Support Abandoned Mentally Challenged Children

Thank you dear donors for your generosity in the past year. Sri Arunodayam has put your contributions to good use by providing care, special education, therapy and rehabilitation, and vocational training to over 112 children at our home. 

CARE & SUPPORT

[Involves caregiving (safe shelter, food, clothing), medicines/medical interventions]

Sri Arunodayam provides the best possible shelter, food, clothing, medical interventions, and care that can be provided to these children.   

The outcome: The children benefit from these services and are enabled to lead dignified lives. Good nutrition leads most back to a healthy and fairly normal life. Our fully equipped medical unit includes a duty doctor and nurse who attend to the children on a daily basis.

SPECIAL EDUCATION

[Involves education according to ability - Early intervention, Pre -Primary Level 1, Primary, Vocational, and Custodial care]

Special Education for children with intellectual disability (ID) is carried out with the help of special aids. It involves:

• Individual education planning
• Systematic monitoring of teaching procedures
• Adapting equipment and materials
• Creating accessible settings
• Individual/Group Teaching

The outcome: The children are individually assessed and placed in the respective groups for further development and training. Individualized attention is helping them learn faster and better. As a result, almost all the children receiving special education are quite articulate and friendly.

THERAPY & REHABILITATION

[Involves physiotherapy and the use of muscle stimulation equipment to help in blocking and managing pain while reducing swelling and inflammation. The benefits are not restricted to pain management alone, but can result in better blood circulation which positively impacts the immune system and the overall wellbeing of the children.]

Paediatric rehabilitation requires a multi-disciplinary team approach to disabilities. Physiotherapy has helped:

• Normalize sensorial and motor functions
• Provide normal posture and independent functional activity
• Regulate muscle tone; improve visual and auditory reactions
• Support normal motor development and motor control
• Improve ambulation and endurance; increase the quality of joint movements
• Prevent soft tissue and joint postural disorders

The Outcome: The children receive therapy every day.  This is helping them visibly mitigate their physical and intellectual challenges. A good number of children are more mobile than ever before.

VOCATIONAL TRAINING

[Involves vocational training for the home’s youngsters in skills to sustain a trade.]

Sri Arunodayam opened Prayatna (its vocational training center) in 2012 in an attempt to train its youngsters (above the age of 18) and provide them with the skills to sustain a trade. Five years later, we are moving from an ‘occupational therapy’ approach to a ‘community-based employment’ approach, giving them an opportunity to become productive citizens of society.

The youngsters are trained in book binding, and in the making of paper bags, organic detergents, candles scribbling pads and wire baskets, tailoring & embroidery, and cattle rearing. 

The outcome: The core areas where noticeable improvement can be seen is in skill levels, work habits/attitudes, personal, social and functional skills, communication, sustainable business skills, independence, and self-esteem. In addition, the youngsters have bagged a couple of small business contracts for several of these items.

CRISIS INTERVENTION

[Involves assisting in rescues, helpline response, legal procedures, medical evaluation & follow-up, procedures with Child Welfare Committees (CWC), the police and other governing bodies, admissions and referrals]

We have a host of crisis intervention activities that form part of the daily running of the organization.  Rescuing children with the help of the CWCs and local bodies, and following up on the legal procedures and paperwork makes up a large part of these activities.

• The children are rescued and taken off the streets before they fall into the wrong hands.
• At the home, they are nurtured back into wholeness to the best extent possible 
• The children are further protected by law and become the lifetime wards of the home where we do our best to keep them safe and happy at all times.

DOCUMENTATION

[Involves Individual Reports & Records Management, Documentation of children’s medical history and case studies, End of Life Certificates & Reports]

It is mandatory that we maintain detailed and exhaustive reports on the children in our care, as per Government norms.  We ensure that the records are kept up-to-date on each child with the necessary paperwork – right from their joining, and physical and medical assessment reports, to their quarterly assessment reports and legal documentation.

The outcome: All our records are periodically assessed by the concerned authorities. All Governmental diktats and obligations are stringently met so that Sri Arunodayam is always in the good grace of the government and the concerned local bodies. 

Thanks again, dear donors, for supporting our work. You’ll receive monthly reports on all our activities.

If you happen to visit Chennai, India please drop by. We would love to meet you!

In May this year, Ankit - one of our youngsters was successfully mainstreamed in the job market. Ankit was a little more than 4 years old when he was admitted to our home in 2005.  He was abandoned near Shenoy Nagar, Chennai, and rescued by ChildLine. Ankit is differently-abled. His rehabilitation involved intense medical treatment, physiotherapy, special education classes and vocational training. Ankit is now a smart young man with a keen ability to learn.

We had enrolled him at the Vocational Rehabilitation Centre (VRC) - Guindy, last year and he successfully completed a one-year Diploma in Computer Applications and Electronics. We were incredibly proud when he was selected to join M/s Kallidai Motors (a powered wheelchair manufacturing company) through a campus interview – entirely on his own merit and without recommendation! Ankit joined them on May 14^th as an Assistant Electronics Technician where he assembles powered wheelchairs. He now lives on his own but comes to visit his friends at the home on weekends. Ankit is our first youngster to take up a mainstream job. He earns a salary of Rs. 6000/- a month and has bought himself a new mobile phone to stay connected. He’s expecting a raise on completing probation.

A couple of days ago we got wonderful news that Ankit was selected to be one of 15 speakers at the 2^nd Edition of KIDx ASIA/ Kidspreneur Conference, Asia's premier entrepreneurial event exclusively for Kids. Ankit delivered his first speech at the Conference on July 1^st at AGNI College of Technology.  It was such a proud moment for us, watching him come into his own! KIDx Asia is an Initiative by Kidspreneur, a platform where students can pitch themselves on their Business ideas in front of a wide group of elite investors, educationists, economists, bankers, entrepreneurs and associates. They come together in the spirit of entrepreneurship to connect, collaborate and create opportunities for youngsters like Ankit, all over Asia.

Basuvaraj Waits in the Wings…

Basuvaraj, a visually challenged youngster is currently being groomed to run his own greens shop! He travels to the wholesale market each day to purchase fresh greens, which he sells to homes in our neighbourhood. Basuvaraj makes a good profit and his trainers are teaching him how to handle his daily financial investments. He’s aiming to go solo in around 3 months’ time.

New Vocational Projects at Prayatna

Prayatna’s youngsters are being prepared to take up community-based employment  through our placement program. We are inducting new faculty for new career streams that would enhance their employability in the job market. Around 35 youngsters are currently being assessed in areas such as psychological/IQ, occupational, psychosocial and physiotherapy. This is essential before we structure a specific curriculum for work readiness programs. In addition, they will be taught concepts of time, money, numbers, functional academics and soft skills related to performing their tasks. The idea is to focus on providing training for specific high demand jobs that they can handle, so that they have an opportunity to be employed quickly and gainfully.