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

Milk!

As part of their nutrition program, the kids at KM get a glass of milk every morning before school and every afternoon when returning from school. Also added to the milk are a couple of scoops of protein powder for an extra nutrition boost.

Saroja pouring Sreenevasa his milk while Harish
helps scoop in the protein powder

Little Sumitra getting her glass from Saroja... mmm, looks yummy!

Summer cooking lessons

This summer (April/May), the kids had a few activities while on their school break. One was cooking lessons twice a week from Anu. They learned to make lots of Indian favorites, like upma, tomato bhat, idlis, vegetable palyas, and lemon rice. Their first lesson of course, was on hygiene in the kitchen and the need to clean a kitchen til it is spotless.

Sreenevasa, Asha, Kaleem, Nanjunda, Amita, Venkatesh, Lokesh, Vinod

Anu moved the stove to the floor so all could see and participate

Asha holding the end product, with Kaleem and Amita looking
on, and Nanjunda offering you some chutney!

Timing was perfect for the cooking lessons, as we lost our cook (again). We've got a new cook now (more on her later), and in the interim the older kids used what they learned and helped Saroja make a few meals.

School grades and marks cards

Here's how our kids did in school this past year:

A new little girl and little boy

Two more little ones joined us this week. Lalita (age 4), and sister to Vinod, Netravati, and Swarana; and little Gowtham (also age 4), brother to little Jeevan.

Lalita, a bit shy during her first days at Karunya Mane

Gowtham, also a bit shy but if anything like his brother Jeevan, he'll soon
be another rambunctious kid at Karunya Mane with endless energy!

Gowtham used to live with his mom in a shack in a slum area of Mysore. Mom collects used paper and cardboard from waste baskets and sells them for income. She also cleans houses when she can find work. Her husband comes and goes and does nothing to support the family.

Gowtham is a bit underdeveloped and malnourished, and we've put him on supplementary protein powder to help with his weight.

Gowtham at his house last year

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.

Street boys and "solution"

Many of the street boys here sniff "solution" -- you see them holding small pieces of cloth to their nose, and then hide it in their pockets. These pieces of cloth are soaked with something, usually paper correction fluid, available for 25 rupees a bottle.

Salman, the son of one of our street moms, is addicted to "solution." He's so addicted to it that he cries when we take his bottle of paper correction fluid from him, and he often shows up with dried white fluid on his hands and face.

It's a really sad situation, with many young street boys are addicted like this.

May 2009 e-newsletter

Our May 2009 e-newsletter is out.