Education & hope for 165 needy children in India

"You are braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think" - It's a quote of Christopher Robin. The pandemic made us believe that we are braver, stronger and smarter as the mankind continue to soar high above the circumstances. We at New Home, continue to soar high with the help of our donors like you. Here are few updates about our Children during this pandemic.

Narrative on key highlights:

The second quarter of 2021 carried the weight of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we’ve come out successful on the other side of Lockdown 2.0 with all the precautionary measures taken to keep the virus at bay. We continued with most of our regular activities online with the resources available to us. All our children and staff at New Home are safe and healthy.

ACADEMIC UPDATES

1. Board Exams - This year we had 4 children preparing for the 12th grade Board Exams. However the exams were cancelled, and they go down in history, along with all the 12th graders across the Globe, as the first batch of children who have graduated school without an exam.

2. Home School - Lighthouse International School reopened and started classes online. Since we did not have all the necessary resources at once we started in phases.

* 6th graders started first on the 3rd of May.
* In the following weeks, we gradually increased the number of classes to include all the children.
* The last grade to join was the pre-primary on the 22nd of June.

3. School and Technology - Currently the school is running on laptops, projectors and internet dongles / hotspots borrowed from New Home and it’s staff.

* We were able to purchase 1 new TV. We require 7 more for each classroom, so children don’t crowd around a single laptop.
* New Home staff are currently overseeing and taking pictures of classworks, class tests and homeworks for the teachers.

4. The Graduation Ceremony - One of the big events in this quarter was the Graduation Ceremony for Dayanand, Sarasu, Kateni and Sneha, held on the 2th of June. Most of them have been part of the home 13 - 14 years, joining the home at the tender age of 4 and 5 years.

* The children organised dances, songs and speeches about the four graduates.
* They created 4 memory videos with pictures from the time the graduates joined the home until now.
* The Trustees and staff spoke of their memories with each of the four children.
* No visitors were allowed on campus but well wishers, and guests joined online via Skype.

Apart from a few technical glitches with audio, the events went very well. Each of the graduates will be dearly missed by the children and staff.

* Dayanand - Had a huge positive impact on the younger boys. He was very good at his studies, motivated and ambitious. He played the role of an Acting Mentor for the boys along with Prem during the lockdown when we were short of staff. He left on the 30th June to stay with his mother in Bangalore city.
* Kateni - was most unique. No other child has shown consistency in excellence as she has. Over the years, she has topped her class and received awards of good behavior almost every year. She left for Manipur on the 11th of July, back to her family.
* Saraswati - the creative one. She loved to make the children laugh, was the go-to-person to organise dances and skits for all events. She draws beautifully and made cards for most of our sponsors. She left for Mangalore on the 30th of June to stay with her guardian.
* Sneha - the genius. She was excellent in academics as well as co-curricular activities. She struggled with emotional baggage for a while, but with the help of counsellors she is coping very well now. She left to stay with her sister in Bangalore city.

GENERAL ACTIVITIES

* Paul Raj sponsored a Quiz Competition with Rs. 10000 cash prize and a Trophy. Kateni (senior group) and Dilip (junior group) won the 1st Prizes.

* Awards for Best Behaviour have started again to motivate children with behavioural issues to improve. Gopal and Nadhya were awarded for the month of May.

* The children celebrated Mother’s Day on campus, but were quiet on Father's Day to respect the demise of our Founder.

ONLINE ACTIVITIES

* Another quiz was conducted online and we are happy to say that the New Home children topped the NLF Teens Quiz Competition.
* NLF Teens sessions continue online every Sunday.
* Guardians of Dreams sessions - two hours a week continue every Saturday.
* Counselling sessions happen online everyday. The Counselor plans to stay on campus a few days a month to help guide children with behavioural issues.

STAFF UPDATES

* Jaison - The boys mentor, left at the beginning of the second quarter.
* Two new mentors - Annie, Sekar and their child joined New Home on the 10th of June. They started work on the 17th of June after a 7 day quarantine period.
* Prem - Boys mentor left on the 1st of July.
* Janice - The counsellor stayed on campus for a week. She was quarantined until her COVID negative report was received.

CAMPUS UPDATES

1. Electric cost reduction measures

* Reduced the sprinkler usage in the farm.
* Strict monitoring of borewell motor (two) operation.
* Monitoring water consumption in the staff quarters through meter reading.

2. Drains and pipes - Blocked drainage pit near the staff quarters

* Removed blocks
* Cleaned
* Cemented with outside labourers

3. The Kitchen Garden - has been doing well, with organic fresh green leafy vegetables and fruits for the nutrition of our children.

Links:

• Search for Reachinghand on social media platforms to connect

Since the lockdown in March, due to the pandemic, most of our opportunities for improvement and growth were driven from “within the Campus”. Here are a few things we undertook.

Kitchen garden – With time in our hands we decided to put our energies into cultivating organic vegetables like beans, radish, tomatoes, leafy veggies like red and green spinach for our children.

This benefits us in two ways:

1. The children get highly nutritious, chemical and pesticide free vegetables.
2. This helped us save on purchasing these vegetables from the market.
3. This also gave the children an additional activity to work on during the lockdown.

