One of the most crucial issues that faces organizations such as ours, placing children in adoption, is " where have all the children gone " ? This " Disappearance " of adoptable children seems to have affected agencies all over the country. On the other hand the numbers of eligible waiting parents within the country keeps growing. This gap between demand and supply to my mind is pushing desperate parents into illegal adoptions. At least three of our couples, discontinued the Home-Study mid-stream, and it seems, took a child from " Somewhere " .

If one examines the hazards of such adoptions one would conclude that the need to have a child makes otherwise rational couples, throw caution to the winds. For most families who are adopting, the Home-Study process is absolutely crucial in making the ultimate placement of the child in the family, a success. Careful, thought-out parenting, proper counseling with regard to specific adoption issues and screening of eligible parents, ensures the well-being of the child and the parents. A new-born baby taken from a nursing home directly is a risky proposition. The child could be HIV+ or have other serious conditions, which it is hard to assess at such an early age. Because this is a " Secret " adoption. The child will never be told that she has been adopted. Parents are also paying out huge sums of money to " buy " these children. They also put themselves in line to be black mailed by unscrupulous staff in the nursing homes.

So where have these children gone ? Though the J.J. Act of 2000 has mandated that all Child Welfare Institutions must be registered under the Provisions of the Act, even by 2009 most State Governments have not completed this process. In effect many institutions " Collecting " children are not even on the Government radar, unless they take some Government grant. It is indeed tragic that many children who could be adopted, remain in institutional care, most of which is sub-standard. It is said that abortions are happening on a wider scale and that there is much more awareness about terminating unwanted pregnancies even at a later stage.

It is necessary for The State Governments, CARA, ACA, Adoption Agencies and Adoptive Parents to be more pro-active in stopping illegal adoptions. It is ridiculous that a country like India, with such a large population, does only 3000 adoptions a year.

The Ashraya General Body Meeting was held on 06.11.2008. We have had five Committee Meetings in the current year under review.

Mrs. Nomita Chandy was reelected as the Agency Member on the ACA-K Committee.

Events

Diwali Party

 

On the 24th of October we had an In-house Diwali Party for the children in the Children&##39;s Home and Ashraya staff. All the staff were given a Diwali bonus. We celebrated the day with crackers and a special tea and a cultural performance by the children, who were dressed up in colourful party-wear.

This was also a farewell for our Social Worker Reena, who has joined another NGO " Action for Water Development " Reena resigned from Ashraya on 25th of October.

 

ANNUAL GET-TOGETHER OF ADOTIVE PARENTS AND CHILDREN :

 

Having shied away from Diwali and the nightmare of dealing with too many, children and crackers ; of Christmas and wailing kids sitting on Santa&##39;s lap ; we finally seem to have found the right time of the year to host this event.

Last year the get-together was held on the 15th of November, in time to celebrate Adoption Week and Children&##39;s Day. Parents and children are back from vacation and the weather is good !

200 parents and children accepted our invitation. The children of Swami Vivekananda Educational Society, presented a Puppet Show in Kannada, which was enjoyed by all the kids. The Ashraya children performed and the piece -de-resistance was a spirited dance performance by adoptive mother Roopa Krishnan and friends. Ms. Hema Hattangadi opened our new " Isolation Ward " for sick children, which she and Ashok had most generously funded .

The Ashraya children inaugurated our new Crafts Centre, which displays work from the Neelbagh School.

The day ended with High tea and a lot of camaraderie.

 

ASHRAYA PICNIC :

 

This is the opportunity for staff from all our projects to meet up once in the year and have a fun-filled day. On the 15th of December 2008 we visited Shivarapatna, the Sculptor&##39;s village near Kolar. The visit was facilitated by Ms. Chandra Jain and we had a really interesting walk around this ancient village, where artisans were chipping away at huge granite sculptures. From here we proceeded to the Vimochana Women&##39;s Centre, near Narasapura, which is a beautiful location.

