The end of another school year

School is almost out for the 2013-2014 year! Thirty-six of our kids have finished their exams and are now enjoying their summer vacation. Eight of our kids at St. Francis take their last test today. Everyone is eagerly awaiting results, to be announced in mid-April.

Next year, our current seventh graders will change campuses to attend high school (!). They are really excited, but are also a bit sad to leave the primary and middle school teachers that they've known for six years.

7th grade graduates: Mamatha, Pooja, Prema

7th grade graduates: Vinod and Pavan

Two of our tenth graders start the very important SSLC examinations today. We are crossing our fingers that they do well -- passing the SSLC exam means continuing on to 11th grade. Many students, particularly from poor backgrounds, fail the exam and don't bother to try again. If our two kids fail, they will take the exam again. Today, having an SSLC certificate is required for getting a driver's license and most jobs in India.

Our two 10th graders have overcome many challenges to get to where they are now.

Suma came to us three-and-a-half years ago at the age of 13 after her mother died, and she struggled in school. When she lived on the streets with her mom and siblings, she sporadically attended a government school in the city that had four teachers for 1st to 7th grades.

Suma

Manikanta is a former street boy whom we've known for nine years. On the street, he lived with his friends and sniffed glue everyday. After coming to KM, he stopped that habit but behavioral effects lingered. He works hard at his schoolwork, and we are so happy that he's still in school and hasn't gone back to his former life on the street.

Manikanta in 2009

Sreenivasa just completed his 12th grade exams this week. Sreeni is another former street boy who grew up on the streets of Mysore with Manikanta and their friends. Sreeni first attended school when he came to stay with us at KM in 2008, starting in third grade at the age of 12. He's worked really hard to catch up as best as he could, and has grown and matured into a solid, reliable young man.

Sreenivasa (white shirt) in 2005

Sreenivasa in 2010 (third from left)

Results for the 10th and 12th grade exams will be out in May. We'll let you know how everyone did!

Kids sure grow up quickly!

Pavankumar S.C.! Boy wonder!

Pavan came to Karunya Mane in June 2010. He lived with his mom in a poor village near Mandya. As a single parent with significant health issues, mom had difficulty raising her only child. Dad abandoned the family a long time ago.

Pavan in 2010

When Pavan came to KM, he had been attending 6th grade in a government school in his village. However, when we tested his reading and writing abilities, we found that he could not even write the Kannada alphabet. 

Pavan and mom in 2012

We enrolled Pavan in the nearby private school that our other kids attended and put him in 4th grade even though he should have been in 1st. Like all our other kids, Pavan got tutoring everyday after school for two hours.

Pavan was also malnourished and very skinny when he came to Karunya Mane, so we gave him extra nutrition, including milk, eggs, and multivitamins.

Over the past three and a half years, Pavan has demonstrated that he's quite a smart boy and just a really good kid. He is well-mannered, listens to his elders, contributes to a positive environment at Karunya Mane, and participates actively in all of his extracurricular activities. He's often selected for school performances, like the one below (that's him at the top of the pyramid).

Pavan in a school performance

And, now, after three years, Pavan is ranked in the top 5 in his 7th grade class! We are very lucky to be able to care for a great kid like Pavan, who came from such abject poverty and is proving himself to be quite an accomplished boy.

Pavan in December 2013

Our house mothers provide written evaluations of each child every year. On Pavan's recent report, the house mother noted that Pavan is very special and, with good guidance and support, will grow up to be an upstanding young man in society.

Give a kid the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential -- it's the most wonderful thing you can do!

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!

The annual home visit!

Each year, during the school vacation (April and May), the kids at Karunya Mane go home for two or three days. They like their visits home, where they see friends and family and eat good food cooked by mom. They are also happy to return to Karunya Mane (whew!), and we are always glad to have them back.

This year, the kids were home from April 7-10. During that time, the parents were given the task to take their kids to get their Aadhaar card (new ID card in India), and open bank accounts for them so that they could begin to save money for their kids. Most of the parents did well with their assigned tasks.

Of course, the kids had homework to do when at home, and the parents ensured that they all completed their reading and writing! The kids also wrote a report for us on their home visits. Here are a few excerpts.