Waste disposal – We decided to find a solution on campus for our dry waste (paper and the likes) by making an incinerator on campus.

Manure – With the development of our kitchen garden, we realized we needed to purchase manure from the neighboring village if we did not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides. This became a regular necessity, so we bought to campus our very own little calf (one) and sheep (one). Our need for manure was satisfied and the children got an animal to bond with.

Solar energy – We are trying to reduce our electrical expenditure by slowly transitioning to solar power. In the last 6 months we received and installed 12 solar panel streetlights (donated) on campus but we still need a significant amount to become completely solar powered.

Trainings and Webinars – We had scheduled webinars and internal training sessions for the children, focusing of various topics. Two examples such webinars are mentioned below:

1. Topic: Practicing Self-Care -  by Ms. Simran Chatha (Psychologist & Outreach Associate, Mpower The Centre)

Practicing self-care does not mean you are choosing yourself over your loved ones but being mindful of your own needs as well. Children were taught techniques based on

·        Breathing

·        Gratitude

·        Expressing through art

1. Topic: Mental Health 101: It's okay to seek help by Ms. Sahana. S (M. Phil in Clinical Psychology, M.Sc Applied Psychology)

Mental Health is stigmatized and not many are aware of the signs of a mental health issue.

This webinar aimed at discussing:

·         Mental Health for children and how it applies to them

·         When & How to seek help 

Challenges:

Along with the above opportunities, we also had to face a few challenges during the last 6 months.

COVID19 – All our children had to be home-schooled, which added immensely to the workload of the staff and mentors on campus.

Rains, Drains and Bore wells – We had to get some cement work done to our drainage system, the bore well and some parts of the kitchen walls that were getting damaged during the rains.

Medical Challenges – A home with just two children often have visits to a doctor, imagine a home with 50 children!

1. Wheelchair – One of our children (Tanu) struggled with movement around the campus when his wheelchair got damaged with wear and tear and had to get a new one. He also out grew his old prosthetic limbs (growing children) so we took him to the hospital for new measurements in October Mobility India.
2. Eye – Three children (Vignesh, Ganesh, Rajveer) had to get their eyes checked and get glasses. Two of our older children (Blessy and Sarasu) had to update their glasses to match their eye power.
3. Dental – One of our children (Aishwarya) struggled with tooth pain and had to get a filling done.

Staff – It’s always difficult to find people who are passionate, kind and loyal to become a mentor to our children. We had to fine a new male mentor to replace an old mentor during the pandemic. The new mentor joined in August 2020.

Increased Electric Bills - COVID brought about unexpected spike in our electric bills.

WIFI – With the all classes being held online during the pandemic, we needed to ensure we had a good wifi connection, so our children’s academics did not suffer. Since our campus is located away from the city, in a remote area, we had to get an Airtel dedicated internet lease line connection to be able to get uninterrupted internet.

CCTV Cameras – To abide by the government regulation of a children’s home and to ensure the safety of our children and we installed CCTV cameras all across the New home campus which cost us a significant amount.

Planned activities carried out during the last 6 months:

We planned a few activities on Campus during the pandemic

Children’s Day – We decided to have a Sports Day incorporated into our children’s day celebrations on 14^th Nov 2020. The physical activity challenged the kids and the competition to win races help to mentally stimulate the kids to form teams and strategies to win.  We organized running races, relays, football, and spoon and lemon races for the younger kids, among other games.

Christmas Celebrations – The children organized dances, a drama, a mime, beautiful singing, lots of games, treasure hunt, a cute fashion show, and ended it all with a good Christmas lunch.

Motivational Village Trip – Our founder heard about two toppers in Karnataka - Mahesh and Deepti (state and district toppers) who came from very poor households (with just one light bulb for the entire house). He decided to take our children to visit their homes and village so they could be motivated and inspired to study and do well.

Cause for Celebrations

Toppers – We are very proud of two of our children (Sarasu and Dayanad) have become topper in their class (junior college - 12^th grade) in Psychology and Accountancy.

Sarasu - came to us in 2008 at the tender age of 4, when her mother died and father abandoned her. Her brother and grandmother brought her to our home. Sarasu has now grown into confidant young woman, often hosting our internal events and competitions. She loves directing dramas and skits and paints beautifully. She has shown interest in media studies for her future and has topped in Psychology in her junior college.

Dayanand – joined our home in 2012 after his father passed away. His mother was a domestic help and could not afford to take care of or educate him. Today, Dayanand is one of our brightest students, he loves math and has topped Accountancy in his junior college. He aspires to become a chartered accountant.

Areas for Improvement :

Improvements in studies – Moses, Janu and Tamana, a few of our younger children struggled with their academics due to certain learning disabilities. They have been given special attention by our staff and volunteers during the pandemic. We have seen a significant improvement in their most recent exam results and hope to see consistency towards their educational excellence.

New Joiners - New two little girls (Angel and Hemalatha, ages 7 and 12) have joined the home and are slowly picking up written and communicative English. Our mentors and senior children are helping them with their education. 

Conclusion

This year we have four children appearing for their 12th standard board exams and are expecting them to be among the top scorers in their respective schools.