We had a good Biryani lunch and then the staff and children played a spirited game of Antakshari. This was also a farewell for Mr. Raghavendra, Principal of the Neelbagh School.

 

CHRISTMAS PARTY :

 

The Party was held on Saturday the 20th of December only for the Children&##39;s Home kids. We sang a few Carols ; little Nisha acted the part of Santa and reluctantly handed over gifts to the other children ; We wound up with tea with traditional Christmas cake, Kulkuls and Bondas ! Adoptive parent Ravi Sreedharan and family were there just by chance.

 

COLLABORATION WITH INDIRA GANDHI CHILDREN&##39;S HOSPITAL :

 

This must, by any standard, be the best run Government hospital in the country. What is remarkable is that the services are free and it is a god - send for the low birth weight and sick babies we have to hospitalize.

 

As a token of our appreciation, we used the donation of Tim and Lynda Lykes, to buy two incubators for the hospital, for their new state - of - the art, neo-natal ward, which were delivered in September 2009. We also received three breast pumps from WACAP, which were donated and handed over to Dr. Benkappa.

 

The hospital was most appreciative of our help, which was given in the name of Ms. Sudha Reddy in honour of the Late Ms. Tara Ali Baig.

 

MUSTER :

 

The Annual Muster was completed between the 10th and 11th of March. We continue to process all donations of clothes and toys each month, to all our projects and to other needy organizations. This ensures that all donations to Ashraya are well-utilized. The Muster also helps us to turn-around our stock of clothes, linen and equipment at the Children&##39;s Home, so that all torn clothes and broken toys are discarded regularly.

 

STAFF :

 

 

Our Social Worker Reshma, resigned from Ashraya on the 30th of April 2009, to get married. Our congratulations and best wishes to Reshma and Prasad. Usha Lekha, who had left Ashraya earlier to have a baby, returned to Ashraya in place of Reshma, in April. We were happy to welcome Usha back into the Ashraya fold.

 

This year Ashraya has given all our staff and Health Insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh each, which will cover hospitalization costs. This is costing the organization 1.50 thousand annually.

 

WORKSHOPS AND MEETINGS :

 

1. The Overseas Women&##39;s Club of Bangalore held their Charity Information Meeting at Windsor Manor on the 13th of October. Vidya Mujumdar and Reshma represented Ashraya. The OWC had kindly donated money to us to buy stationery for the Neelbagh School.

2. Akashavani Radio had a programme featuring the work of NGO&##39;s. On the 13th of October Reena spoke about our Women&##39;s Centre and other projects and answered queries of people who phoned in.

3. Sutradhar organized an interesting workshop on the 17th and 18th of July on " Pre-school Learning and Teaching Techniques ". Our Creche teacher Sarita and Jennifer Stephen attended and found the sessions very informative.

4. The American Consulate Chennai, had a meeting with NGO&##39;s on the 25th of August 2009 on " Sustaining Social Corporate Responsibility During Economic Recession ". Vidya Mujumdar and Sumati Satish represented Ashraya.

5. The OWC held another Charity Information Morning on the 11th of September 2009. Vidya Mujumdar and Usha attended.

6. Nona and Radhika facilitated an orientation on adoption for 8 newly recognized agencies in the districts of Karnataka, on 28.01.2009.

 

Visitors

 

1. Elana Roschy, from WACAP, and her husband, visited Ashraya on the 7th and 8th of October 2008. they also visited the Missionaries of Charity to see if WACAP could place any of their Special Needs children.

2. Mr. Bruce Haxton i to i Co-ordinator from the U.K. and i to i Co-ordinator Asha Dey, from Bangalore, visited us on the 24th of October to review the volunteer programme.

3. Ms. Monica Lind, officials from MIA ( The Swedish Authority for Inter-country Adoption) visited Ashraya on the 10th of November. They also visited the Observation Home Project, which helps delinquent boys.

