Sometimes we get lucky

Recently, when we were distributing our care packages for our Project Food and More effort at the HIV clinic, a girl walked up to us and asked for some help.

Sowmya lives near the clinic with her parents in a one-room rented house, and her dad takes day labor jobs in the area. He's got chronic back pain so can't always work.

Sowmya

Anyway, we asked her what she needed. Sowmya said that she needed money for her school fees for this year. She started in 12th grade (PUC 2) in the science curriculum (one of the most difficult in the Indian education system) this year and seriously wants to become an engineer. Her family had no money to pay her tuition this year, which was Rs. 7000 (US$140). She gets a discount because of her caste and low income status.

We help a lot of really great kids, and when someone like Sowmya comes out of the blue for help, it's a real treat for us. She needs assistance (we saw her one-room house, small but clean, and this is where she studies), speaks almost fluent English, is an excellent student, and is polite and quite pleasant to talk to.

She's clear with her intent -- we said to her, "engineering jobs aren't that easy to get these days." She responded, "I know. But I want to try."

Sowmya's parents, Dilappa and Rathna

Who paid her fees last year? She said that her brother helped her, who is in the police force up north, but he had family issues this year so couldn't help out.

She showed us her grades from last year. She did quite well and certainly has the potential to excel. All of these factors told us that yes, this girl sure could use the help and would make excellent use of our support.

Dad got some great free treatment for his back from one of our directors in India, who is a doctor. And Sowmya's now in school and studying hard. She paid Rs. 4000 for her school fees and used Rs. 2800 for her textbooks. If you'd like to contribute to her education, she'll need to pay the balance of Rs. 3000 (US$60) in a few months.

We'll keep you posted on Sowmya's progress during the year!

We should all be like Kumari

Recently, a friend of Kumari said this about her: "She helps everybody and anybody. When I ran away from home and came to the street, Kumari watched over me. She made me sleep with her children on the sidewalk so that the men wouldn't bother me."

"I ask you one thing: do not tire of giving, but do not give your leftovers. Give until it hurts, until you feel the pain. If we worry too much about ourselves, we won't have time for others." --Mother Teresa 

We met Kumari in 2005 on the streets of Mysore, where she lived with her three kids. It took a year before she trusted us, but after that, she's become our most reliable and helpful street mother. She has helped us with the other mothers (keeping them in line, encouraging them to let us help their kids) and has referred other destitute kids to us. And, even though they were on the street for years, Kumari did the best she could with her kids.

Rachamma, Kumari, Prema, Sumitra, friend, Venkatesh in 2005.

When she was a little girl, Kumari also lived on the street with her mom Rachamma and her siblings. She understands the hardships and dangers of living on the street and has always told us she just does not want her kids to grow up like that. She was the first street mom to ask us to find shelter for her kids and get them off the street, and then she convinced the other street moms to let us put their kids into a residential school.

Giving Venkatesh a bath when they lived on the street, 2005.

One night in 2006, when we were on the street, Kumari asked us for money for her kids' dinner. We gave her 40 rupees, thinking that there were four of them, so 10 rupees each. She took 10 rupees and gave us back the 30 rupees, explaining "I can get rice from somebody but I just have to buy some sambar from the hotel (restaurant)."

To earn money, Kumari strings up and sold jasmine leis (malas) during the flower season, which lasts for about five months out of the year. In the off season, she cleans garlic for her friend, a street vendor, or sells vegetables.

Selling flowers, 2007. 

Selling flowers, 2007.

On another night in 2006, when one of our staff was about to walk to the children's ward at the hospital (quite a hike) where one of our other girls was admitted, Kumari had Prema, her oldest girl, to go with her so that she would not walk alone in the dark.

Peeling garlic, 2007.

Kumari with her oldest son, Venkatesh, in 2007. They are very close.
She lost an older son and her first husband a few years before we met her.

In mid-2007, we helped Kumari rent a house in a slum area where some of her friends live. She has lived there since and is very happy not to have to sleep on the street anymore.

Kumari at her house with her kids and neighborhood friends, 2007.

Kumari's second husband died in mid-2008 from tuberculosis. He was a difficult patient and preferred to drink rather than take his medication. We all tried to get him to continue his medication, but he refused and eventually died. Kumari contracted TB from him and was cured of it (she took her medication correctly), but suffered significant lung damage from the disease.

Kumari has a bulla (large air sac) in her lung and in 2012 her pulmonologist recommended a portable oxygen concentrator, which she uses at night at home when she sleeps. In early 2013, after several trips to the emergency room, the doctor also recommended a nebulizer for her because she was having problems properly using her inhaler. These life-saving treatments are helping to keep her alive, as the doctor said, the bulla is "like a time bomb, waiting to go off."

Kumari with her oxygen, 2010.

In mid-2010, when her street friend Shanti died, Kumari called us to come to the street because we had to take her friend's four children, who had nowhere else to go. Of course we did, and Suma, Manjula, Renuka, and Manu are now happy, healthy, and thriving at Karunya Mane.

Little Manu (2nd from bottom) with Mohan (bottom),
Kumari's youngest child, and their friends at Karunya Mane in 2012.

