Manikanta passes the SSLC exam!

We've known Manikanta since 2006. He lived on the streets of Mysore, where he hung out with his friends Venkatesh, Sreenivasa, Nanjunda, Lokesh, and Harish. When we opened our children's home, he wanted to come to stay with us even though he had never attended school, and he was nine years of age.

Manikanta in 2009

Manikanta had a rough start to his education, ran away from Karunya Mane several times over the years, and often talked about going back to the streets to live because he missed his "freedom." But he stuck with it, and we stuck with him, and today we learned that he passed the pressure-filled SSLC (10th grade) exam. He'll now continue on to 11th and 12th grades (called Pre-University College here, or PUC). 

Manikanta in 2014

We are so happy for Manikanta, who at times seems a bit lost and lacking direction in comparison to our other former street boys who are finding their paths away from the streets a little more confidently. Manikanta also misses his mother, but no none has any idea where she may be. Usually, our other moms or friends on the street have information on one another, but nobody has seen Manikanta's mom for years.

Congratulations to Manikanta!

On another note, to all of the parents out there, we hope that whatever the outcome of your child's SSLC or PUC exams, you are encouraging and supportive. Too many kids are committing suicide over lower than hoped for exam results because of the pressures they face to get high scores and, thus, spots in prestigious colleges -- such tragedies are simply unnecessary.

The end of another school year

School is almost out for the 2013-2014 year! Thirty-six of our kids have finished their exams and are now enjoying their summer vacation. Eight of our kids at St. Francis take their last test today. Everyone is eagerly awaiting results, to be announced in mid-April.

Next year, our current seventh graders will change campuses to attend high school (!). They are really excited, but are also a bit sad to leave the primary and middle school teachers that they've known for six years.

7th grade graduates: Mamatha, Pooja, Prema

7th grade graduates: Vinod and Pavan

Two of our tenth graders start the very important SSLC examinations today. We are crossing our fingers that they do well -- passing the SSLC exam means continuing on to 11th grade. Many students, particularly from poor backgrounds, fail the exam and don't bother to try again. If our two kids fail, they will take the exam again. Today, having an SSLC certificate is required for getting a driver's license and most jobs in India.

Our two 10th graders have overcome many challenges to get to where they are now.

Suma came to us three-and-a-half years ago at the age of 13 after her mother died, and she struggled in school. When she lived on the streets with her mom and siblings, she sporadically attended a government school in the city that had four teachers for 1st to 7th grades.

Suma

Manikanta is a former street boy whom we've known for nine years. On the street, he lived with his friends and sniffed glue everyday. After coming to KM, he stopped that habit but behavioral effects lingered. He works hard at his schoolwork, and we are so happy that he's still in school and hasn't gone back to his former life on the street.

Manikanta in 2009

Sreenivasa just completed his 12th grade exams this week. Sreeni is another former street boy who grew up on the streets of Mysore with Manikanta and their friends. Sreeni first attended school when he came to stay with us at KM in 2008, starting in third grade at the age of 12. He's worked really hard to catch up as best as he could, and has grown and matured into a solid, reliable young man.

Sreenivasa (white shirt) in 2005

Sreenivasa in 2010 (third from left)

Results for the 10th and 12th grade exams will be out in May. We'll let you know how everyone did!

Kids sure grow up quickly!

Summer Activities 2013

This summer vacation (April and May) was as busy as usual at Karunya Mane.

The boys had a project to work on. They needed a new area to hang their clothing so they dug up the dirt, laid the cement, and installed new clotheslines and poles in their outside area (with adult help of course!).

Gathering dirt... (Pavan, Surya, Manikanta, Sreenivasa, L to R) 

The end result -- cement and clothesline poles!

Ten boys and girls attended the Natana art and drama camp, and even got their pictures in the paper! The camp is run every year by Mr. Mandya Ramesh, a famous actor, director, and theatre personality in India.

Two of our boys, Pavan and Padmanabha, even got invited to be in a film that will be shot later this year in Mysore! Yay!

Mamatha, one of our girls, learned modern dance at Natana and seems quite good at it!

