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!

Girls and karate

The girls had a karate test on the 24th of February, and did just great! Check out the photos from the event --

Manjula getting her orange belt; she started karate lessons at KM in 2010.

The girls (Arabia, Netra, Mamatha, Shweta, and Renuka) who got yellow belts. 

The KM girl's gang!

Pooja, promoted to a maroon belt.

Break time: Shwetha, Vijayalakshmi, Suma, Divya. 

Prema (front), the most advanced with a brown belt.

Shwetha, Renuka, and Vijayalakshmi going from white to yellow belts.

We are very proud that the girls enjoy their twice-weekly karate lessons and are learning the value of self-defense, particularly in India where violence against females is a major issue faced by women of all socio-economic classes.

Go girls!

If you're interested in supporting our girls with karate lessons, their lessons cost approximately Rs.800 or US$16 per week. Thank you!

Friends from Daisy Troop 2494 in Sparks, Maryland!

A friend of ours who is in charge of her daughter's Daisy troop (youngest level of Girl Scouts) in Sparks, Maryland, had the idea to share India with her girls during the month of February. February is the month that Girl Scouts dedicate to learning about and connecting with people from around the world.

On that day, she had her troop make cards and pictures for our kids. Her girls also enjoyed viewing pictures of our kids at Karunya Mane and learned about their daily routine. 

The girls in Troop 2494 also found India on the globe and couldn’t believe how many people live there. They saw pictures of Mysore and other parts of India, and found the Taj Mahal and the Mysore Palace very beautiful. They also got to eat naan and drank chai tea while doing their crafts and admired some fancy Indian outfits!

They sent their cards and pictures, along with a very generous parcel full of pencils and erasers, to our kids, who then decided to make cards in return. 

Here's a sampling of the cards and pictures shared... what a nice thing for our kids to connect with kids from halfway around the world! Thanks so much to Troop 2494 (and Shena) for sharing.

Sunday

On Sunday afternoons, the kids have some free time to hang around, finish up homework, and play. Here, they decided to put on a skit and did some singing and dancing from activities they learned at summer camp. They sure do love the spotlight!

Shanti, Suma, Manjula, and Prema

Divya, Renuka, and Manjula

Latha

Little Vishnu and Big Vishnu hamming it up

Jyothi and Thanmaye singing their favorite song

Sweaters from Bangalore

We want to thank Saraswati, Anu, and Manjula for knitting 25+ really warm and wooly sweaters for our kids! For those of you who knit, sweater knitting takes time... and our kids appreciate the time they spend knitting sweaters for our kids.

Here are a few of our girls (Divya, Netra, and Suma) modeling the sweaters!

Kaleem's birthday (and cute kids)

Kaleem celebrated his eleventh birthday on May 6 this year.

Darshan and Devaraj giggling. Little Pooja eagerly waiting for her slice of birthday cake.

Amita trying to feed little Umesh a piece of cake. Suma also waiting for cake.

Kaleem

A new girl, Suma

Last week, we took in a new girl named Suma. She was left on the street by her family, and nobody knows where they went or how to find them. Suma says that she is the oldest of four girls, and that her parents are laborers who wander around India looking for work.

Suma is about 11 or 12 years old, and has a quiet, pleasant personality. She is getting along nicely with the other kids at Karunya Mane and participates in their activities like arts and crafts and karate. Since Suma has never attended school, we started her with daily tutoring sessions with one of our teachers, and she's learning how to read and write.