4. A Delegation of ten Italians from the Veneto Region , comprising of Psychologists and Social workers, visited Bangalore on the 21st and 22nd of November 2008. They also visited the Observation Home Project, The Infant Jesus Home for HIV+ children and the Creches and were impressed with our interventions in all these projects

5. Mr. Paolo Palmerini, from the CIAI Regional Office in Pondicherry, visited Ashraya on the 17th of December 2008 to help us to streamline our grant proposals. Valli has joined the Ashraya team, in December, to co-ordinate the CIAI projects. The system is now much more streamlined and is functioning with acceptable accountability and deadlines. Mr. Davide Olchini, has taken over from Paolo in September 2009

6. This was sadly Monica Lind’s last official visit to Ashraya on the 20th of April 2009, as Monica is retiring from A.C. We wish Ms. Monica who has been a wonderful counter-part in the adoption programme and also a good friend. We have all learnt a lot from all the Partner’s meets she organized with such enthusiasm, in different parts of the country every other year.

We also welcome Maria Suarez, who replaces Monica as the India Co-ordinator in A.C

CRECHES

 

Ashraya runs four crèches currently, at Shivajinagar, Richmond Town, Yelahanka and Siddapura. Currently there are approx. 148 children in the Creches.

 

We are most grateful to Builders UKN Properties, Puravankara and G-Corp for supporting the crèches on their sites. We are also grateful to Hebbal Schule , the Ashraya Adoptive Parents in Sweden and CIAI for supporting this programme so generously.

 

1.The New Year Party for the crèche children was held on the 13th of January at Ashraya. The children were completely enthralled with the Magic Show and were happy to receive a gift each. They had a delicious lunch and were then taken back to their homes. All the crèches out did themselves in the Cultural Programmes they presented.

 

2. The Creche run on the Puravankara Site at Whitefield, for many years, closed at the end of January. We were pleased that Mr. Gautam Unnikrishnan took a decision to open a crèche at his labour colony, near Whitefield and was generous enough to allow any child to attend the crèche, if they were located in the area. As the Construction Industry is on a go-slow, on account of the recession, we are pleased that we are still able to run all four crèches.

 

3. On the 7th of February 2009, G.E Oil and Gas, Women’s Network, took 15 children from the Richmond Road Creche, for an outing to The Bannerghatta Safari Park. They organized the transport and a picnic lunch and snacks and the children had a wonderful outing.

 

4. On Independence Day, 15th of August, all the crèches had a flag hoisting and celebrated the day with a cultural performance and special lunch. The Site Engineers at all the Sites were invited and Ashraya Committee Members and Social Workers, made up four groups and went to all the crèches.

 

We had an intake of 10 children from the crèches into the Neelbagh School this year.

 

 

WOMEN’S CENTRE AND CONVENTION CENTRE

 

There are currently 13 women at the Women’s Centre and 25 children in the Creche.

 

We re-did the stone and barbed wire fencing, to give better security for the Centre at a cost of Rs. 35,000/-.

 

WORKSHOPS

 

1. Nomita Chandy was the Chief Guest at The World Vision celebration of International Women’s Day on the 7th of March 2009. She spoke to an audience of 1000 women living in slums, about the upliftment of women.

 

2. The Rotary Club of Bangalore organized a Seminar on Domestic Violence on the 14th of March at their Centre on Lavelle Road. Nomita Chandy spoke on ?Support for Survivors of Domestic Violence ? The session was Chaired by the Charismatic Dr. Kiran Bedi.

 

3. Nomita Chandy was on a celebrity panel, comprising of eminent women from different walks of life, organized by the British Council , on the 24th of March, to mark Women’s Day. The topic was ? What Women Wish ? with a focus on what each participant wished for herself.

 

4. Vimochana, an activist Women’s Organisation, had a programme on 29.07.2009 at Christ College on, ?Globalisation and Violence Against Women ? Usha attended the programme

 

5. Akashavani had a Radio Programme on 28.07.2009 on counselling for women. Usha and Manjula took calls and answered queries.