Kumari understands her health condition and she is careful. She visits her kids once a month at Karunya Mane and calls them every Sunday. Her kids are doing well and are growing up nicely. Venkatesh is at home with mom, and he helps with the household chores because she cannot exert herself physically.

Rachamma, Prema, Sumitra, Mohan, Kumari, 2012.

Kumari has just a second grade education, and her son recently taught her to write her name in Kannada. Yet, this woman with little to her name is known by everyone in her community as someone who will help others as she can, with food and temporary shelter in her small house. She's an example for all of us to follow.

If you'd like to help Kumari, her ongoing monthly expenses are as follows:

• medication $24 (Rs. 1200)
• rent $7 (Rs. 350)
• electricity bill from oxygen concentrator $10 (Rs. 500)
• monthly pocket money $16 (Rs. 800)

Related posts:
http://operationshanti.blogspot.in/2009/08/kumari-and-life-changes.html
http://operationshanti.blogspot.in/2012/02/kumaris-dilemma-and-your-assistance.html

Raju C.

Raju C. came to Karunya Mane in May 2010 and has been with us since. We met Raju on the streets of Mysore, where his mom came to beg each day.

Raju and mom lived in a one-room rented house in a nearby village. Raju's dad is alive but rarely visits the family, leaving mom to fend for herself.

Raju in early 2010

Raju in 2012 dressed up as B.R. Ambedkar for the school's "fancy dress" day.

This year, Raju is in 2nd grade this year at Deepa Primary School. He's a good little boy!

If you'd like to sponsor Raju, please see our website at Sponsor an Operation Shanti kid!

Helping Krutika

Operation Shanti's Project Street has worked on the streets of Mysore for years, helping the women and kids who live there, particularly near the government hospital in the city. Since 2005, we've gotten to know well many of the kids who used to live on the streets, most of whom now stay with us at our children's home, Karunya Mane.

Today, Project Street continues to help our kids' moms and other destitute kids and women who need assistance. Krutika, one of our new friends, is a 15-year-old girl from a very poor family in Chamarajnagar (about an hour from Mysore). She was diagnosed with childhood (Type 1) diabetes a few years ago and needs daily insulin shots.

Krutika

Krutika's dad is a day laborer. Insulin injections cost about $12 a month (Rs. 600), not much for most people but a huge chunk of dad's monthly income.

Since November 2012, we've been providing Krutika with her monthly insulin injections to help ease the financial burden on her family.

If you'd like to make a donation to Operation Shanti so that we can help more kids like Krutika with life-saving medicines that they simply can't afford, you can do so here: http://www.operation-shanti.org/donate.html

Thanks so much!

Prema's photos

Prema, one of our girls at Karunya Mane, has been with us at Operation Shanti since 2005. She's now 15 and is growing up quite nicely.

Prema is also responsible for taking care of the cats, filling their food and water bowls, and keeping the room clean.A couple of weeks ago, Prema took some photos in our "cat room" -- the room where we keep the kids' three kitties. We thought these photos were pretty good for her first time behind the camera!

Taken in June 2013 with the girls' iPad.

Best boy/best girl catch-up

Recent months' "Best Boys" and "Best Girls" (a prize given out each month to the kid who displayed the best behavior for that month) at Karunya Mane were:

March - Prajwal / Shwetha
April - Sreenivasa / Sowmya
May - Surya / Mamatha

Prajwal started 7th grade this year, in English medium. Always polite, neat, well-behaved, and disciplined, he's an outstanding kid who has the potential to great things in this world.

Prajwal

Shwetha started 5th grade this year. She gets very good grades in school and her behavior has improved tremendously -- the temper tantrums that she once displayed have disappeared and she's improved in all areas of behavior.

Shwetha

Sreenivasa, who attends boarding school and is now in 11th grade, returns to Karunya Mane on the holidays. When he's back, he provides great relief to our boys' house mother by helping her out with the little boys. Sreenivasa has grown into a responsible, mature young man and we're quite pleased to see that he seems to have outgrown his "street boy" behavior.

Sreenivasa (right) with Shashidhar Sir (one of our teachers) during the Holi madness fun!

The May best kids were repeat "bests" -- Mamatha and Surya -- who are consistently high performers in all areas -- school performance, behavior, chores, overall demeanor -- and as their prize, they got to go shopping with us at Easy Day for the sports equipment that we donated to the kids' school!

Surya doing his homework during tuition time. 

Mamatha

UK donors (and potential donors)! This is for you!

We're pleased to announce that our UK donors may now 

receive tax deductions when donating to Operation Shanti! 

Here's a letter that we're sending out to our UK donors.

Dear Friend of Operation Shanti,

Thank you for your continued support of Operation Shanti.

We want to let you know that we have a new channel for UK donors to make donations and receive tax benefits. You can be a part of our monthly donation program, by using the GiveIndia donation website.

UK donors may now receive tax deductions when donating to Operation Shanti! Just donate through GiveIndia to Operation Shanti (listed under our Indian charity's name, Akhanda Seva for International Shanti), either one-time or on a recurring monthly basis. 

Visit our online donation page on GiveIndia and make a donation:

UK donors for Operation Shanti

You can choose to make monthly donations through Google Wallet (Google Checkout) or by using your credit card.

Once again, thank you for your continued support!

Peace,

The Operation Shanti Team

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

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!