The love of a teacher

One of the challenges that we've had in the past is finding the appropriate staff, including house mothers, to help care for our kids at Karunya Mane. For one thing, it's not an easy job (for parents with two or three kids, you know what we mean -- think about taking care of 44 kids at once). For another thing, many shy away from working with street or slum kids. Moreover, anyone could simply "do" the job and be a passive, warm body in the room to monitor the kids.

It takes special people to be effective house mothers and actually make an effort to improve the lives of kids like ours (or any kid) -- not just materialistically by providing them with what they need on a daily basis -- but also by taking the time to teach each of them good life lessons, values, and ethics, 24/7.

We are lucky to have two such women. They are incredibly positive influences on the lives of our boys and girls.

A few days ago, our boys' house mother had her birthday. Surya, one of our ten-year-old boys, left a birthday card for her on her bed as she slept. When she awoke, she said it was the first thing she saw and she read it. She wept out of happiness.

Translation

(left page)

Dear Teacher,
You are always my teacher.
I am always your student.

(right page)
Respected Teacher,
   Wish you a very happy birthday.
You are the teacher who has given me education and knowledge. You have taught me that we should always be merciful towards others, we should love all, we should not hate anyone. Your wish is that I should become a good human being and take care of all and that I should make a name for myself. I will behave as you wish and make you proud one day. I will see to it that you will become very happy on seeing me and my success.
    Respected teacher, I can never forget you. I think of you every second.
Surya J.

We share this card with you in honor of all of the great teachers, parents, and caretakers who dedicate their lives to improving the life of a child or children. Thank you so much.

Sponsoring

If you are a sponsor of one of our kids at our children's home, or you are considering being a sponsor, communicating with your child can be a lot of fun and satisfying.

A couple of years ago, a group from Canada on tour of south India came to visit our kids. When they returned to Canada, several of them got together to sponsor five of our kids -- Harish, Prema, Sowmya, Surya, and Shwetha. Harish's sponsors correspond with him a couple of times a year, and such a connection with a sponsor makes a big difference in Harish's life, whose parents both passed away.

The Canadians' visit

Sowmya, Surya, Shwetha, Prema, and Harish

A couple of months ago, Padmanabha's sponsor came to Mysore to practice yoga. While in Mysore, he met Padmanabha. It was a fun day for all of the boys -- not just Padmanabha -- as they got to show off their karate and yoga skills to the sponsor, and all had a great time. 

 
For our kids to know that people are out there helping them out of the goodness of their hearts is a huge thing for them! We thank all of our sponsors who are supporting our 44 kids at Karunya Mane!

Right now, all of our kids are sponsors -- as some of the sponsorships come to an end and are not renewed, we'll let you know!

Best boy/best girl catch-up

Recent months' "Best Boys" and "Best Girls" (a prize given out each month to the kid who displayed the best behavior for that month) at Karunya Mane were:

March - Prajwal / Shwetha
April - Sreenivasa / Sowmya
May - Surya / Mamatha

Prajwal started 7th grade this year, in English medium. Always polite, neat, well-behaved, and disciplined, he's an outstanding kid who has the potential to great things in this world.

Prajwal

Shwetha started 5th grade this year. She gets very good grades in school and her behavior has improved tremendously -- the temper tantrums that she once displayed have disappeared and she's improved in all areas of behavior.

Shwetha

Sreenivasa, who attends boarding school and is now in 11th grade, returns to Karunya Mane on the holidays. When he's back, he provides great relief to our boys' house mother by helping her out with the little boys. Sreenivasa has grown into a responsible, mature young man and we're quite pleased to see that he seems to have outgrown his "street boy" behavior.

Sreenivasa (right) with Shashidhar Sir (one of our teachers) during the Holi madness fun!

The May best kids were repeat "bests" -- Mamatha and Surya -- who are consistently high performers in all areas -- school performance, behavior, chores, overall demeanor -- and as their prize, they got to go shopping with us at Easy Day for the sports equipment that we donated to the kids' school!

Surya doing his homework during tuition time. 

Mamatha

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!

iPads? iPads!

Several generous friends donated two iPads to Karunya Mane -- one for the boys and one for the girls. The kids just love their iPads!

Surya with Mohan (left) and Darshan (right)

Even our house mothers are addicted... they've discovered the Internet and are able to help the older kids with homework projects by looking up information using Google.