 

6. Bhavani Bai, the Women’s Centre Superintendent, attended a programme on ?Counselling Women ? on the 26th of August 2009 at Abhaya Ashram.

 

 

STAFF

 

Manjula resigned as the Superintendent of the Women’s Centre as she was getting married. We held a felicitation for her and husband Mallesh on the 23rd of January and presented the couple with a gift from Ashraya. We are happy that Manjula has re-joined Ashraya some months later, as a Resource Person.

 

Preethi Thevar joined as the Superintendent, but was completely unsuitable and we had to terminate her services w.e.f. 25.07.2009. Ms. Bhavani Bai was appointed on the 3rd of August and has been doing a competent job.

 

Women’s Day was celebrated at the Women’s Centre with a special lunch for all the women and children on the 8th of March. We also organized a special lunch at Ashraya on the 16th of May to say thank you to all the workers who had built our Convention Centre.

 

We continue to run a crèche at the Women’s Centre, not only for our children but for children from the community as well. We have 15 children in the Creche. The new crèche teacher, is Mamata. She had been in the Women’s Centre earlier and had been sent to do a Balasevika Course at the KSCCW, which she completed successfully. Khajabee left the job as she was keeping unwell. Mamatha joined on the 24th of August.

 

Most of the women have jobs in the nearby Garment Industries and they are managing to save some money regularly, as part of our rehabilitation plan for them.

 

INNAUGURATION OF THE TRAINING CUM CONVENTION CENTRE :

 

The 20th of April 2009 was a red-letter day for Ashraya. The Honourable Governor of West Bengal, Mr. Gopal Gandhi and his wife Tara, inaugurated the beautiful new Centre near Nelamangala. The Convention Centre has 20 double rooms, a fully equipped convention hall, lounges and a dining area. The training unit has 2 dormitories with 24 beds and a training area. The grounds have been attractively landscaped. The total cost of construction was one crore and ten lakhs.

 

The Centre was built in honour of our Late President, Mrs. Rama Ananth and has been named ?SUDHA ? after our patron Mrs. Sudha V. Reddy. Our Chief Guests were Gopal and Tara Gandhi, Mrs. Sudha Reddy and Mrs. Anjolie Ela Menon. Gopal spoke most movingly about the work of organizations such as Ashraya. Mrs. Reddy and Mrs. Menon also spoke to the distinguished audience, from the heart.

 

All the dignitaries planted trees and appreciated the ambience of the low cost buildings, built by the Centre for Vernacular Architecture. Presentations were made to Mr. Kumar and some of the key workers.

 

Yamini Muthanna enthralled the audience with a scintillating Bharatnatyam performance, with the use of Yoga. An excellent dinner was provided by Prakash Cafe.

 

This was the culmination of all our efforts in organizing the Art auction, with the help of Mrs. Anjolie Ela Menon in November 2007. The proceeds of which went to build this Centre.

 

We are also grateful for the funding we received from UNIFEM and from KHUSHII , to build and equip the Centre and also some individual donors such as Mr. & Mrs. Lykes, Sue Condos and The Rotary Club of Australia and Namaste.

 

OBSERVATION HOME

 

Ashraya remains on the Home-Committee of the Observation Home. We have been pushing hard for regular home committee meetings to be held. The Rotary Club discontinued the vocational training programme, which Ashraya has now kick-started again in September, with the help of Goodwill International, in Tailoring. The problem of violence perpetrated by the Police is still a problematic area. Details were given to Ms. Neena Nayak, Chairperson of the State Commission for Child Rights, to investigate and take action.

 

The number of boys ranges from 15-30, as children committing petty crimes are released at the Police Station itself and not booked by the Police. This is not necessarily a good thing and the matter has been taken up with The Director of Women and Child Development, Government of Karnataka.

 

We are grateful to CIAI for sponsoring this important project.

 

EVENTS

 

The Annual Children’s Day, on the 14th of November, was celebrated at the Home with a special lunch, games and a cultural programme. The lunch was sponsored by G.E. Volunteers.