• Vinod (6th grade): "On 7/04/13 at 2.00 in the afternoon, my brother took me home. That day night we ate chicken. Later, I brushed my teeth. I woke up in the morning, brushed my teeth and took a bath. We went to the palace and other few temples. On 10/04/13, we came back to the ashram at 2.00 p.m. On 14/04/13, I went to summer camp."

• Swarana (2nd grade): "On Sunday at 3:00 p.m. I went home in an auto. There my brother gave me fruits. I ate fruits. Later, when my father came back from his work, he brought some snacks. We ate it. Later, I had supper at night, took a bath and slept. Morning, I brushed my teeth, took a bath and had meals. Later, I played with my younger brother and had my lunch at 1.00 p.m. Later, I wrote my homework. My father gave me some money and I bought some snacks from a shop and shared it with my brother. My mother prepared vada and meals for supper. I ate it and washed my plates and slept. Next day, my mother was not feeling well. My mother was vomiting. I and my brother went to a shop and bought Vicks for my mother. Later, I took a bath. My father prepared uppittu for us. We ate it. My mother was washing the plates and I went there and helped her. My father was painting our home at night. My younger brother was running around. Me and my elder brother went behind him and brought him back home. Netra and I helped them. In the morning, I took bath and dressed in new clothes. We were preparing for the death anniversary of our grandfather. Me, Lalita and my elder brother went to a shop and bought flowers, fruits, camphor and other things. Later, we kept vada and other foods for grandfather and after that, we had our lunch and came back to the ashram in an auto. Thank you."

Little brother Harish, mom Uma, Vinod, Lalita, Netra, Swarana, dad Raju

• Padmanabha (4th grade, who dod not go home because he just arrived at KM): "I came to Karunya Mane on 22/1/13. I like this place. Here everyone looks after me very well. I have committed two mistakes at school. I promised Banu Aunty that I will never commit such mistakes in the future. We all enjoyed here the day of Holi by applying colors on each other. I like the food serve here. I thank Tracy for sending me to the camp. I like the camp. My uncle was very happy after seeing me. He said to me now you are in good condition. My work here is to arrange the school bags. I will study well and bring good name to this orphanage."

Padmanabha and Uncle Suresh

• Sharath: "When we went to home from Ashram we ate ice cream. Later, we purchased clothes and we tried them out, and then we reached home. After a bath, I changed my dress. Later, I had food and then we went to see KRS. We saw the fountain dance and went boating. We went to a shop and ate watermelon and we purchased fish and went back to home. Later, we had food and slept. In the morning at 6.00 a.m. I woke up and brushed my teeth and took a bath. I had milk and a bun and ate some food. We went to get our Aadhaar cards, we took photos for it and went back to home at 10.00 a.m. At 3.00 p.m. we went to the bank. They asked for our Aadhaar card at the bank and my mother gave it to them. They asked for a photo. We took photos and went home. Mother prepared milk and I drank it and slept for some time. She woke me up. Later, I washed my hands, legs and face and had food. Again, I felt sleepy and slept. At 12:00 a.m. at night they woke me up. I asked “why?”, they said “to cut the cake”. That was my birthday! At night, I gave cake to everyone. After brushing my teeth, taking bath, wearing dress and arranging my clothes in a bag, I came back here on the scooter."

• Pavan (6th grade): "On April 7, at 2.00 p.m., I went to my native place along with my mother. My grandfather and grandmother were waiting for my arrival. That day night, they prepared chicken for me. I brushed my teeth before sleeping after food. On April 8, I woke up in the morning, took a bath, brushed my teeth, said prayer, had food, went to get my Aadhaar card, and went to the temple. On April 9, I went to see my friends. On April 10, I came back to orphanage. On April 14, I am going to the drama camp. I liked the holidays."

