilight."

Sandhya and Reeta with their teacher

Sandhya is healthy and she's gained noticeable weight at Karunya Mane. In addition to her educational efforts, she participates in group activities with the kids, including birthday celebrations, karate class in the mornings, and arts and crafts on Sundays. We suspect that after years of being someone's unpaid servant -- basically from the age of 10 to 20 -- Sandhya is finally getting the chance to enjoy a childhood. Unfortunately in India, being forced into child labor at an early age is more the norm than the exception for over 100 million children in the country.

Sandhya at Sunday arts and crafts

Update on tutors

After working with the kids for a couple of weeks, our after-school tutors seem to be enjoying their work. The tutors also create tests every week to measure the kids' progress.

Yesterday, Chaitra, one of our tutors said, "The kids are wonderful, I really enjoy working with them because they are so enthusiastic to learn! Especially that Sreenevasa, he's loves school."

Chaitra tutors the kids in 2nd and 3rd grades: Sreenevasa, Sharath, Pooja, Kaleem, and Harish.

We'll also be getting a tutor for Reeta and Baby, both age 20. The two women expressed interest in furthering their education. For Reeta, this means starting around 9th grade, and Baby starts from scratch, as she was never given the chance to go to school. It's always nice to see the kids and women want to improve themselves, not because someone tells them to, but because they want it for themselves.

Baby moves to KM

In early May, a man visited KM with his mother-in-law and a young woman, who turned out to be an orphan. He was inquiring about whether this orphan, named Baby, could come to stay with us. Years ago, she had been taken from her home to be child servant in a house in Coorg, three hours from Mysore. At that house, she was beaten and punished often, so she ran away.

She was found by this family sitting at a bus stop in Bangalore, crying. This man's mother-in-law saw her there, brought her to their home, and they named her "Baby." Although they had her doing chores around the house and (for whatever reason) didn't send her to school, they did take good care of her and treated her well. She stayed with them for ten years, til they brought her to us.

Recently, they learned that she has a few health problems that they as a family believe they are unable to deal with, so they brought her to us, hoping that we could help her. Baby is now with us at Karunya Mane, where she gets proper treatment and lives in an accepting and healing environment.