 

We have re-started the Counselling Programme with help from Parivarthan. A trained counsellor, Mr. Anand goes in once a week and the boys are responding very well to him. Ms. Jyothi Subbarao, is also doing some volunteering counselling, for which we are grateful.

 

Anand has been appointed as a Resource Person for theatre and dance. He goes to the Home twice a week and his interactive and vigorous dance sessions really enthuses the boys .

 

Teacher Shashikala , remains as guide and mentor to the boys and she does an excellent job in a difficult environment. She went on a one week training programme to NIMHANS on ?Dealing with Children and Adolescents ?

 

On the 14th of May there was a farewell function for the J.J.B Judge, which was organized by ECHO, one of the other Home-Committee Members. Nomita Chandy also said a few words on the occasion.

 

 

Neelbagh

 

The Neelbagh School is funded entirely through a sponsorship programme. 165 children are sponsored by Italian families, through CIAI. We have 22 individual sponsors, 103 girl children are sponsored partially through the K.C. Mahindra Nanhi Kalli Programme. We also get a monthly donation from ICARE, which is an organization based in Australia. It is thanks to these generous donors that we are able to educate the most underprivileged rural children and children of construction workers. Currently there are 309 children in the school, of whom 98 are resident in our four hostels. For the tenth class SSLC Board examinations 15 children took the exam. All the children passed except for one child , who got a compartment in Maths. They get 8 First classes and 4 Second class passes. There are totally 148 girls and 161 boys in the school

 

We are doing something to support our Maths teaching and one of our Israeli volunteers Erith, will hold a Maths workshop for the teachers soon.

 

 

NEELBAGH ANNUAL DAY

 

As always, the annual day was held on the 14th of August, which is David Horsburgh’s birthday. Our Chief Guest was the eminent Theatre Person Ms. Arundhati Nag, who had also known David Horsburgh, in the old days. The children put up an excellent performance and the whole function ran like clockwork. Arundhati was very impressed with the school. The sports day was conducted in the morning and sports prizes distributed. The school served an excellent non-vegetarian lunch for all the children, staff and visitors. Post lunch, Mrs. Nag distributed the academic prizes for the year and addressed the gathering. The parents of the children appreciated the Science and Art and Crafts exhibitions.

 

EVENTS

 

G.E. volunteers organized a Medical Camp and health check up for all the children on the 17th of July 2009.

 

G.E. also organized a Science Camp for children at Bangalore on the 25th of July. 35 children from classes 8 and 9 participated. The children put up 3 Science projects and we got the overall 2nd prize. Our congratulations, to the students and staff for a job well done.

 

At the Hobli level cultural events The Neelbagh children ran away with 15 out of 20 of the prizes on offer. They will now participate at the taluk level.

 

Mr. Manjunath, the English teacher, went to Delhi for a workshop on the 24th to the 29th of August, for a programme organized by ?Youth Reach ? and G.E, on ?Life Skills Training ? He will now impart this training to other staff at Neelbagh.

 

On the 17th of September, Infosys organized a seminar on Community Empathy. This is to encourage Infosys employees to take a sabbatical and work with an NGO. Vidya Mujumdar and Radhika Nambiar made presentations.

 

In February, The Samanmay Yuva festival was organized in Bangalore. 30 of the Ashraya Neelbagh School children participated and won the 1st place. The organization presented a T.V. to the school.

 

1. Quest Alliance organized a symposium on Education and Technology in School, at Bangalore on the 22nd and 23rd of August 2008. The Principal, Mr. Raghavendra, attended the programme.

 

2. Ms. Yamani Muthanna, the well known Bharatnatyam dancer, gave a lecture and dance demonstration at the school in October 2008. The children were enthralled with the programme.

 

3. On the 13th of December, senior hostel students were brought to Bangalore for an educational tour. They visited Cubbon Park, The Aquarium, Bal Bhavan and the Museum. We feel it is essential to broaden the horizons of our children, as much as we can.

