Orphans & Semi Orphans: The stories from their world
Veerababu lost both his parents during his childhood. He lives with his old-fragile grandparents. He is a kind student who always puts others’ needs before his. He dreams of becoming successful in life and coming out of poverty. However, his orphanhood forced him to quit schooling and earn to feed himself and his grandparents.
Bujjamma is a hard-working student who aspires to become a teacher. She is Veerababu’s classmate. She lives along with her elder sister and her single mother. Unable to juggle the financial struggles and responsibilities as a single parent, Bujjamma’s mother couldn’t let her children continue their education. She placed both her daughters to work in a garments store.
After Padala Charitable Trust extended its 360° support, they started studying again. Veerababu now holds a bachelor’s degree and a diploma in education, while Bujjamma completed her teacher training course.
In 8 years of our working with government schools in rural areas, reaching out to hundreds of adolescent children and their families, we got to see and listen to the stories of many such orphan and semi- orphaned students.
Project Vaaradhi: How Developmental Projects ought to be Born
Semi-orphans are children who live with their relatives instead of parents or have only one parent supporting their entire family. We realized that the problems and circumstances of orphan children are identifiable, but the plights of the semi- orphans were hard to notice.
We had to listen closely and pay more attention to the needs of the unheard. Many NGOs and organizations work with Orphans, but the unique troubles that Semi Orphans face are not usually noticed and catered to, even in Social Work. So, we realized that much work needed to be done to these children coming from such broken families.
Back in 2013, when Padala Charitable Trust started identifying the problems of many students like Veerababu and Bujjamma, a project was born; it is our Project Vaaradhi.
With many kind donors’ help, we have nurtured, financed, guided, trained, supported, and cared for over 800 students in these seven years. We take the responsibility of financing their necessities and facilitate their stay with their single parents or guardians as long as they study sufficiently. From their school fees, uniforms, and career counseling to their nightdresses, nutrition, and emotional support- Vaaradhi took care of these kids, extending its 360° care. We are happy and proud to say that above 99% of them have finished their 10th standard. 70% are continuing their education while the rest are working.
Identifying the Unobvious: Listening to the unheard miseries
It is an undeniable fact that most government school students come from needy families. We have to understand that orphans and semi-orphans in such government schools are poor and vulnerable.
There is a vicious cycle of poverty, social discrimination, illiteracy, & lack of awareness around them, making their lives harder. Our NGO works hard to fight for them in every way possible.
Srinivas from Burugupudi village, East Godavari, is a very active kid. He lives with his grandmother, as he lost both his parents. His grandmother didn’t understand why Srinivas had a decelerated growth rate. After joining in Vaaradhi program, Srinivas has undergone a complete health check-up. Doctors found that Srinivas has a congenital heart problem called Atrial Septal Defect.
With the help of government and external funds pooled up by PCT, Srinivas underwent surgery. He is now completely healthy and continuing his studies. There are several other instances where children used to suffer from severe health conditions. If not taken care of, they are usually unnoticed or ignored.
The role of Emotional Support in helping Orphans & Semi Orphans:
We observed that most of them dropped out of school due to a lack of financial and emotional security that a typical family structure ensures. Some of these girls were forced into child marriages. Also, some boys were forced into child labor due to financial crunches.
Some challenges are exclusive to children belonging to such broken families. So, even if we support them financially, Emotional Support is the best support we can extend. As you study further, you’ll get to know why.
Once, we had to rescue a 15-year-old girl who was subjected to domestic violence by her aunt. There are girl children who were exploited to take advantage of, banking on the poor kids’ lack of affection at home. We saw students, both male and female, being subjected to child sexual abuse.
In one such unfortunate incident of Child Sexual Abuse, a 14-year girl was abused by a neighbor. When her brother, her only family member, got to know about it, he beat her black and blue. Victim blaming followed. She was under our project Vaaradhi. So she called us, and we handled the situation after that.
As most of them are single-parent or no-parent children, they do not have the conditions to ask for help or extra guidance that parents generally give. Most of them may not have even one person standing by them, even in highly uncomfortable or dangerous conditions.
Project Vaaradhi strives to stand by the unnoticed, the lonely, the supportless orphans who are the poorest among the poor and the most vulnerable. You can also stand by them, start by paying more attention to their plights.
TANA Foundation, Padma Pujitha Foundation, Sathya Kiranam Charitable Trust, and several individuals have been helping us in supporting our Vaaradhi kids so far. But still, there are many out there that need help. If you’d like to take care of our Vaaradhi Children, you can donate here: http://pct-india.org/donate/
Written by: Vamsi Krishna Kadali, PCT
Developmental Editing by: Pavni Sairam
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