Indian Orphanage
Details of the support given by the Rotary Club of Burgess Hill and District to the Jeevan Jyoti Orphanage, Beripada
Jeevan Jyoti Orphanage, Beripada, Orissa,
India
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The
Jeevan Jyoti Orphanage in Beripada, India was the initiative of Sister
Elizabeth Cunnell who is a member of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. She and two other nuns came to Baripada in 2000 to provide a secure home for girls who have nowhere else to live. All of the girls have been sent away from their families in local tribes because they suffer some kind of disability. Some of the girls are profoundly handicapped as a result of landmines, leprosy and genetic disorders. They are no longer welcome in their home tribe and have no further contact with their family once they leave. Many of the girls were thrown out of the tribe at a very early age and until this orphanage was opened they would live in the wild with the help of other young girls who had experienced a similar fate. The National Council of India helped to finance the setting up of the orphanage but now they are dependent on local charities to help them survive. The local Baripada Rotary Club provides some basic support. |
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| Sister Elizabeth is anxious that
when she is no longer able to continue, the orphanage should continue to
thrive. For this to happen she would wish for the older girls to stay and help
run the home. To do this some of them have to be helped to overcome their handicaps. When the Rotary 2006 Group Study Exchange team (led by Angela Veitch, a member of our Club) met these children they knew they wanted to help them and to assist them to become more self sufficient. |
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The girls all help to grow their own food, many having to sit on the ground (due to their disabilities) to dig and care for the crops | |
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| The girls use this corridor area to learn to read and to sew. | ||
| These girls were waiting for the car to take them to school. They are the girls who are most able at the orphanage and who hope to train to help with the running of the home in the future. |  |
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| The dormitories are clean and very tidy, but where are the toys and the pictures on the walls? They have no 'luxuries'. | ||
| The hand sewing machine seen in this photograph is the only item of labour saving equipment the nuns and children have to make their own clothes. |  |
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| Some of the children's
disabilities are worse than others. The young girl in blue (in the photograph below) has suffered from leprosy and her feet are deformed. The girl in the orange dress has only one leg. She danced on her knee for the members of the Group Study Exchange team . |
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Dr.Ranjan Singh,
a surgeon and member of Cuttack Rotary
Club (over 100 miles away from the orphanage), has offered his services
free to operate on some of the girls and fit their prostheses, to save the cost
of funding a journey to the Jaipur limb centre in the north of India.
Sister Elizabeth accompanied the young girl shown on this photograph to the hospital and remained with her throughout her recovery. This is necessary as Indian hospitals do not provide personal care, food etc and can mean that Sister Elizabeth is away for up to a month nursing and cooking for the child, leaving the two other nuns to run the orphanage by themselves. When she has both legs she will be able to work and help at the orphanage. Funds for this operation were raised in the UK by the Group Study Exchange team and Rotary clubs. |
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The children make beautiful hand embroidered cards which are sent to the UK for sale in order to raise funds. They cost Related pages...
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