Vaccinations and poor children

Umesh!

In India, although immunizations are provided for free in government health facilities, vaccination rates remain low because of a lack of proper healthcare providers (especially in rural areas) and unreliability in the supply of vaccines. Moreover, many poor people do not understand the benefits of vaccines.

According to the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, "Approximately 27 million children are born in India each year – the largest birth cohort in the world – but less than 44% receive a full schedule of vaccinations." Moreover, Indian researchers stated, "Although India is a leading producer and exporter of vaccines, the country is home to one-third of the world’s unimmunized children... India’s vaccine deficit has several causes: little investment by the government; a focus on polio eradication at the expense of other immunizations; and low demand as a consequence of a poorly educated population and the presence of anti-vaccine advocates."

Our own staff members sometimes talk about their young relatives in villages who died of a "fever" of unknown origin. Measles? Hepatitis? Don't know.

Although vaccinations can be controversial, they save lives and prevent the spread of potentially life-threatening diseases. The Gates Foundation stated, "Vaccines save millions of lives a year and are among the most cost-effective health interventions ever developed. Immunization has led to the eradication of smallpox, a 74 percent reduction in childhood deaths from measles over the past decade, and the near-eradication of polio. Despite these great strides, there remains an urgent need to reach all children with life-saving vaccines." 

Most of our kids at Karunya Mane, who are all from the streets and slums, were not vaccinated during their early months and years of life. Even if they may have been, their moms (if they have a mom) have no immunization records. Part of effort to provide our kids with the basic needs is to ensure that they are all properly vaccinated. 

We've tried to take our kids to the government children's hospital for free vaccinations but to no avail -- possibly because our kids may be older than tiny-tot age so don't qualify. Vaccines in India are less expensive than in the Western world, but still cost a bit, especially when vaccinating 40+ kids, and we estimate that it costs around $200 to fully vaccinate a child. 

little Jyothi and mom Lakshmi in early 2008

Most of our kids cry a bit when they see the needle, but not too much. Two of our tough little ones, Jyothi and Umesh, don't even react when getting their shots! 

Volunteer doctors and nurses generously donate their time to vaccinate our kids at Karunya Mane, such as Dr. Miguel Valenzuela, who gave his time when he was in Mysore for yoga classes. We're almost complete with catch-up vaccinations for most of our kids, but if you'd like to make a donation to help cover these costs, please do so at http://operation-shanti.org/donate.html.

Thanks!

Sources:

Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (see http://www.cddep.org/blog/posts/india’s_vaccination_problem_cddep_director_weighs_nature_and_health_affairs); Ramanan Laxminarayan and Nirmal Kumar Ganguly (see http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/6/1096.abstract); Gates Foundation (see http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Vaccine-Delivery).

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!

Clean those ears!

A couple of weeks ago, the wonderful people from audiologyindia (www.audiologyindia.com) and AIISH (All India Speech and Hearing) came to KM to give all of the kids ear checkups.

Jyothi: Oh my god, THAT was in my ear? 

The ear doctor checking Lalitha's ears.

The checkups included a hearing test, an exam by an ear-nose-throat physician, and a speech test.

Vinuta being check out by the speech therapist

Thanks so much to Jayaprakash at audiologyindia and our dear friend Manjunath for doing such a nice job organizing everything.

The kids' friend Manjunath, who helps them with many health-related arrangements.

Rachamma

We met Rachamma on the street in 2005, where she lived for many years with her kids and grandkids -- Venkatesh, Prema, Sumitra, Mohan, Latha, Jyothi, and Nanjunda.

Nanjunda enjoying lunch from his grannie Rachamma

 Today, most of her grandkids live at Karunya Mane. Nanjunda attends St. Francis School, and is doing very well in the English curriculum. He also stays in the school dormitory with the sisters who take care good of him. 

Rachamma
She's had a hard life but has always taken good care of her grandchildren

Rachamma visited Nanjunda at the dorm today and brought him a nice meal of rice and chicken curry, which he ate happily. Nanjunda's mother is very unreliable and unstable, and Rachamma and his Aunty Kumari have been the consistent support in his life. He gets temperamental and moody at times, not surprising given the torture he went through while living on the street with his mom, but otherwise he is doing well today and is much happier.

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

Project Dog House

Another summer project for our older kids was building a dog house for our three dogs, who came with our kids from the street. Here's what they came up with. Not bad for using extra materials around the facility and a bit of cement -- and all for under $10!

Mom Maggie and her puppies arrived last year. Puppies Gundha and Shirley are now fully grown. Having pets around teaches the kids not to beat them and hit them, and to take good care of their animals.

The older kids are also responsible for washing and walking the dogs when they aren't studying. Considering our dogs are street mutts, they sure are nice and clean. And friendly!

Sumitra, Devaraj, Manikanta, Jyothi, Netra, and Pallavi
hanging out in front of the dog house.

Online in Finland

Thanks to our friend Satu for writing about us on a travel blog in Finland:

http://blog.travelstart.fi/2009/05/apua-intian-katulapsille.html

(Google translate does a decent job translating from Finnish to English...)

Vishnu, Vinuta, Imran, Darshan, Jyothi

Spotlight on (and goodbye to) a volunteer -- "Kim Madam Kim Madam!"

