Showing posts with label Vijayalakshmi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vijayalakshmi. Show all posts

Thursday, May 9, 2013

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!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

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!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Beautiful 5th Grade Girls

Time sure flies. We're in the middle of our fourth year at Karunya Mane, and the kids are sure growing like weeds! School starts again in just a week so we're scrambling (as usual) to get everything ready -- uniforms, books, shoes, school bags, pencils, notebooks, pens...

The girls who will be in fifth grade this year decided to try on their new uniforms. Since they've now graduated from primary school where they wore the red-and-blue shirts, they now get to wear the blue-and-white uniform.

Don't they look sweet? And for those who knew them "way back when," they've grown, huh?

Shanti, Divya, Vijayalakshmi, Pooja, Prema

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Two new little girls

Karunya Mane is up to 39 kids now, with the two latest additions being Vijayalakshmi and Vinuta. The girls come from socially and economically poor background. Dad committed suicide a few years ago, leaving their mom Lakshmi all alone. She cleans houses for a living, lives in a tiny house in a slum area of the city, and struggles to take care of her girls. None of her relatives bother to help with their care.


Vinuta, a mischevious little one!


Vijayalakshmi, very well behaved and extremely smart.

The girls have adjusted well to being at Karunya Mane, and are enjoying the rest of their summer with the other kids.