In general, the girls like to browse and learn about different places and Indian holidays. The boys are obsessed with picture of tigers, snakes, and creepy crawly creatures.

During the summer holiday (April and May), the kids are enjoying daily time on the iPads, which have opened up a whole world to them -- safely, of course, through a child-safe browser!

If you have recommendations for great educational apps that we could download, let us know!

...seen on a billboard (an education-oriented billboard!)

Outside its school property, St. Francis School installed a billboard featuring their top students---including our own Surya!

go Surya!

What the kids did on Christmas Day!

What they did on Christmas. See the latest photos here, and little Santa Surya -- 


http://flic.kr/s/aHsjDnX9Bs

KM Boy and Girl of the Month - August 2012

The kids of the month for August were Shilpa and Surya. Both are excelling in school, yet come from difficult backgrounds.

Shilpa, age 8, came to Karunya Mane a year ago (April 2011), along with her little brother Jeevan. She lived with her mom and dad in a slum area of Mysore in a one-room grass shack that they built, with a door that barely closed. Shilpa never attended school because she stayed home to watch little Jeevan when mom went to work. Mom gathered discarded paper and cardboard and sold it by weight.

When Shilpa came to KM, she could not read or write. One of our tutors helped her for a month with the basics and we then enrolled her in school, 1st grade, in May 2011. Since then, she's only gotten A+s in all of her classes and her teachers say that her behavior is impeccable.

Surya, age 9,  has been with us at KM for a few years, and is our star in school. We met him in 2005 on the streets of Mysore, where he played while mom sat and begged on the sidewalk. Surya has always been a very well behaved boy, and this most recent quarterly test, he was ranked #1 in his 3rd grade class.

Surya's English is now so good (!) that he sometimes translates between English and Kannada for some of our non-Kannada speaking friends who come to visit the kids. 

Surya!

One year ago, we talked about three of our children at Karunya Mane who were to attend an English medium school in the area. It was sort of an experiment, since we weren't sure what to expect when enrolling former street/slum children in a middle- and upper-class school like this. The curriculum is more rigorous and the fees are relatively high.

http://operationshanti.blogspot.com/2010/04/three-little-ones-to-cbse-school.html

Unfortunately, two of our three children struggled a bit this past year at St. Francis. Lalitha and Shwetha weren't able to show enough improvement in their performance throughout the year to merit continuing at St. Francis -- they tried their best but sometimes it's just not meant to be -- and they will attend Deepa Primary School next year with the rest of our kids.

Little Surya, on the other hand, was ranked #1 in his first grade class at St. Francis for the entire school year. He now speaks almost fluent English and earned *SO* many extracurricular awards during the school day ceremony! We are very proud of him, not just for the excellent grades but also for his outstanding behavior.

Surya in his school uniform

Thanks so much to Surya's sponsor for helping to pay for his educational expenses for the coming year.

Next year, we'll enroll two more of our top performing kindergarteners at St. Francis. These two girls, Sowmya and Vinuta, did very well in kindergarten this past year and their teachers say that they are very bright and demonstrate an interest in learning. Coincidentally, Sowmya is Surya's little sister. 

Vinuta, Surya, and Sowmya at KM

Let's wish all of our kids an excellent 2011-2012 school year!

A day at Wurth Elektronik in Mysore

For Children's Day this past year, on November 14, the kids were invited to spend a day at Wurth Elektronik's Mysore campus. The kids had a great time, got to play some outdoor and indoor games, were fed cookies and ice cream, and a very nice lunch made at the company's dining room.

When the arrived, the kids contributed to the company garden and planted a few plants.

Next, they sang and danced ...

 ...had some lunch ...

...and goofed around!

The kids also brought back a few useful gifts, like notebooks and pencils and art supplies. Thanks so much to the Wurth employees who were so welcoming to our kids!

Three little ones to CBSE school...

India has two different curriculum that schools can follow -- the State syllabus or the CBSE syllabus. The CBSE, or the Central Board of Secondary Education, syllabus is the central government's educational curriculum. Students under the CBSE curriculum face a more rigorous program at all grades, and the majority of the learning is done in English. CBSE is accessible primarily to children from middle- and upper-class backgrounds, as these schools are mostly private and are quite expensive -- anywhere between ten and twenty times the cost of our kids' current private school fees.