 

4. On the 5th of January 2009, some of the Neelbagh teachers attended the Samudaya Patha school programme. They visited the Government schools in the area and gave instructions and guidance to help Government school improve their teaching. The Neelbagh school, stood second in the district for the 10th class Board examinations and hence are looked up to by the other schools.

 

5. The Valedictory function for the outgoing 10th class students was held on the 27th of February 2009. As the local MLA could not attend at the last minute, Ms. Vidya Mujumdar was the Chief Guest. The students put on a spirited cultural programme and conduct certificates were handed over to all the students. Exit interviews were held with each of the students, along with their parents and they were strongly counselled about further education and their future.

 

6. ?Akshaya Pratibha ? the Computer Science camp held annually by Vaps Technology, was held in February. 12 children from the school attended the Camp and were given exposure with the new technology of Chandrayan 2. They also took part in an I.T quiz competition. 249 children attend the computer classes at the school.

 

STAFF

 

Mr. Raghavendra who has been with us for 9 years, resigned as Principal on 12.12.2008. After a temporary and unsatisfactory appointment of another Principal, we decided to look internally and appointed Mr. Manjunath as the Headmaster and in-charge of the school in February 2009. This arrangement seems to be working quite well Mr. Srinivas is the 2nd in command .

 

2. Mr. Balaji the Science teacher, left the school for another job at the end of the term in April 2009. He was an excellent teacher and the children will miss him. Mr. Somashekhar was appointed in his place.

 

3. Mr. Manjunath joined as the English teacher for the senior classes in January 2009. He was been supported greatly by the volunteers Tom and Rob, in teaching English.

 

4. Mr. Shivashankar was appointed in September 2009 to teach dance, music and theatre in the school.

 

 

Volunteers

 

Though I consider Neelbagh to be an excellent opportunity for volunteering, of late we have found it hard to lure volunteers away from the city lights of Bangalore. We were most happy to have Tom from England and Rob from the USA to volunteer from June 9th to October this year. They contributed significantly to the teaching of English in particular and presented us with a very detailed manual of instruction for volunteers. Rob presented his suggestions to the staff and Radhika moderated the session. We shall incorporate many of the suggestions he has made into improving our teaching methodology. Our thanks to both of them for all their contribution and help..

 

We hope to now have volunteers through AIESEC and through Infosys.

 

ADVOCACY

 

Nomita Chandy met Mr. Murali Deora, The Union Minister for Petroleum and Energy in New Delhi and requested him to ask H.P. to revert us back to using domestic cylinders, as the use of commercial cylinders was prohibitively expensive. We are grateful for his prompt action.

 

We have also written to The Minister for Education, Mr. Kapil Sibal, outlining Neelbagh’s success in educating rural children, which could be a model for rural schools in the country. Mr. Sibal promised to visit the school some time.

 

IN CONCLUSION

 

As always, the year goes by so fast, packed with events spread through all our projects. We could not achieve this level of excellence in all that we do without the active support of a hands on committee, and the excellent work done by all our staff.

 

Shanthi has held the fort in my absence due to a leg injury ; Sumati oversees our finances and project development most competently ; Surya is doing a wonderful job of counselling the older children regularly ; Vidya manages the volunteers with Elan and Shobha is quietly efficient with overseeing the babies and toddlers.

 

To our donors we owe a special thanks. Inspite of the recession, CIAI, A.C., WACAP and AIAA have managed to help us achieve our targets, without withdrawing funds. Our programme of placement of Special Needs children is more difficult, but isn’t the amazing part is that it still happens.

 

We are grateful to our Auditors Panth & Co., for the pro-bono auditing of our accounts, with such competence.

 

We are also grateful to Dr. Krishnan for excellent Paediatric care for the children in the Children’s Home and the Creches. We are also grateful to the Indira Gandhi Hospital for free care of our Infants.