(see a larger version on our Flickr page)

The kids who didn't attend camp had their own dance and art teacher for April, Miss Shweta. She engaged the kids for a couple of hours each day with arts and crafts activities and dancing lessons.

In May, the boys put on their own mini-show, "Kamsale" or "Cultural Program," and goofed around with shadows and lights... Kinda neat!

(see a larger version on our Flickr page)

Surya creating the shadowy figures

Creative use of a broom:

(see a larger version on our Flickr page)

School starts in two weeks, on June 3. As we say every year, boy, what a summer it was!

School grades!

The kids at Karunya Mane just got their final grades for the school year (2012-2013, which ended in March). Here are a few highlights.

Adarsh, who had to repeat lower kindergarten, received all As and A+s this year and he'll be going to upper kindergarten this coming year (June 2013 to March 2014). Yay!

Surya did very well again in his elite English-based school, St. Francis. He ended up in 4th place in his 3rd grade class!

Surya (left) with his little brother Darshan

Shilpa, our girl who came to Karunya Mane at age six with no schooling, got an A+ average for the second year in a row!

Shilpa

Latha continues to struggle in school. She was allowed to pass 4th grade even though her scores did not merit the promotion because Indian law forbids schools from failing children, regardless of how badly they perform in school. We are currently searching for a teacher who can homeschool Latha for this coming school year. If you know an interested teacher candidate, please let us know.

Latha and her little sister Jyothi

Divya and Vijayalakshmi did very well this year, their first year in English medium (5th grade), with overall average grades of A. We thought they did well considering going from a Kannada-based curriculum to an English-based curriculum is like going from a French- to an English-based curriculum.

 

Divya and Vijayalakshmi

Next year, Pooja and Prema will skip a grade and go from 5th to 7th grade because they are older than their peers in class (they missed several years of school when they lived on the street and in the slum). They both did well in 5th grade, averaging A grades, and understand they have to work extra hard next year.

Arabia did very well in 4th grade, scoring A+s and As throughout the year, and will be going to 6th grade this coming year. Go Arabia!

Our oldest girl, Asha, passed 12th grade and will be starting her bachelor's degree this June. She's in the process of applying to colleges in Mysore -- stay tuned for more!

Asha

Harish, our 10th grader, also passed the nationwide 10th grade exam, and will start PUC 1 (11th grade) in late May. Harish, who lived on the streets before coming to Karunya Mane, went from 1st grade to 10th grade in five years. He started his education far behind his age and has worked hard during the past six years to graduate 10th grade this year.

Harish (left) with Manikanta, who passed 9th grade, and Sreenivasa, who passed 11th grade.

Our kids averaged an A grade, and they are all continuing their studies over the summer vacation with daily two-hour tutoring at Karunya Mane. The kids work hard at their schoolwork and really want an education. Let's wish all of our kids another excellent school year!

If you'd like to make a donation to help us cover our kids' school expenses, please do so at Donate Now! Expenses for one year of schooling are approximately US$92. Thanks for your continued support!

Harish and the big boys

Three of our oldest boys, Sreenivas, Harish, and Manikanta, spent the school year at a residential school. They returned to KM in April for a short summer vacation, and during that time volunteered at our neighbors, People for Animals. PFA is a not-for-profit animal shelter that cares for homeless and handicapped animals, and currently houses over 200 dogs, a handful of cats, parrots, four beautiful eagles, a monkey, rabbits, horses and donkeys, and a couple of little piggies.

At PFA, the boys learned how to feed and clean the animals, and also helped the veterinarian with procedures in the operating room. The boys loved their summer internship and everyone at PFA enjoyed their efforts.

Manikanta with a white doggie cooling off on the wet sidewalk. 

Harish and Manikanta just returned to school this week, and Sreenivas will also head back in a month. Here's what Harish wrote about his time at PFA:

Although Harish still has a few English grammar rules to learn (!), we have to remember that he has basically been in school for only four years. He started in 1st grade (at the age of 9), skipped to third grade (at the age of 11), then skipped to fifth grade (at the age of 13), and just finished up 9th grade (age 15), in the Kannada language.

