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Vikash Parishad - A home for girls in Odisha, India
Located in a hilly, rural village, this home was founded to give abandoned girls a warm, loving place to grow up. While they may not have many material things, there is much Love given here and it shows in the way the girls smile and excel in their school work. They are a joy to be around.
The situation in 2015
The girls range in age from 3 to 18 years (when the home can no longer house any child, according to the law). For some, both parents are dead. For others, one parent died or abandoned the family, making it impossible to take care of the children. A few have actually been removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.
Setting: There are two buildings on the site in which the girls would eat, study, play and sleep. The kitchen area occupies part of one building although a lot of the cooking is done outdoors when the weather permits. All these activities are done on the floor; there is very little furniture. Thin mats are piled on one side of the largest room. They are pulled out each night after study time for the girls to sleep, using rather thread bare blankets. The girls frequently huddle together on the cooler nights for warmth. There are no heaters. The lights are just a few fluorescent tubes. The windows have loosely fitting wooden shutters with no glass, just bars on the outside to prevent anything big from jumping through. Luckily, there is a decent overhang on the outside to prevent rain from blowing in.
Do they wear uniforms? For school, they are supposed to be provided 4 uniforms but they are really only given 2 which are made of very cheap material. Their non-school clothing varies widely, being outfits donated over the years. From day to day, any clothing that a girl can fit into is hers for that day. Everything they have is shared among the girls..... they are one big family.
Who runs things? We spoke mainly with the gentleman who runs the place. He has a lady living there, helping with cooking and other care. There is also another gentleman and his wife who live in one small room; he does tutoring to bring in a little money.
Nutrition: The state gives NO funds to this place yet has certain guidelines they expect such homes to follow which can create quite a financial burden. For instance, the state says the girls should be fed a certain amount of protein and a variety of vegetables. But all they really have money for is rice and dal. The girls get some other foods via the school lunch but even that is rather inadequate.
Outside of school, what do the girls do? The daily activity is prep for school, get to school, come back from school, study and hang out..... have dinner and then sleep. Not very active really. They had no kinds of sports equipment or games. And it wasn't always feasible or a good idea to roam outside of the home's boundaries. The nearby road can have large trucks and buses trundling by at any time as well as people who could do mischief if they found a young girl out on her own.
Water: There is a large open-pit well from which they draw their drinking water along with cooking water and bathing water. Bathtime consisted of standing near the well and using a bucket of water.... out in the open. Luckily, it was at least behind the main building so not viewable from the road. There was a small pump hanging over the well but it seldom worked so the girls had to throw buckets on rope into the well and pull those up to get water. Later we learned that this well would go dry near the end of the dry season and the girls would need to carry buckets into town, fill them and hike back with these heavy containers to have water available at the home. Needless to say, bathing and washing clothing was not done as often as they would like at that time of year.
Are they able to grow some food? When asked why they are not growing some food for themselves, it was pointed out that the side and back boundaries of the property were not fenced. This allowed cattle and goats (and anything else) to wander into the land and eat whatever the girls ever tried to grow.
Medical care: If a child got sick, it meant going to a doctor/hospital at least an hour's drive away. This has led to permanent ill conditions for some. A number of issues could be fairly easily addressed or at least triaged if the right supplies and equipment was available.
What are the bathroom facilities? One of the most frustrating situations here was that 30+ girls had pretty much one toilet stall in a very small shed that was falling apart. The condition inside this shed was deplorable.... really it was a hole in the ground with who-knows-what growing on the rest of the floor and walls. I know they tried to clean this but it was very difficult when the shed had wooden walls and floor. A latrine building had been erected on site (by someone wanting credit for helping an orphanage) but no septic tank or running water had been installed so the thing was not useable except for some storage. Even with only this use, the doors were already falling apart and the insides of each stall were in need of much repair.
All this has led us to fund several activities aimed at improving the conditions at Vikash Parishad.
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- Sport Equipment and Games
- Create functioning latrine with 4 stalls and showers
- Install fencing around the perimeter of the property
- Drilling a well with working pump and having water storage tanks
- Procuring beds and new blankets
- Security guard and lighting
- Cows and cowshed
- Building repair to stop water leaks
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- Funding to provide a more balanced diet
- Construct a two story building
- Dorm-style bedrooms upstairs
- Kitchen, dining room, study hall, library downstairs
- Courtyard for festivals, ceremonies
- Sewing machines to repair clothing as well as create new clothing
- Funds to buy material and quality thread
- Scholarships to help girls attend college
- Stock a "sick bay" and setup a regular schedule of doctor visits
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