Pavan and mom Bagya

• Kartik (4th grade, who did not go home because his father is traveling all the time): "As a counselor Venkatesh Sir comes to our orphanage. Here, Banu Aunty takes care of us. Yoga Aunty cooks food for us. Except Sunday, we have tuition on all the other days of the week. Weekly one day we have singing class. Weekly three days we have karate class. Every Sunday, we have shopping time. Every month on the last Sunday, we get chicken dishes. Every day, I read the Vijaya Karnataka newspaper. Here, my works are washing clothes and cleaning the staircase. I got 2nd place in the sack race. In tuition class, Savitha Miss teaches me nicely. In the future, I will study well. Here, we grandly celebrate the Ganesh festival, Yugadi festival and Christmas. On the day of the Holi festival, we all poured colors and danced here. On Sankrathi feast, we ate sesame and coconut. Every day we used the iPad for half an hour."

Kartik and dad Shivanna

Other kids and their parents:

Vishnu, Shilpa, Jeevan, mom Kamala, baby Aakash

Pallavi, mom Sushila, Vishnu

Mahesh, mom Sushila, Raju

Shanti and mom Puttamma

Shanti Store, now open at Karunya Mane

The Shanti Store is now open at Karunya Mane! Actually, it's been open for a few months now, and gives the kids a chance to "buy" goodies and snacks that all kids like to get their grubby little hands on.

Getting ready to shop! Sadiq and Pavan are on duty today, and the boys are waiting nicely in line
(what? a line in India?) for their turn at the store counter.

This is little Jeevan, he's three years old (and really cute) and
attends a nice pre-KG Montessori school nearby.

Each child gets an allowance every month based on age (the oldest kids get 40 rupees, the youngest kids get 20 rupees). Bonus money (5 rupees) is given to kids whose behavior is exceptional during any given month. Disciplining occurs for kids who fail to do their homework (oh no!) -- a deduction of 5 rupees from one's allowance has occurred on certain occasions when one misbehaves.

Today, he decided to buy a candy bar. (The money is "KM Money," created by the kids themselves.)

Two of the older kids are on duty each weekend (Saturdays for the girls, Sundays for the boys) to sell items and record each transaction, including who spent how much on what.

Sadiq serves banana chips to Raju. Pavan records every transaction.

The Shanti Store offers the typical Indian sweet and savory snacks -- banana chips, chukkuli, cho-cho, chili-flavored corn flakes -- as well as, of course, various types of candies, chocolates, and other yummies.

Interesting patterns have emerged. The boys save their money each month in case special items are sold at the store -- last month, two of the boys were able to purchase watches with the money they saved! The girls do NOT save, spend their entire allowances each month, as they say, "oh I'll get more money next month, I'll just buy another piece of chocolate now." What's up with that?

So far, the store is a huge success and the kids absolutely love shopping! They eagerly wait until 5:00 pm, when the store opens, and are learning the value of money, consequences of one's actions, and tracking money and purchases.

If you're in Mysore and want to donate to our store inventory, we take any kind of kid-appropriate snack and goodie found in Mysore bakeries or provision stores, including inexpensive wallets, watches, bangles, necklaces, henna, bindis, fingernail polish... nothing too expensive -- we use actual market prices on our items!

Pavan Kumar

Pavan Kumar, one of our older boys, came to Karunya Mane in June 2010. When he arrived, he could not even read or write in Kannada, even though he supposedly just finished up fourth grade.

Pavan has no siblings, and lived with his mom in Mandya, about a two-hour drive from Mysore. Pavan's dad left them years ago and hasn't bothered to return. Pavan is a great kid, respectful, happy, and kind -- he just had no support at home because his mom worked, and he was often left alone.

Pavan started at Deepa School with our other kids in June 2010, and spent the first half of the year in 1st grade, trying to at least get a good foundation in the basics. He was then moved to 4th grade because of his age, and struggled. About midway through this year, now in 5th grade, Pavan finally started to catch up and has been doing quite well for most of the year.

Pavan on parent's visiting day with his grandmother, mom, and little cousin.

Pavan is also a funny kid; he likes to play around and dress up, like below -- he actually went to school dressed up like and elderly village woman! Everyone got a good laugh.

Pavan as old village woman, he's even got the seating posture correct!

Next year, Pavan will be in 6th grade. Let's hope that he'll continue his excellent progress in school. It is nice to watch kids who aren't able to read or write finally begin to improve in school and, most importantly, see their enthusiasm for school grow in the process. All they need is the right support and guidance. Many thanks to Deepa School's patient teachers and Pavan's after-school tutor, Jyothi!

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!