SOS Messenger Nov 2012 - SOS Children`s Villages India

SOS MESSENGER
You’ve given them the
most beautiful gift,
Vol. XXXXVI, No 3. October-November 2012
a smile
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Dr. Muruga’s dreams fulfilled
Born to a labourer and an agarbatti-maker, Muruga lost his father early
in life. Today, at 27, Muruga is a doctor with qualifications from India
and abroad. Read how Muruga overcame all odds to fulfil his dreams
told me, ‘Before that visit, I had set my
mind on becoming an engineer in the
US, or maybe an IAS officer. But when
I realised that becoming a doctor was a
huge service to society, I decided that
this was going to be my aim now’.”
I know that the future holds many
prospects for our Dr. Muruga. He
has applied for a job at JSS Hospital.
He even wishes to pursue an MD in
Neurology and possibly specialise in
the surgical field. But Muruga has not
forgotten his roots. As he tells me, “A
few years down the line, I would like to
come back to Bangalore and serve the
children of the village for free.”
Dr. Muruga
I was told that Muruga was just five
years old when he had left his home
with his elder brother Girish in search
for a better future. Their search had
brought them to SOS Children’s Village
Bangalore in 1992. There Muruga grew
up under the loving care of his mother
Girijamma who ensured his dreams
would turn into reality someday. After a
couple of years, Muruga was moved to
the Youth House along with ten other
boys.
X board exams. He then took the United
World Colleges (UWC) exam and was
awarded a scholarship to study at UWC
Canada! After finishing his studies in
Canada, Muruga returned to India. He
then took the CET exam and secured
a place at the JSS Medical College,
Mysore, to study medicine. In 2012,
he completed his MBBS degree and
became Dr. Muruga.
Do you wonder what motivated the
young Muruga to pursue medicine? “It
Muruga did well in academics all along. was actually a science class field visit
He scored a high first class in his Class from school to Victoria Hospital. As he
There is no doubt in my mind about
how bright and intelligent Muruga is.
But to imagine that he could have been
easily deprived of the opportunities to
reach his potential and fulfil his dreams
is disheartening. Muruga is forever
grateful for the love, nurturing, and
encouragement that he received at the
SOS Children’s Village – the support
from his mother, his siblings and other
co-workers.
There are many more children like
Muruga out there who are waiting for
a helping hand so that they too can
realise their dreams.
Your donations will ensure that these
children get to fulfil their potential
and contribute to the society as
responsible citizens.
As told by Mr. Rakesh Jinsi, Secretary General,
SOS Children’s Villages of India
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A loving home for every child
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“I am
holding a toy
for the first
time in my
life”
- Lakshmi
Lakshmi
Lakshmi was just 6 years old when her
parents died of a severe illness. Due to
poverty they were unable to go to the
local hospital. And the little girl was left
alone in this unfamiliar world with her
elder brother and younger sister.
Soon the children moved in with a
relative but they were treated badly
there. As a result, Lakshmi’s elder
brother ran away. Lakshmi took her
younger sister and started living on the
street.
“I would do any kind of labour
Sandhya
work to feed myself and my sister.
There were times when I even begged
for food,” remembers Lakshmi with
tears in her eyes.
After two years Lakshmi’s maternal
aunt came to know about their situation
and brought the siblings with her. The
aunt worked as a labourer and earned
less than Rs. 50 per day. Despite her
willingness to support the children,
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poverty forced her to look out for coaching before she could begin formal
alternate ways.
school.
She came to know about SOS
Children’s Village Tirupati from Child
Welfare Committee Anantapur and
decided to send the siblings there. “I
was scared at the idea of going and
living in a new place but Aunty assured
us that it is the best place for needy
children,” says Lakshmi.
Today, she regularly goes to school and
actively participates in extracurricular
activities. Dancing and singing are her
favourite activities. She loves eating
rice and dal for lunch and usually takes
an afternoon nap. In the evening, one
can see her playing badminton with her
friends. Whenever she gets time she
helps her SOS mother in household
SOS mother welcomed Lakshmi and chores and helps her younger siblings
her sister warmly. She introduced them during bath time and while getting ready
to their SOS brothers and sisters and for school.
showed them their room. The children
were happy to see a clean room with
Your generous contributions
bed and some toys. Lakshmi was
helped
Lakshmi get a second
cheerful and wanted to play with her
opportunity to live in a loving
toys. She innocently told her SOS
family. Please continue to support
mother, “I am holding a toy for the first
time in my life.”
us so you can give other needy
Since Lakshmi had never been to
school, she was given some extra
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children a happy childhood!
