Here’s a wee video about the 2 abandoned widows that Vikki talked about in her post entitled “The Village People”.    

Destitute Widows Movie

The first afternoon we arrived at the orphanage we got the children to make animal masks we brought with us from Scotland. 

There were Zebras, Lions, Tigers, elephants, Giraffes and plenty of little monkeys. 

Each child took their turn to make a mask, the wee’er children got the easier masks to make whilst the older ones were making tigers and Zebras.  There were bits of foam everywhere and glue was in hair, on hands and on the floor.  Half way through the power went out and we were making the masks in the dark, thankfully they have an emergency light and that kicked in after a few minutes.  

The children loved wearing their masks and making the sounds of each animal.  I made a lion mask and the children ran around excitedly as I enacted out a “ROOAAARRRR”.  The were chasing me and shouting “aunteee, aunteee” so that I would do the lion roar to them.  The masks were great fun to make and by the end we had our very own zoo with lots of different animal antics going on.

It seemed an innocent discussion with Rae about where she had visited on her previous trip, a mention of Kennedy School sent Captain Thacker into a frenzy.  Within half an hour Kennedy from Kennedy school had joined us for lunch and a visit to the school arranged for the following week.

Like “Royalty” I have heard some of you describe this experience wow what a welcome! We were whisked up on stage in front of 300 plus kids, entertained with traditional Indian dancing and presented with garlands before giving a speech to the children. Rae was called first and I thought I had escaped however no “we will now hear from miss Vikki” not exactly sure what I said, was not really prepared it must have been ok as I did get lots of clapping and whooping.

The children were a little disappointed however that we were not an extension of soul touch, yes many people we met in India were disappointed, what no singing no dancing? Lorna and Erica were definitely a hard act to follow!!!

We did mingle with the students who were eager to ask us lots of questions, get our autographs and be photographed.  We then went on tour, they were eager to show us the computer suite. A small concrete dark room with 3 computers 2 of which were very dated in our terms. They were running old software and had no Internet.

I’m sure when we get back we’ll manage to come up with some way to help upgrade these computers which will benefit the students and their education.  I will also be very excited to share this experience with my family on my return being from the “Kennedy” clan.

One afternoon we visited 3 of the villages where some of the now 225 widows come from there are around 6 villages in total.  The villages surround the land where the new orphanage will be built.  Grace told us the numbers increase monthly there were only 125 the last time Rae was here.  Word is traveling fast.

The minute we arrived word quickly spread throughout the village and soon we had an entourage following us throughout the village.  Mum’s and dad’s rushed to great us with their children in arms desperate to have their photo taken.  Unknown to me “chapateeee’ was not like our customary “cheese” it was a term Shobha had used with the children of the orphanage to get them to smile, much to her amusement!

The widows we met were very happy to see us lots of hugs, kisses and thank you’s. Many remembered Rae. They all made us very welcome there was lots of laughter and smiles.  It was quite an experience to see the very basic homes, cooking on open fires and preparation of vegetables and fish on flat stones outside their homes.

 The husband of one of the woman who showed us around their village was very proud and was desperate to have his family picture taken including the goat, his teenage daughters had been rushing to change into their best dresses while we toured the village.  One lady we met ages with ourselves who was supported by the project was not in fact a widow however had never married.  She was crippled with arthritis and suffered from diabetes and was unable to work and therefore her family did not support her. 

One of the saddest things we witnessed was an elderly lady with a broken hip.  Her 3 sons live in 3 adjoining brick homes with their families, the mother is made to sleep in a grass hut opposite.  She sits outside her home on a stone and drags herself in and out it is no bigger than a wendy house.  She is unable to go to the toilet and therefore defecates herself. They threw her food like an animal. Shobha makes sure the lady gets provisions as she is unable to go to the project.  She also gave the son’s a mouthful for treating their mother like a dog!

 One lady we met was 110 years old she was in similar circumstances and is made to lie on a rock at the front of the home.  She is very frail and blind. However still has her sense of humour and urged us to take her with us and go to America. 

We would not expect anyone in our families to be subjected to treatment like this least of all our mothers and grannies.  As you can see the widow project is very worthwhile and is an example of how very little can go a long way, it costs approximately £2.00 a month to feed a widow.

25 of the older children are now in pre school. Fundraising by Carrongrange School has helped to facilitate this.  Each weekday morning the older children are all washed and smartly dressed in their school uniform, with socks and shoes, ready for school.  (The older children are mostly 5 years old but there are a couple who are 7 years old).  

They go to school for 3 hours each day. They are picked up by bus at 9:30 and return at 12:30. The group is split into 2 sections, a younger group and an older group.  The younger group are working on their ABC’s and the older group spell english and tamil words and add sums. The school is run by Krupa Charitable Trust They are the same trust that works within the Leprosy Colonies.

There are 2 teachers who teach the children. We were able to spend the morning with the children at school. We were able to help the children with their english and arithmetic and the children taught us tamil words. It’s was fantastic to see the children learning and be so eager to learn. It kinda made us realise how much we take education for granted, we are lucky to have the system we have where everyone is eligible for free education.  

