The tremendous trio in Tamilnadu
Today was a full day at Asha Kiran Ashram, the special needs school that we set up a decade ago and continue to support. There are 33 children on the roll; soon after 9am 21 arrived to add to the 9 that live at the centre, full of energy and enthusiasm. Prayers with staff and children followed, then they spent a morning in small tuition groups, enjoying learning tailored to their abilities. For some that might be learning how to use a shape sorter, for others it is learning the basics of reading, writing (Tamil mainly, but also the elements of English, the lingua franca of India) and arithmetic. Some 15 of the children also receive daily help from the physiotherapist – many of them have cerebral palsy, so progress is slow but an annual visit enables us to see the improvement from year to year.
We were also able to meet some children who had progressed beyond education – Ameer Khan who has learned enough to be able to help usefully in his father’s tea and breakfast shop, as well as to keep a few chickens – we were able to discuss the next steps with this project that has started quite well; Thanga Wilson who is now employed to assemble picture frames for a company – he is making 200 a day, and earning a small salary; and Andrea who tried to become an electrician, but that proved too difficult for him, so he now works as a security guard and general errand boy. None of these would be able to do anything useful without the skilled, loving, kind, patient help and training that they received at Asha Kiran Ashram.
The morning finished with yoga-style exercises – for children with disabilities these help keep their bodies supple. Then it was time for lunch – curry – which the children enjoyed, followed by a time of singing (Jute taught them a couple of new action songs) and then fun and games – for the able bodied this involved running around and musical chairs – but all with a purpose – and for the less mobile then there was tug-of-war.
We also gave some little gifts to the children which they were very happy with.
After all this 23 happy children went home in a fleet of autorickshaws, the nine residents remained, and relative peace descended. It was time for our tea and discussions with Santhosh about various things. One issue that had arisen recently was that the borehole’s water pump had given up after ten year’s hard service, and needed replacing at a cost of Rs. 24,600 / £275 (including fitting), but the centre had no money to pay for it. Fortunately a church member had given us some money to use on our trip, so tomorrow’s programme includes a visit to the shop to buy one. You never know what’s going to happen next in India!