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“SOS Children’s Villages showed me the way”
Having lost her parents at a young age, Surekha wanted to be a doctor. Did she
achieve her goals? Read how your help shapes the future of our children.
Being at SOS
Children’s Villages meant living a normal life,
just like any other child outside
SOS would live.
Everything was
taken care of,
from my studies to extracurricular activities.
Like any mother,
my mother too
was very particular about making me perfect in
whatever I did.
She helped me
with my studies
and supported
me completely.
I always performed well in
school, thanks
to her support!
Dr. Surekha Satputte
I was brought to SOS Children’s Village Pune when I was just two and a
half years old. I was not really aware
of what was happening around me at
the time, but I do faintly remember being anxious and afraid. But that feeling
did not last long. Soon, I started feeling
at home because of a loving woman,
Pushpa Nade, who asked me to call her
‘mummy’. Her love, care and discipline
shaped me into a confident person.
There was no anxiety and fear thereafter. I felt secure around my brothers
and sisters who were very nice to me.
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ther figure in my life and I will always be
grateful for his guidance.
I strongly believe that you need a good
support system around you to reach
your maximum potential. The love and
care I have received from my SOS family helped me achieve mine. It cannot
be expressed in words. Mangala, my
SOS mother in Bangalore, was a very
friendly and loving person. With her
support, I finally completed my graduation in biotechnology. I then sat for a
national exam for Life Sciences, after
which I received a junior research fellowship from the Government of India.
Following that I was awarded the junior and senior research fellowship for
five years at the University of Pune for
a doctoral programme. I completed my
Ph.D. in 2009 and finally became Dr.
Surekha!
Today, this doctorate means a lot to
me. I wanted to make my SOS Family
proud, and repay the faith they placed
in me. I would not have achieved my
doctorate without their support. The
doctorate is as much my achievement
as it is theirs. SOS acted as my support system. From material necessities
to counselling and mentoring, I was
given complete support, without which I
would not be where I am today.
When my mother had to leave
SOS unexpectedly, I experienced a rough
patch in my
life. This was
a phase where I am Dr. Surekha Satputte and I grew up
I felt that things were not going in the in the SOS Children’s Villages of India.
right direction for me. I wanted to become a doctor but could not achieve the
desired result in the entrance exam for
BDS. I had lost hope.
But life again changed for the better when I was brought home to SOS
Children’s Village Bangalore by Uncle
Vinod, the village director. Uncle Vinod
had been my village director in Pune in
1980 when I was first brought to the village. He showed immense faith in me
and counselled me to believe in my
dreams and myself. He truly was the fa-
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With a great sense of humility, I share
with you my experience of growing up
in an SOS Children’s Village. Words
cannot express the heart-felt gratitude
I feel towards my family. And I feel
honoured having shared my life story
with you. I hope you continue to be this
medium of change in many more lives.
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“I want people in my village to
become self-sufficient like me”
Asmita, aged 17 is a passionate and
determined young girl from a tribal
village near Alibag in Mumbai. She
is amongst the first generation of
youngsters from her village to attend
college. Her father, an illiterate daily
wage worker just has this one dream, “I
don’t want my daughter to be like me. I
want her to go to college.”
Asmita
are also made financially and socially
self-sufficient so that instances of child
abandonment are reduced. Women
are given support to form self-help
groups.The programme also advocates
protection of its citizens under the rights
bestowed by the government.
Support from friends like you enabled
Asmita to attend college. She is currently
The tribal families that inhabit Asmita’s pursuing her Diploma in Education from
village are mostly daily wage workers Alibag University.
who earn very little. They are illiterate
and easily susceptible to fraudulent Your generous contributions have
enabled SOS Children’s Villages to
payments by the wage contractors.
improve the situation in terms of basic
SOS Children’s Villages reached out necessities like food, shelter and
to Asmita’s village in 2009 when she livelihood. However, a lot more needs
was waiting for her class tenth results, to be done in terms of uplifting the
remembers Asmita, “I wanted to go to villagers from the clutches of poverty
college but the question was how as and ignorance. Please continue to
my family did not have enough money support us.
to support my education. That’s when
SOS’s Family Strengthening Program SOS Children’s Villages supports 324
families and 600 children with the family
supported me.”
strengthening programme and is full of
The Family Strengthening Programme success stories like those of Asmita.
of SOS provides children with education Our dream is to make every family
and the youth with vocational training. capable of supporting itself completely
Children are given free books, uniform to ensure that children get the childhood
and tuition fee waiver. The families they deserve.