 

Our thanks to Mr. E.X. Antony, our Advocate for his excellent legal services viz a viz our adoption cases.

 

To Quote John D. Rockefeller

 

?Charity is injurious, unless it helps the recipient to become independent of it ?

 

I believe that this is our philosophy in Ashraya !

Excerpts from our visitor’s book

 

8th October 2008

 

Elana Roschy -WACAP, INDIA CO-ORDINATOR

 

Thank you ! For all of your wonderful work and devotion to these children. It was such as a pleasure to finally meet all of you, see the children and see all of the good work that you do. I and all of our families appreciate each one of you. Hope to be back soon ( and hopefully for a longer stay).

 

13th October 2008

 

Bruce Haxton, UK

 

(Mother of a boy adopted 34 years ago)

 

A fantastic centre run with such obvious passion. Delighted to hear to volunteers are such a positive help .

 

10th November 2008

 

The Swedish Intercountry Adoptions Authority

 

It has been a great pleasure for us to visit Ashraya. Thank you so much ! We are deeply impressed by your good work .

 

21st November 2008

 

Veneto Adozioni - Delegazione

 

Thank you so much for the talks you hold, it has been very interesting. We hope we will come back some time and that we can develop future collaboration.

 

19th December 2008

 

Paolo Palmerini - CIAI CO-ORDINATOR (PROJECTS)

 

Coming to Ashraya is like coming Home. Thanks for all the good work you do and for sharing it with us. It’s been a pleasure meeting you all.

 

22nd January 2009

 

Neena Kishan (Adoptee)

 

It was great to visit and see how great things are here. God bless.

 

January 27th 2009

 

Mari Suarez - A.C., Sweden

 

It was interesting and really impressing for me to see the fantastic work you are doing ! Thank you very much for sharing your work with us, and we hope for many more years of good cooperation.

 

16th March 2009

 

Karnataka State Council for Child Welfare

 

It was heartening to see the work Ashraya is doing. We are extremely impressed !

 

20th April 2009

 

Mr. Gopal Gandhi ( Hon’rable Governor of West Bengal)

 

?My appreciation, my thanks and my faith ? Gopal and Tara.

 

20th April 2009

 

Anjolie Ela Menon

 

Wonderful to be here on this historic day. It was very inspiring for me.

 

27th April 2009

 

Sudha V. Reddy

 

To me, this is a great honour ! My association with Ashraya is deep - the cause is laudable - more than all its workers and associates are so full of devotion, which lead to remarkable fruition.

 

10th June 2009

 

Therese Sonmore (Volunteer)

 

I have had a wonderful time at Ashraya. The staff are doing a fantastic job taking care of all the children. I will miss everybody here so much ! Thank you for the opportunity of this experience!

 

16th June 2009

 

Valerie Deutricle (Volunteer)

 

Thank you for showing me this wonderful place. It’s a place full of love and passion for children !

 

17th June 2009

 

Catherine (Osteopath)

 

I’ll never forget the nice time I share with the children. So much love !!!

 

16th July 2009

 

Fredrik Berntsson (Adoptee)

 

Thank you for showing us around. It’s 28 years ago since I left India but with this welcoming it feels like being home. We are very impressed of the development of the children’s home and think that you all have done a great job. Thank you for sharing your time and experience with us. What you have achieved is very impressive ; and we hope it will keep on like this for many years.

 

16th July 2009

 

Dr. Martha Vungkhanching (Academician)

 

An wholistic approach to child’s welfare. Very impressive work !

 

3rd August 2009

 

Abhijit & Tanuka Gupta ( Adoptive parents)

 

“Thank you ? Ashraya ? for making our family complete. Ashraya has become our family too. We are blessed to have you in our lives.

 

 

2nd September 2009

 

Gordon Shattock & Lisa Lloyd (Adoptive Parents)

 

What a wonderful start to life and such warm and caring staff for our darling Ashna ! Thank you so much for all you have done for her ( and us ) and for the wonderful work you do for so many. Your hearts and Ashna’s and our will be joined for life - we hope to be able to bring her back to visit when she is older.