In this photo the children are standing with Susheela, she has just been working at the orphanage for a week but has integrated very well. She is a qualified creche teacher so is able to teach the younger ones whilst the older children are at school.

I have been very encouraged by the faith of everyone we meet in India.  ”Praise the Lord” “Alleluia” However, I do understand why they insist on praying each time they get in their cars! Every evening once the children have been put to bed the resident women gather for prayer, worship and bible study.  We had the privilege of joining them each night while we stayed there.  We may not have been able to join in with the Tamil singing however, were able to clap enthusiastically and the Holy Spirit amongst us was evident.  Some evenings the children would get back out of bed and sit beside us, they would join in and knew every word, even the 2yr olds.  It is the responsibility of the children to do the daily prayers before meals etc, they take it in turns to lead with the others following.”Alleluia”, “Alleluia”, ” Aaaalleeeeluia”. 

Remember we had the complementary Therapy day to raise money to make new clothes for the orphanage.  Well the clothes have been made and the children were wearing them when we went to visit.  Each child has 3 new sets of clothes with one set still in production.  The Tailoring ladies from the slum measured each child and made clothes from the material that Grace bought.  They have done a fantastic job and the clothes look great. 
    

And you guys thought we were sunning ourselves, huh! Well today school was cancelled due to the heavy rains. The kids had already been dressed in their smart uniforms and the women had done their utmost to keep them out of the puddles crossing the road. Do not fear Aunteee Rae and Aunteee Vikki are here with craft stuff ready to amuse the kids. Play dough for the young ones, colouring and bead making for the school kids. “you take the boys, I’ll take the girls” Rae smiled and off she went!  So Aunteee Vikki got to work with her 12 enthusiastic young men eagerly making colourful bead necklaces, then we coloured pictures “super’ and soon they were bored…………. they were stealing each others pencils sharpening them till there was no pencil left, ripping up each others pictures, pulling each others beads scattering them everywhere and literally knocking lumps out of each other, worse was to come the young ones then stood at the door tormenting them with their play dough, HELP! Phew it’s lunch, Chapateeeeee!   Rae’s angelic girls….. We’ll the girls were perfect!!! They were very content making necklaces and bracelets, in fact I think we “acquired” the left over beads from the boys and made lots of necklaces and beads. The girls, when they had finished that, took pride in colouring in pictures they had chosen. The girls were great, of course, as all girls are!! “Sireee – smile”. 

Shobha took us to visit some of the children who have lived at Sangita, who are now older and live at Ebenezer Home 45km away.  The white knuckle ride there was like being on safari pot hole after pot hole past the villages.

Two of the permanent staff at Sangita’s have children who live there, one a daughter, one a son.  They manage to visit once every three months for a short time.  They did not visit with us on this occasion.  We took the children some of our many supplies which were kindly donated and which we were able to bring with us thanks to Pastor Bogle and Mary at British Airways who got us both free excess baggage, “Praise the Lord”.  The children were very grateful and we took lot of pictures of the children for their mum’s to see on our return, this was very emotional.

Ebenezer home has fantastic outdoor facilities and lots of ground for the children to play cricket, volleyball etc.  There are around 300 children divided into houses of round 20 with a “mother”. They wear uniforms with different coloured checked shirts for each house.

We were a big hit once more dishing out chocolate eclairs and had the assistance of a 10 year old “bouncer” maintaining crowd control and frantically instructing us “aunteee” aunteee’ and pointing to who had still to get one while shouting in Tamil and shaking his fists at those who were attempting to sneak extra “pure mental” Just when we thought we could control 60 + kids!!!!

The Sangita Trust’s vision for the future is to have a place similar where the children are divided into smaller groups with plenty of land for the children to play safely.  They also pray they will be able to keep the children beyond 6yrs to allow them to do all their schooling there and give them stability. Please keep this vision in your prayers for this future development, making this vision a much needed reality.

Sangita orphanage is run by Paul and Grace Moses but there are 5 ladies who work there full time looking after the daily needs of the children.  We have been privileged to witness the dedication of these women.  The women (pictured here live) at the orphanage and care for the 68 children who live there 24 hours a day 7 days a week.   Each lady has a story as to why she has ended up at the orphanage.  Shobha is the social worker at the orphanage.  She and her daughter both live there.  Shobha was a destitute woman, her husband had an affair and beat her, he left her for another women and her husband and her in laws treated her very badly.  When he left her she was ostracised from the family and felt she had nothing to live for.  She has large scars on her body which are a daily reminder of the beatings she had. She was going to commit suicide when an evangelist told her that her life wasn’t worthless and gave her the number of Grace Moses.  Shobha has been working at the orphanage now for 7 years.  Shobha’s daughter goes to a local school.  The other women all have similar stories of their husbands leaving them for other women.  Madhavi is 25 and she has also been working at the orphanage for 7 years.  She has a son and he lives at Ebinezer home.  Lalitha is unmarried and was raped when she was younger, her daughter from that rape is 13 and also lives at Ebenezer home. They get to see their child every 3 months All the ladies have found a home together.  Their personal stories, dedication to their job and the care they have for the children is very humbling and is an example to us all.