Young
Ambassador
Programme at
SOS India
Big thanks to our Young Ambassadors
from St. Marks School in Delhi who
helped raise funds for children at SOS
Children’s Villages of India. They have
gone all the way to help their friends in
need. And we value their contribution.
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A loving home for every child
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A sponsor who lost her
own child speaks about her
sponsored child Vanaja at SOS
Children’s Village Chennai
and how bonding with this
child helped the sponsor forget
her own pain.
“Bonding with Vanaja gave me the
strength to carry on” -Preetha Anand
SOS believes that each child should
have a caring parent who would provide
security, love, and stability to the child.
Girls and boys of different age groups
live together under one roof as brothers
and sisters, and family ties develop
naturally. Each family has its own home,
in which the children enjoy a sense of
security and belonging. Families stay
together forming a village environment
and from there children become part of
a larger community. The SOS concept
is based on four principles - the mother,
Several years ago, when my younger brothers and sisters, the house, and the
brother introduced me to the SOS village.
Children’s Villages, I was a little
apprehensive about the entire concept. My sponsored child was Vanaja, a twoBut after some convincing, I decided to year-old girl. Chirpy, smart and with
sponsor one of their children. I selected bright eyes, she lived in House Tara,
SOS Children’s Village Tambaram, under the loving care of her mother
which was the closest to Chennai Kamala, who was so devoted to the
where I lived, as I wanted to see for children under her care that she would
myself how the SOS concept worked. put any biological mother to shame.
I also wanted to meet my sponsored Initially I would visit Vanaja once in six
months. But when I realized how well
child on a regular basis.
she had bonded with our then sevenI used to be a little pessimistic about year-old daughter Maya, we started
childcare institutions as I assumed that visiting her as often as we could.
most children who lived there were Every time we went I saw that Vanaja
psychologically harmed. But very soon was happy and so were all the other
I realised that SOS was nothing like children. They all looked content and
that.
well cared for. I was so happy that my
As the mangalsutra was being put
around Vanaja’s neck at her wedding
ceremony, I saw there were tears in
her mother, Kamala’s eyes. These
were the tears of joy that express the
feeling of pride a mother gets when her
child does well in life. At the very same
time, I felt a deep sense of fulfilment
within myself as well. It was the feeling
of accomplishment I gained by the
part I played in Vanaja’s successful
upbringing.
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hard-earned money was not going to be
a part of another scam.
I was saddened by the fact that other
sponsors did not actively attempt to
connect with their sponsored children.
Whenever Vanaja saw us, her eyes
would brighten up and she would show
us off with pride, saying, “Ethu yenudaya
sponsor” [this is my sponsor]. She would
hold Maya’s hand and show her around
the village.
Time passed by and Vanaja finished
her school. Around this time, I met
with a personal tragedy - I lost my only
child Maya in an accident. I was totally
devastated, and I saw that Vanaja
was also deeply affected by this loss.
This bonding with Vanaja was very
reassuring and gave me the strength to
carry on.
By the time Vanaja reached college, her
mother Kamala had retired and gone
to another town to live with her family.
One of the boys Radhakrishnan, who
grew up in the same house as Vanaja,
had completed his education and got
himself a good job. As soon as he heard
about Kamala, he went to town where
she was and brought her back to stay
with him, as he had been living alone.
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I could see that the bond, which had
formed over the years, was strong,
and real, and that the child, who was
now a man, felt that the rightful place
for his mother was his house and not
anywhere else. When I heard about
this, I rejoiced within myself. The
concept of SOS was an absolute
success. They wanted children to
have a sense of belonging and they
had fully succeeded.
Eventually Vanaja completed her
graduation and got herself a job. The
next step for her was to get married
and settle down. Vanaja received
several proposals from interested
men. She would discuss them with
me and I would advise her to wait
patiently for the right man. Finally we
received a good proposal. Initially the
prospective groom’s parents were
apprehensive about Vanaja being
an orphan. But when they visited
the SOS village and met the village
director, they saw for themselves
the beautiful atmosphere in which
the children were growing up. They
then went ahead and accepted the
wedding proposal.
