The Midwives' Visit

In mid-February, the kids at Karunya Mane had visitors from travelers with the John Baines Tour in the UK. The visitors were midwives who practice in the UK and who came to India for a tour. KM was one of their stops.

The kids had a great time with their new friends, and some of the older ones practiced speaking English to the midwives.

The littlest ones, growing up nicely

Our littlest ones, ages three and four, are growing up quite nicely. They are happy and smiling most of the time, and they love to eat!

Here they are just hanging out one afternoon with Aunty (our cook), giggling and engaging in a bit of mischief! Next year they start lower kindergarten.

Umesh, Adarsh, little Mohan, Aunty, little Darshan, Madappa

Doggies and kitties

If you're a pet lover, walking around India and seeing the countless suffering stray dogs and cats can be a bit disconcerting. Many street dogs are put to sleep as a way to try to control the population. Other organizations work to sterilize as many as they can. And seeing these poor little animals walking around in search of food while people beat them or throw stones at them is heart breaking.

At Karunya Mane, we are trying to teach our kids to respect animals, and to treat them well. Vishnu, our most mischievous six-year-old, occasionally pulls a puppy's tail, but the rest of the kids are learning to love their KM pets.  

In our cat/dog house live Martin the friendly white and orange kitty, Georgina (black doggie) and Lisa (black/white doggie) -- they are sisters found in a ditch by one of our boys while walking home from school ("pleeeeease can we keep them? they have no mom!"), Luther the not-very-friendly tabby cat (pictured below), Sweetie the friendly grey kitty, and Bob the smallest kitty (pictured below).

Below, Lalitha and Adarsh say hi to Sweetie and Lisa.

Here are Luther and Bob.