Kim came to Mysore in 2006 to practice yoga and to volunteer at a charity. She started with Operation Shanti in the fall of 2006, and helped our kids and moms for two years, until mid-2008. Now, Kim is leaving Mysore for the "greener pastures" of Argentina, and we thought that we'd, along with our kids and moms, say goodbye to her and thank her for all of her contributions to our work. There were many.

with Pallavi, Apu, and Latta in our Street People Program in 2006

Kim started out volunteering with our street kids and moms, and she was involved with just about everything that we do -- from teaching our little kids their ABCs...

with Jyothi, Parveen, and Pallavi in early 2007

...to making monthly visits to the kids that we had placed in a residential school...

with Chumi, mom Kumari, and Venkatesh -- JSS Suttur 2007

...and to teaching yoga to our kids on Sundays.

Pallavi, Latta, Prema, Antony, Raguvendra, Nanjunda doing sun salutations

Kim also helped with taking our women and kids to the doctor when they got sick, made friends with the friendly ENT doctor who did Prema's ear operations, and gave it to the nasty doctor at Cheluvamba who insulted and abused one of our moms who had gone for  birth control advice.

Kim says, "There were many beautiful, heart-warming (and sometimes hilarious!) moments while I worked with Operation Shanti; however, to have witnessed how far the kids and moms have come over the past few years is the best overall experience. It's wonderful to see many of our kids now off the streets and living in Karunya Mane, a safe shelter where they're healthy, happy, thriving and getting a good education. And some of the moms have worked so hard and empowered themselves to turn their lives around by leaving dangerous and abusive domestic situations, for example. Now they're leading more peaceful and productive lives, taking excellent care of themselves and their children, and giving themselves the chance of a better future."

On the difficult times as a volunteer: "Definitely the most difficult part of volunteering for Operation Shanti was working with the terminally ill in our program--sadly watching them suffer while their lives slipped away, and then eventually saying goodbye. It was also challenging, and oftentimes maddening, to work within a system and a society that for the most part turns its back on the destitute--especially destitute women. To watch how inhumanely the poor can be treated here is just as sad and tragic as watching them die."

Recently, Kim paid a visit to the kids who are now at Karunya Mane to say goodbye before she leaves Mysore. Many of them remembered her fondly. When Prema saw Kim, she ran to her brother Venkatesh and said, "Kim madam! Kim madam!"

with little Vishnu

Even little Vishnu remembered Kim. She took him to the dentist after she noticed that his two front teeth had started rotting (mom was feeding him milk at night to help him sleep but often forgot to brush his teeth afterwards), and they spent quality time together during their several visits to the dentist.

And, what does Kim take with her to her next adventure from Operation Shanti and India? "All of the following but now to a greater degree: patience, tolerance, unconditional love, compassion, empathy, an open heart, and the joy in life's simple things."

More art supplies

Thanks to the dedicated effort of Tracy and Ray, their supply of arts and crafts materials -- crayons, color pencils, glue, paints, papers of all kinds and much more -- gathered from generous donors throughout the year arrived at Karunya Mane.

Some of the stuff they brought!

The kids are really enjoying their Sunday projects with our current volunteers Sara, Jen, and Ashley.

Ray helps Pallavi and Jyothi decorate the little stick figures with clothing and hair

Sara with her bunch of kids

Recently, the kids made these:

Jen with Manikanta and Prema

Latta

Jeevan

Anusha comes to Karunya Mane

Anusha, a cute little four-year-old, arrived at Karunya Mane this past week. Her grannie brought her to us and asked us to take her in.

Anusha's mom died soon after Anusha was born, in early 2004, and her dad ran off and married another woman. Nobody has seen him since. Grannie Geeta has been taking care of Anusha since then, but it's difficult for her because she's alone. While she works during the day, she has to leave Anusha with neighbors or friends, which means that Anusha is often alone.

Anusha with her new friends, Umesh and Darshan

We visited Anusha's grannie's house, a rented room attached to a house in a slum area of Mysore. A good chunk of her income from cleaning two house helps pay her rent. Anusha will start school this coming June, along with our other kids.

the KM little ones: Jyothi, Siri, Darshan, Umesh, Anusha

Four new kids

We're up to 31 kids... this week, Vinod, Netra, and Swarana joined us, they are brother and sisters. And little Jyothi (Latta's younger sister) also came to Karunya Mane this week.

Netra (upper kindergarten), Swarana (lower kindergarten), and Vinod (2nd grade), are new to us, and we met them through one of the moms in our street program. Their dad is a day laborer at the market and their mom sometimes washes pots and pans at restaurants. They have six children, and Netra and Vinod were obviously underfed and quite thin. Mom and dad struggle to care for their kids and, except for their one-year-old, asked if we would take their youngest. All three kids started school this week with our other kids.

Jyothi had been scheduled to move in this past May -- the same time that the other kids arrived, along with her sister Latta -- but at the last minute, her parents hesitated and then decided to keep Jyothi with them for one more year. Recently, mom got a job as a cleaning lady (more on that later) and instead of hauling Jyothi with her to work every day, she asked if she could send Jyothi to KM to start nursery school.