At Vanaja’s wedding, I was reflecting
with great pride on my contribution
to Vanaja’s upbringing. The way I see
it, SOS Children’s Villages provided
me the opportunity to play a crucial
part in a child’s upbringing, which in
turn has given me a priceless sense of
accomplishment in my life.
Will Sandhya
achieve her
dream of
becoming a pilot?
Today, Sandhya is fourteen and dreams
of becoming a pilot. She has a playful
nature but that does not get in the way
of her hard work. She goes to Hermann
Gmeiner School in Faridabad. She
has been promoted to class eighth,
after having scored 90% in her annual
examinations. Her favourite subjects in
school are Mathematics and Science.
Today, Sandhya is a bright and confident
young girl. But she was just four years old
when she first came to SOS Children’s
Village Greenfields. Upon her arrival at
the village, a woman with a kind face
and a warm smile greeted her. It was
her mother Soniya. Under the loving
care of her mother, Sandhya and her
younger brother Prabhat adjusted well
into their new family. Sandhya’s family
bonded so well with her that today they
couldn’t imagine living without her.
Sandhya is an all-rounder. Recently
she won silver medals for a cricket
tournament as well as a music
competition held at her school. She
won the first prize in the Maggi Quiz
Competition too and is also the class
monitor.
Sandhya’s example is just one of many
where all it takes to develop a child’s
potential is a loving family and faith
in each other. And your faith in SOS
Children’s Villages makes it possible to
build such lives with sky-high potential.
And your faith in SOS Children’s Villages makes it possible to build such lives with
sky-high potential. With your support, we can change many more lives like Sandhya’s.
If you would also like to motivate your colleagues and friends to help children,
please send in a short email to kanchan.sen@soscvindia.org
Sponsor a child:
Your sponsorship enables a child to grow up in an SOS family and receive the best possible
education and become a responsible adult.
Your support provides physical, material and more importantly emotional well being of a child.
SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES OF INDIA
Contact Ms Maalika Chadha
Plot No. 4, Block C-1, Nelson Mandela Marg, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 110070,
Tel : +91 – 11 – 43239200, Fax : +91 – 11 – 43239292 Email : maalika.chadha@soscvindia.org
https://www.facebook.com/sosindia
http://twitter.com/SOSvillageIndia
Vanaja
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A loving home for every child
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Dear Friends,
It is indeed a pleasure to bring
to you stories that form the
core of our work. Stories that
are not only heartwarming but
inspirational. As an organization
SOS Children’s Villages of India
has strived to provide the best
possible care to children who
need it the most. It is till the
time they don’t grow up and get
settled in their life we don’t leave
their hand as we are committed
to them, we are committed to our cause.
As you will read about our settled youth Muruga who became Dr.
Muruga with all his hard work and dedication, you will realise that
it is imperative to have a nurturing environment for the child to
grow up to his or her maximum potential. It is donors like you who
enable us to provide an environment where emotional well-being,
health, education and overall development are taken care of. It is
heartening that Dr. Muruga will be taking up this noble profession
and save lives of people. I had the pleasure of interacting with him
on a couple of occasions recently and I can feel the emotional
bonding he has for SOS Children’s Villages of India.
It cannot be more satisfying to see Asmita who has now become
an example for the rest of the village community. Under the Family
Strengthening Programme (FSP) Asmita could continue her
education and now aspires to do her Diploma in Education. She
is truly an example of how reaching out to a backward community
and providing them with resources can bring about a sustainable
change. I was deeply touched by her resolve of making her village
educated enough so that they can no more be exploited.
Surekha rightly shares with you a child’s journey in SOS Children’s
Villages of India. Many like her feel the same way just because of
your continuous support towards a child.
The emotional bonding of a donor is sometimes as strong as that
of a child in our villages. One of our donors has warmly written
about her experiences. She has put forth her emotions in front of
you. I sincerely thank her for her support and for sharing her story
with us.
It is our constant endeavor to touch the lives of children and
help them wherever they might be. Your generous contributions
bring lasting changes in their lives. I sincerely thank all of you
for supporting us and look forward to reaching out to maximum
number of children with your help.
May I request you to please share about SOS Children’s Villages of
India with many of your friends to spread the word, so that together
we are able to reach out to children in need.
All our mothers and children join me in thanking you for being with
us.
Warm Regards,
S. Sandilya
President
SOS Children’s Villages of India
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