Support orphaned children at our Sunshine Homes

Hello all,

Love and Greetings from Sunshine Homes!

My name is Shalini*, and I am 13 years old. I became part of the Sunshine Homes run by Udayan Care in Faridabad, in the year 2019, along with my sister. After the tragic demise of my father, I with my sister was living with our grandmother. Due to her deteriorating health conditions, we need someone to support us and Udayan Care came to our rescue. Here at Faridabad home, we get care and protection, apart from education and health services. This year in February, we participated Annual Sports Day event at Vasant Kunj, which was sponsored by Adidas, along with all the children of Udayan Care scattered over 16 homes. This wonderful event has been a real fun and we enjoyed it to the fullest.

I would like to share the story of my friend Manyata* (Name changed) who is turning 18 this year. She is one of the major towering figures at our Udayan Care Home which motivates others to leave behind the bitter past and look forward to a new start. Manyata’s father died when she was young. After her mother’s remarriage, she was looked after by her grandparents. Over there, her maternal uncle sexually abused her. Later, her Bua presented her to CWC and she was placed at one Home run by Udayan Care. She has already been restored to her family way back in 2019, but due to some unfortunate reasons, her Bua again surrendered her to Child Welfare Committee (CWC). Before coming to home, Manyata was uncomfortable and it has also been observed that she showed aggression and overreactions over insignificant inconveniences. To help her deal with her emotions and channelize them in a positive manner, regular counselling sessions with the child were taken by the counsellor. During her stay at Udayan Care, apart from giving counselling and proper nutrition, she was given vocational training as well to secure her future in addition to infusing self-confidence into her.

During her stay at home, she attended Rotary Club Skill Development Center. The child’s performance has been good in her Vocational Training classes. Manyata’s teacher sees abundant potential in her. Her teacher expects the child to put in some extra effort to reach her potential to the fullest. Manyata tailoring samples were sent to Sri Aurobindo Ashram for getting her admitted there. We were looking forward her admission over there. Since the child has never attended formal school before her arrival at the home, she is facing difficulty to be enrolled in formal classes. The child is getting informal education to build her basics, in the form of home tuitions from Ms. Bhwana, tutor.

After the relentless efforts put in her case by our psychologists and counsellors, the child now recovered fully from the mental trauma she was fraught with earlier. Before her admission at Udayan Care, she was anaemic and had the tendency of eating cement and whitewash off the walls. After our intervention and regular treatment, she has now fully recovered. Her blood count is normal and after a successful counselling session, she has left the habit of eating cement and chalk. The child maintains good health now. Manyata’s recently recorded height is 159 cm, weight is 40.6 kg. During the quarter, the child went for a regular health checkup and shows no prominent health concerns.

It was observed that Manyata put in extra effort in skill and vocational training, but she is finding it difficult to concentrate fully on her studies. Our counsellors are working on this aspect. In addition to that the child is finding it difficult to passionately participate in the activities which are regularly conducted at the home. Regular counselling sessions are taken with the child to help her navigate through her future plans. Udayan Care sees a lot of potential in her and expects a bright future ahead.

Millions of children worldwide are devoid of parental love, care, and support, with their futures at stake. We, the children at the Sunshine Home, want to reach out to people by taking them through Manyata’s journey of growth so far at Sunshine Home. We want it to echo among people who can extend their helping hand to disadvantaged children. We hope that one day, every child will be cared for, and supported through thick and thin. We hope that one day, every child’s eye will shine with vivid dreams, and have the capacity to turn them into reality. We hope that one day, no child will be left behind.

Well, that’s all about us. Now, let me take you through some of the fun and learning engagements that took place at Sunshine Homes –

Republic Day Celebration

Republic Day marks the adoption of India's constitution and the country's transition to a republic on January 26, 1950. This year children and staff celebrated Republic Day by hoisting National Flag and learnt about the significance of the day at there respctive homes. Children watched the grand parade that was held in New Delhi virtually, which is performed as a tribute to India, its unity in diversity and its rich cultural heritage by the states of India by building beautiful tableaus. Children from some of our homes also went to Leela Palace, Chanakyapuri to celebrate the day with the manager and other dignitaries over there. Children were given fabulous gifts by the manager of the Leela Palace himself.