(So... if after reading this blurb, you're interested in supporting one of our CBSE-bound kids next year, let us know! Two are already sponsored, and we're looking for a third sponsor to cover the first year tuition of approximately 16,000 rupees or US$350.)

As such, lower-class and destitute but talented kids rarely have the chance to attend CBSE schools. Of the CBSE schools that we talked with in Mysore, none has ever admitted a child with a background similar to that of our kids at Karunya Mane.

Nevertheless, we're going to try to do something different next year and admit three of our top-performing little ones to a CBSE school. We believe that, after a period of adjustment to the stricter, more rigorous curriculum, they will thrive and do well in such an environment.

Our three little ones heading to CBSE school are Surya, Shwetha, and Lalitha. Lalitha, who just finished nursery school, has been admitted to kindergarten. Surya and Shwetha will take the entrance exam on April 17th, for admission to 1st and 2nd grades, respectively. They are currently getting tutoring during the summer break (April and May) by one of the teachers working at the school.

Little Surya, below, studies very well and his overall behavior is excellent -- he is mature, composed, quiet, very responsible for his age, and extremely thoughtful in all of his actions. His tutor says that he's incredibly smart and picks up new concepts immediately. It's amazing to remember that he spent his early years sitting with his mom on the streets while she begged.

Surya

Shwetha will start 2nd grade next year, and is, like Surya, a very well-behaved child. She comes from a broken, abusive home environment, but mom has remained a loving and caring supporter of her kids throughout their family turmoil. Shwetha washes her own clothes every morning and is always willing and ready to help someone else whenever she can. Shwetha did well in school this year, and loves her new CBSE tutor.

Shwetha

Lalitha

Little Lalitha will start kindergarten at the CBSE school. This past year, she attended nursery school and after-school tutoring with three other little boys from KM (Gowtham, Mohan, and big Darshan) -- and in that group, she proved herself to be quite independent and the unquestionable leader.

Next year, as our next set of nursery school kids (currently, Umesh, Adarsh, and little Darshan) work their way through their first year of being in a school environment, we'll evaluate them to determine who may be a good fit for admission to the CBSE school. We also plan to admit to CBSE 1st grade some of the kids finishing up kindergarten next school year, as a few of the little girls in that group are quite sharp, like Sowmya (Surya's sister), Jyothi, Tunmaya, and Parveen... we'll keep you posted on their progress.

The risk, of course, is that our kids won't "fit in" given the disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds that they come from. But we are confident that, with the right guidance and support, they can break through these barriers and thrive in their new school.

Without a doubt, they deserve the opportunity. Let's wish Surya and Shwetha luck on the entrance exams on the17th!

little Sowmya at Karunya Mane

Little Sowmya, who hangs out on the street while her mom Girija begs, just came to Karunya Mane. Sowmya's older brother Surya is also at KM, and she wanted to join him before school started next year.

Sowmya!

It took her a couple of weeks to get adjusted to being at KM, and hangs close to brother Surya, but she's now integrating well and playing with the other kids her age. She'll start school next June, along with the other kids.

Gifts from Sweden

This year Christmas was a little late at Karunya Mane (January), but it was quite special, as the kids got to celebrate with special presents sent by schoolkids from the Sodra Angby Skola in Sweden.

Sumitra got a doll and a photo of her new friend in Sweden

Parveen and Vishnu

Surya

Mr. Joseph coordinated the gifts with Sweden and with the yoga
community, as he does every year for several orphanages in the area

Latta

Elena and Henrick introduced the idea of sharing Christmas with India to the school:

"We've had a really fun time with the kids and their teacher on this project. Henrik started by giving the class a slideshow of India and discussing different aspects of the culture. A week later Henrik and I went together to the class to answer more questions about India and for me to help them translate their letter text into English, working with the kids through the English and allowing them to tell me how things are said in English. We then helped them to create their cards. Finally, today, we went and collected the gifts they chose and wrapped with their parents help (we asked them to give things that are meaningful to them). After dealing with the gifts, I led the class in a playful yoga session and we discussed a bit about the history and benefits of yoga. Some of the kids have already found and checked out Operation Shanti's website and we encouraged their teacher to let those kids who have visited your website to tell the other kids about it so they can find their way to it to learn more about the kids over there."