Education & hope for 50 orphan children in India

Greetings from Reaching Hand!

Wishing you a cheerful, amazing and blissful New Year 2019!

We are in the first month of another beautiful year and looking back at the year gone by we are humbled by your support that motivated us to dream bigger braving challenges and to move forward. We thank you from the bottom of our heart for backing us in our efforts to cater and bring about a tangible change in the life of these 53 abandoned children at New Home. The children are filled with gratitude and are excited to share the past quarter with you.

SHASHI- A young man with Godly character!

“You don’t need much to be happy!” spurts Shashi when asked the reason behind his forever smiling face. He adds, I have ‘New Home’ as my friends, family, guide and mentor. I have learned charity, to forgive and to be considerate from them. I am privileged to part of this New Home family”.

Shashi is the ‘College Captain’ of HMR National PU College .The journey of this 16 yr old lad has never been a bed of roses. Shashi lost his mother at the tender age of 5 when his father attacked her in a fits of rage. His baby brother was left handicapped in that incident.

New Home welcomed these siblings to be part of the family over 10 years ago and has taken care of their medical needs, food, clothing, shelter, education, extracurricular activities etc.

Shashi is extremely good in sports, painting and sketching. He is compassionate and takes care, guides and protects the younger children at New Home.

His example shows how a little bit of support can go a long way. We wish this young man with a golden heart a sparking future!

The Past Quarter:

More visitors and volunteers from all walks of life came to spend time with the children. They taught, motivated, played games with them, cooked for them and was part of the sports activities, fun and events at New Home.

Birthday Celebrations- At the end of each month we have a cake cutting for the children celebrating birthday that month. We have introduced “Star of the Month” award as recognition for children who excel in behavior and academics.

Light House Academy Updates: A new campus director has been appointed at the academy. Study tables and chairs have been donated by our kind-hearted donors. It is blissful to see the children use these instead of sitting on the floor.

Farming-We have got the children interested in farming and cultivating. The children have grown tomatoes, ladies fingers, spinach and beans on campus

Concert opportunity -The children were invited to watch Padmasree Hariharan perform live in Bangalore in November. They enjoyed this exposure and the music.

Field trip to the Zoo- This was first time visit for many children. They had a fun seeing so many kinds of birds and learnt so much from this field trip.

All this was possible through your generous support and love. Please do visit us when you are in Bangalore.We and the children at New Home are super excited to meet with you!

Greetings from Reaching Hand!

We are very excited to share with you our journey of the past quarter.In every difficult situation we found an opportunity that taught us to move forward and you have been a tremendous support to us.

The name Anand is perfect for this little boy who truly is a joy to New Home. He was about 6 years old and unable to communicate verbally when he was reported to the police, wandering the streets near K.R Puram by a civilian. He was unable to tell them where he was from, his age, or where his parents were, and was only able to say “Ayan” in response to asking for his name. He was welcomed into our Home in November 2016, where he finally found a safe place to live and learn. Initially, we did not realize he had a hearing disability. But when we did, we got him the medical attention he required.

He now, has hearing aids in both ears, because of which he has been able to learn to communicate better. He also goes to a speech therapist once a week. He had quite a severe infected skin condition when he came to us, but today he is a cute little healthy, playful boy. He is currently studying at out home school in Grade 2 and is learning how to read and write. He is surprisingly very musically inclined and loves to draw and paint. He is highly energetic and enjoys playing football and is very fascinated by anything to do with cars, especially playing with racing cars and remote-control cars.

The past quarter has been quite eventful with various sports and cultural events in school and at home. Sneha was star at her school, St. Michaels, on their sports day bringing home 7 medals. Maria Blessy won 2 medals. Our children did wonderfully well in the first round of exams for the year. Prem, Ruth and Kartik were subject toppers in their class.  

We had quite a few volunteers on campus this quarter supporting with the children’s social growth. Students from Rajagiri College , spent two weeks at New Home. They organized a cultural program titled “Shine”, to display cultural and talent. They worked with our children on their talents and gifts to prepare a 2-hour program. It included, group songs, solo songs, dances, instruments, and skits. It was a great opportunity for our children to explore their interests and talents, and experience performing in front of a crowd – building confidence and self-esteem.

We had a team from Ireland on campus for a month, teaching music and moral education lessons. They even cooked a wonderful wholesome meal for all our children. They purchased books and learning & development play toys for the kindergartens.

In 22^nd August, one of our children, Tanu, who underwent 4 major surgeries in the past to straighten his leg to enable him to walk, had follow up surgeries to remove a metal rod placed in his left leg and to stop the incorrect growth of the bone on his right amputated leg. He is an unbelievably strong-hearted young boy and is now slowly recovering post surgery. He will need a few more visits to the hospital in the coming days for post surgery care. Tanu is musically very talented and hopes to become a professional singer one day. We are very thankful to every donor because of which we have been able to financially support his surgeries and hospital visits.

Another highlight on our campus is that our home school building is functional. Brick by brick we are moving forward with the construction of one classroom at a time. Since all our children come from difficult and different back grounds, we struggle with lack of teachers to match varying levels of learning abilities of our children. Nevertheless, we are pushing forward, and giving them the best education possible.

You are warmly welcome to our campus anytime you are in Bangalore. The children would be most delighted to meet you. All the credits go out to each of you donors and individuals who have made this possible by selflessly supporting us. We are truly grateful!