Sreenivas and Harish, getting ready to feed the dogs (rice, egg, milk).

Jumping rope

The kids are on their Dasara holiday from the 18th of September to the 2nd of October.
During the break, they have a daily schedule, with the normal bath/prayer routine in the morning, followed by breakfast and chores. They also continue their tutoring classes, so they don't forget what they learned in school, and spend the rest of the time playing games and engaging in some really fun outdoor activities.

Shanti

Prema and Manikanta helping Shanti

Prema

Manikanta

Sharath going to ride his bike

Nanjunda during the daily cricket gameVenkatesh

All of the toys and games for the kids were donated by generous supporters of our work. Thanks!

Project Dog House

Another summer project for our older kids was building a dog house for our three dogs, who came with our kids from the street. Here's what they came up with. Not bad for using extra materials around the facility and a bit of cement -- and all for under $10!

Mom Maggie and her puppies arrived last year. Puppies Gundha and Shirley are now fully grown. Having pets around teaches the kids not to beat them and hit them, and to take good care of their animals.

The older kids are also responsible for washing and walking the dogs when they aren't studying. Considering our dogs are street mutts, they sure are nice and clean. And friendly!

Sumitra, Devaraj, Manikanta, Jyothi, Netra, and Pallavi
hanging out in front of the dog house.

Saturday activities

Kids usually go to school on Saturdays for half a day, and get back home by 1:00 pm. At Karunya Mane, our kids spend their Saturday afternoons catching up on chores and studying.

On this random Saturday in late March, the kids took some time to wash their school shoes and socks.

Divya

Prema, Amita, and Manikanta

Manikanta the ham...

More art supplies

Thanks to the dedicated effort of Tracy and Ray, their supply of arts and crafts materials -- crayons, color pencils, glue, paints, papers of all kinds and much more -- gathered from generous donors throughout the year arrived at Karunya Mane.

Some of the stuff they brought!

The kids are really enjoying their Sunday projects with our current volunteers Sara, Jen, and Ashley.

Ray helps Pallavi and Jyothi decorate the little stick figures with clothing and hair

Sara with her bunch of kids

Recently, the kids made these:

Jen with Manikanta and Prema

Latta

Jeevan

A really really nice gift

Today, out of the blue, Manikanta gave us the sweetest gift.

Manikanta, age 9 and finishing up first grade, has lived off and on the streets for years. He used to run away from his mom when she beat him and burned his eyes and skin with pepper fumes for not bringing any money home. He'd stay with his friends on the street.

Manikanta was also developing the nasty and highly addictive habit of sniffing glue.

This year, Manikanta came to Karunya Mane because he wanted to be with his friends. He struggled for a long time in his new environment, running away once and often talking about leaving school and Karunya Mane to go back to the street.

This past weekend, for the first time ever, he told us, "I am happy here. I do not want to go back to the street, I am very happy here and want to stay."

What better gift for the New Year? Let's hope he continues on his path to a new life...

The Zoo!

During the Dasara holiday, which went from October 8th to October 30th, the kids with parents spent 1 1/2 days at their homes. They then returned to KM to continue their tutoring sessions during the holiday, and to enjoy a couple of outings.

One outing was to GRS Fantasy Park, a mini-Disneyland like amusement park with tons of rides and games for the kids to enjoy. The kids had a blast and have already picked out the amusement park they want to visit next year.

The other outing was to the Mysore Zoo, where they saw a collection of amazing animals, like lions and tigers, and elephants and giraffes, as well as gorillas, monkeys, alligators, and exotic birds.

The kids brought a packed lunch made by our cook, Raju, whose food they absolutely love.

Swarana and Vishnu enjoying lunch

Harish, Nanjunda, Swarana, and Vinod resting

Harish (volunteer) with Vinod; Saroja; Divya holding Siri; and Manjula (volunteer)

October 23 was also Manikanta's birthday, and they brought his birthday cake to the zoo to wish him a happy day. Photos and video courtesy Thomas Smith.