Janaseva Sisubhavan (children’s home)
I started volunteering at the children’s home, an orphanage for 2 days a week. Janaseva Sisubhavan, means children’s home, which is primarily sponsored by the public. I learned how to ride the bus to Janaseva Sisubhavan by myself which is an accomplishment that I’m proud of! I first went with Sarada Aunty, but the second time I was apprehensive about commuting and transferring buses to reach my destination. I was apprehensive because I did not know the regional language and I was also wary of the sexual harassment that can occur on the bus. When I arrived at the orphanage children were running towards me grabbing my clothes, trying to hold my hand, and wanting to be the one that had my attention. They were really adorable, and I wish that I had enough hands to hold them all. Deepa is the name of the woman who was nice enough to give me a tour of the orphanage. She speaks little English, and I speak little Malayalam, so we are perfectly ‘made for each other’, both learning from each other! There was also another volunteer I met who came from Australia. Nadia was traveling by herself and I was surprised that she traveled 1 hour from Fort Kochi where she lived to the orphanage. She was so excited to hear me speaking English, because no one could understand her Australian accent. Fortunately for me, people are able to understand most of my English at the functional level and I can also speak some functional Malayalam. However, she decided that she did not want to volunteer at Janaseva anymore because of the language barrier, one hour travel to reach the orphanage, and also because she felt that she would be of hindrance instead of help to those children. From this I learned that it is important to first understand another culture in its way and slowly adjust to such a culture to the optimum possible ways, instead of trying to make the culture adjust with newly inducted elements including persons like us. English language is not always inevitable to communicate and help others. Language of heart can facilitate communication especially among children. I must have more patience and tolerance to navigate through another culture. I am learning many things and I realized that observational learning is a powerful learning method.

Stories of the Children
There are many stories of how the children came to the orphanage. In most cases, the parents have abandoned them in various ways. Some are involved in the beggar’s mafia, which is a group of people who employ young children as beggars. The children have to earn so much money per day for the dons (head persons of the mafia), if they do not they are abused, tortured, or starved. Sometimes they are burned with acid in order to create sympathy in passerbys to earn more money for the dons. Some children are involved in the street circus which is a traveling act done on the streets in the city. The children are made to perform dangerous and deadly tricks in which the people in charge believe starvation is necessary in order to perform the tricks correctly. In other instances, child labor is involved in which a household hires a child for labor against their will, often starving, torturing, or abusing them. After hearing and reading these stories, I couldn’t help but feel anger towards the people who inflicted such pain on children. What kind of a heart a person has to inflict injury through cruelty to hurt a child? How can anyone harm those innocent children for monetary gain? How can any one make them starve to perform dangerous tricks which are enjoyed by others? It tore me apart to realize to what extent people can be cruel to children. Children are innocent and vulnerable to cruelty because they can not by themselves ensure protection. They deserve love and care, not torture and pain. Here is the story of Velmurukan, a child who was placed at the boys home at Janaseva Sisubhavan. Velmurukan was born in a small hut, a slum in Sithannur village in Tamilnadu. His parents died when he was a small child. From his early days onwards, he and his sister were under the custody of their grandmother and uncle (father’s brother), who did nothing but curse them, beat them, kick them and made them starve. His uncle, who was a drug addict and drunkard, always used to beat them brutally. One day Velmurukan’s uncle took him to Kerala, for selling him to Dharmaraj, the don of the beggar mafia. He was handed over to Dharmaraj, at Aluva Railway Station. After that he never saw his uncle. Dharmaraj took him to a group of beggars, where he found about 10 children of his age, and was asked to beg and give the money he collected to Dharamaraj. Velmurukan did not know what to do and wandered in search of his uncle in the streets of Aluva. Imagine the exhaustion of Velmurukan who could not locate his cruel uncle. He was also totally ignorant of the art of begging. Obviously, he did not get any money. At night Dharmaraj came fully drunk, and knowing that he had no money, dragged Velmururkan to the railway track, some distance away. He beat the boy and when the boy cried aloud, Dharmaraj forcefully closed his mouth and threatened to kill him if he dared to speak. Then he took a bottle, poured the liquid on the boy’s body, dragged him to the open cabin of a goods train, and lastly set fire on him. Velmurukan could not remember anything after that. When he regained consciousness, he was in the hospital bed. Mr. Jose Maveli, the director of Janaseva Sisubhavan, took the responsibility to treat him and later took him to the children’s home (taken from Janaseva Sisubhavan’s magazine, “Drops of Tears Turn to Blossoms”). For more information, check their website at http://www.janasevasisubhavan.net/

My Past
Coming to Janaseva, the children’s house, for the first time I had an emotional experience. It wasn’t the orphanage that I was at when I was adopted, yet the feelings were the same. It brought back past memories, and I had tears in my eyes when I saw those children. There were ten three year old children getting fed, and questions ran through my mind of my time spent in the orphanage in Pune. What did I look like at the age of three years? What kind of personality did I have? Was it difficult feeding me? I looked at the children, all of them were so innocent and exquisitely beautiful. I wondered how people could leave children that were so full of hope and light. I know that regardless of whether I am of any help to the children, being at the orphanage will be a personally fulfilling experience for me.

Location
In the Asian continent, I’m staying in Kerala which is a southern state. There are 17 districts in Kerala. I’m in the middle part of Kerala which is the Ernakulum district. In the district, Kochi is the fascinating city which is known as “Queen of the Arabian Sea”. For all who are reading my blog I would like to thank you for taking the time to read it and please feel free to comment!