 

 

ADOPTION STATISTICS JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2008

 

Indian Adoption : 18

 

Intercountry Adoption : 30

 

News About the Ashraya Family

Ashraya Committee Members

Mrs. Sumathi Subbaiah	President
Mrs. Nomita Chandy	Secretary
Mrs. Sumati Satish	Treasurer
Ms. Shanthi Chacko	Member
Mrs. Surya Vaz	Member
Ms. Anjolie Advani	Member
Ms. Christy Abraham	Member
Mrs. Shobha Kumar	Member
Mrs. Vidya Majumdar	Member

Ashraya Staff

Radhika Nambiar,	MSW	Social Worker
Lavinia Lewis,	MSW	Social Worker
Usha Lekha	MSW	Social Worker

 

Children’s Home

Kavitha	Accountant
Sharmila	Secretarial Assistant
Meera	Teacher
Prakash	Office Assistant
Nagendra	Driver
Rani	Creche Worker
Agnes	Creche Worker
Saritha	Creche Worker
Jayamary	House Mother
Lakshmi	Cook
Thilaga	Child-Caretakers
Shantha	Child-Caretakers
Shanthamma	Child-Caretakers
Yellamma	Child-Caretakers
Gayatri	Child-Caretakers
Jacintha	Child-Caretakers
Devi	Child-Caretakers
Martha	Child-Caretakers
Ammu	Child-Caretakers
Anusuya B.	Child-Caretakers
Meherunissa	Child-Caretakers
Dhanamma	Child-Caretakers
Kumari	Part-time cleaning lady
Thimmaiah	Part-time gardener
Siddamma
Pushpamma	Housemother
Pushpavalli	Housemother

PART-TIME

Dr. N.V.S. Krishnan	Paediatrician
Ms. Jennifer Stephen	Developmental Therapist
Ms. Valli Ram Mohan	Documentation Officer

Neelbagh School

Mr. Manjunath	Headmaster
Varalakshmi	Teacher
Shivamma	Teacher
Nagaraju	Teacher
Yashoda	Teacher
Pushpalatha	Teacher
Srinivas Reddy	Teacher
Yashoda	Teacher
Raghu	Teacher
Manjula	Teacher
Manjunath Rao	Craft Teacher
Kalpana	Tailoring Teacher cum House Mother
Mehboob Pasha	Carpentry Instructor
Kumar	Computer Instructor (VAPS)
Yasmeen	Kitchen In-charge
Vanaja	Kitchen Staff
Rukmini Bai	Kitchen Staff
Srinivasa	Support Staff
Subbamma	Support Staff
Reddamma	Support Staff
Manjula	Support Staff
Padmavathamma	Support Staff
Susheela	Support Staff
Raja Reddy	Driver
Thirumalappa	Driver
Subramani	Pottery  Instructor
Venkataramana	Electrical  &  Plumbing  Instructor
Shivashankar	Dance Teacher
Narasamma	Teacher
Prameela	Teacher

Creches

Ratna	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Balaneela	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Shantha Devi	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Malathi	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Sheshavathi	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Saraswathi	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Ambika	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Mamatha	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Rohini	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Rani	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Manjula	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Madevi	Teacher Creche Worker Helper
Radha	Teacher Creche Worker Helper

Women&##39;s Centre

Bhavani Bai	Superintendent
Manjula	Outreach Social Worker
Mamatha	Creche Worker
Jayanthi	Creche Helper
Narasimaiah	Part-time gardener

Observation Home

Shashikala	Teacher
Anand	Dance Master
R. Anand	Counsellor
Jyothi Subbarao	Counsellor
Umadevi	Tailoring Teacher

Number of Children and Women Served by Ashraya

Children’s Home	40
Neelbagh	309
Observation Home	45
Women’s Centre (Creche)	25
Women’s Centre (No. of women)	15
Creches	140
	----------
Total	574