Session on “Epilepsy Awareness”

In association with Dr. Amit Agarwal, Assistant Professor and Consultant at Amrita Institute of Medical Science, a workshop on “Epilepsy Awareness” was conducted with the social workers, counsellors, caregivers and supervisors on 21st and 22nd December 2022 in two batches. The objective of the workshop was to help individuals working with children, be familiar with the topic so that they can deal with situations around epilepsy more effectively. During the introduction, Dr Amit Agarwal shared a brief introduction about himself and his experience in the field of neurology. Building on context, Dr Amit apprised the participants of the difference between epilepsy and seizure. He mentioned that a seizure is a brief, temporary disturbance in the electrical activity of the brain that may affect muscle control and movement, speech, vision and/or eye movement and awareness which can be considered as symptoms while epilepsy can be considered a disease. Furthermore, Dr Amit shared that seizures can be of two types firstly Generalized seizures which involve the whole brain and Partial Seizures which involve only a part of the brain. Dr Amit also shared some of the common signs of seizures such as extended blank stare movements, empty look in eyes, rapid blinking, eyes rolling upward, periods of unresponsiveness, inability to pay attention, repetitive movements of body parts, usually head, arms, legs, uncontrollable jerking body, loss of consciousness, dazed walking, temporary confusion etc.

Adidas-Udayan Care Annual Sports Day

This month children and staff of all the homes attended XV Adidas Group Udayan Care Annual sports day that was organised after two years. The theme of the event was Chakk De Balla- It's Sports Adda. The event was attended by all homes of Udayan Care across Delhi- NCR. The event started with march past performed by all children and staff presented. The girls of Faridabad home performed a group dance that gave an enthusiastic start to the event. The children from the other homes participated in many races organised according to their age categories. Children from all homes won medals at their respective races. Overall, the children enjoyed the sports meet and had a blast.

Science Fest

The fest was a conducted together by Vigyan Shala, Jagshanti Udayan Ghar and activity-based learning lead by Dr Vijay (founder of Vigyan Shala) on 7th January 2023. It was an activity to galvanize the scientific temper among the Children of Homes.

The fest was inaugurated by Mr Sagar. Mr Deepak Sharma, Dr Kiran Modi, Dr Vijay and Mr Sagar shared their experiences regarding innovation and scientific learning. They all motivated the children by citing their vast experiences and experiments. A PPT of the journey of the lab since its inception was also shared with the audience.

The guests then observed various working models developed by the children of Udayan Ghars and the Udayan Shalinis together, under the guidance of Ms Samta.

The list of models in the fest are as follows

1)         Blind Stick

2)         Nicola Tesla coil project

3)         Electricity generation through DC Motor

4)         Water treatment plant

5)         Fire alarm

6)         Automatic street light

7)         Conductivity test

8)         Printouts through 3D printer

9)         Home security system

10)       Robot with IR sensor

11)       Bluetooth remote control car

The children as well as the guests enjoyed this memorable evening of scientific knowledge and its practical application.

International Women’s Day

A session on "International Women's Day" was organised by the home coordinators. During the session, the children were asked to tell about the woman’s role models they had in their lives. Children participated heartedly and talked about the female role models in their lives as well as women around the world leading successful life. After the discussion, children made beautiful posters related to the D-day.

Holi Celebration

The festival of colours was celebrated by the children and home staff with full zeal and enthusiasm. Children celebrated Holi with gulal and chandan. They put gulal on each other's face and spotted chandan on the forehead as tilak. The home staff prepared delicious meal on the occasion. Overall, the day went well full of colours, craziness and joy.

This was a cursory glance at the fun and learning engagements during the past few months. Taking into consideration our holistic growth, Sunshine Home Family ensures that every child becomes able to take small but steady steps for the development of overall personality. These steps for betterment will definitely build a positive perspective in life.

This is all that I had to share on behalf of the children and team at Sunshine Homes. With this, I thank GlobalGiving and the associated donors for their sustained support which has helped us to continue to flourish in our Sunshine Home family.

Hoping to connect again.

Thank you!

Shalini*

Links:

• The 'Udayan Ghar Programme' literally meaning, 'Sunshine Homes'

• Project Photographs (PDF)