Under Secretary to Governor, Tamil Nadu - Dec 16, 2010

During our visit to Freedom Children Home we had an opportunity to observe an inspection by the Government.  Ms. A. Mangayarkaras, aka "Lady Queen," and Ms. S. Premasheela from the Tamil Nadu Governor's office arrived at the orphanage only few minutes after we did.  Upon arrival, they began interviewing the orphanage director, the staff and the children.  It was very interesting to see a real live inspection and we were fortunate enough to interview them afterward.

We learned that the Governor of Tamil Nadu had specially appointed them as under secretaries of his office recently in order to conduct surprise inspections of all the orphanages in the Tamil Nadu district.  Interestingly, neither of them actually worked in social welfare.  Ms. Mangayarkaras was from the information technology department and Ms. Premasheela was from the Department of Secretariat.  This was done in order to ensure that no one knew about the inspections and to reduce corruption. 

Through our conversation, we were also able to understand what the government inspectors were looking for and also received the inspection sheet.  We learned important information such as; requirement for registration, need for orphanages to visit the government office once a month and how orphanages had to have at least 2 months expense in their bank account.  This signaled good initiatives by the government because the inspections and new regulations increased the standards of all the orphanages, however the government was not providing any financial aid to help meet those standards. 

 

Freedom Children's Home - Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu - Dec 16, 2010

We visited Freedom Children's Home this afternoon. Mr. Louis, who is the orphanage director's friend, picked us up a the hotel and drove us to a famous local candy shops to buy some sweets for the children. Louis said, "American sweets are good, but I am sure that kids like Indian sweets better." After we bought Indian sweets from that fancy, newly-established Indian Sweets chain store, we had an one-hour-and-half drive from Chennai to Freedom Children's Home. It is located in a rural area, which is 70 kilometers south from Chennai. During our trip, we sometimes passed by a herd of cattle, waited for goats walking across the road, and sometimes took pictures of pigs running along the road side. When we arrived our destination, it was around 6 pm already. The sky turned dark fast, but we could still feel the warm greeting from the children and the director's family. They stood in front of the main building welcoming us to visit their home sincerely and vividly. Some children were still shy but I could tell their curiosity and excitement from their eyes.

   


The director and Sam, his son, then showed us their facilities. Freedom Children's Home is a three-floor building. The first floor is the major living place for the children. Girls and boys have separate rooms to sleep. The director's family live in the second floor. In the third floor, the whole space is used as a praying room. We made to the top floor to see the surroundings. The building is located at the center of a field, without any other building within a radius of 500 meters. Although it is serene and peaceful, commuting would be an issue. That's probably one of the reason that the Home has a bus on its own.

After the overview, we all went back to the first floor. Children all already sit on the ground waiting for us. The director introduced us formally to the kids and Tae gave a short speech in return. These kids, again, were very interested in Asian faces, so Li-Wei did some tricks to amuse them. The director and Louis then gave us a detailed introduction to their progress from the very beginning, helping us understand how the orphanage was like in different development stages. We gained a lot of information from their sharing, but some children were bored and fell asleep. So, we played with the kids until we took off. By playing with them, we could feel that they were taken care well and grew up in a family with love. That's very important for a successful orphanage.

We took off at 9:30 PM. Louis drove very carefully because there is no lamp along the road. He showed us how dark it was if he turned off the lights. It was completely dark outside. We could not see anything without the headlights. When we arrived our hotel, it was 11 PM already. We appreciate Louis's help so much because he drove for almost three hours today. It is these enthusiastic people that make a successful orphanage.

UNICEF Chennai - Dec 15, 2010

In the first few months of completing our secondary research, we attempted to get in touch with UNICEF in Chennai multiple times, but our efforts were not successful. We didn't give up though, once we got on the ground in India, we were determined to still visit UNICEF, even though we weren't able to schedule an appointment or even get any contacts. Unfortunately, we learned first-hand the reason why weren't able to get in touch with someone in the first place - they had moved their offices to another location in India. 

Don Bosco Beatitudes Social Welfare Centre - Chennai, India - Dec 14, 2010

Our agenda for today was to visit the Don Bosco Beatitudes Social Welfare Center. Don Bosco is an international catholic organization dedicated to helping the needy around the world. Their operations in Chennai began in 1965, where they provide shelter and schooling for children of all ages, as well as a home for the elderly and those affected by leprosy.

We first met the Administrator of center, Father Lawrence, and he gave us a detailed history about how the center began in the Northern Chennai. He then took us on a tour of the school campus. We passed by a group of young girls and they came up to the father acknowledged him and hugged him – it was touching to see the affection that they had for him and the impact that he was having on their lives.





The girls then turned their attention to the star attraction of the day – Jackie Chan (Li-Wei) and Bruce Lee (Tae). They were thankful I (Shan) was there too… So, I can take pictures of them with their new idols.
Father Lawrence continued to explain that the school is open to orphaned children as well as those that live with their parents but are unable to provide for the children. In light of their background, the center seemed to be a place where the children could really be themselves and simply enjoy their childhood.

We then visited multiple vocational training centers within the grounds that included typewriting, tailoring, welding, carpentry, and computer training. The vocational training is provided free of cost. While some external companies also contract with these training centers, most of the products from the vocational training go back into the Center itself. This self-sustainability model has had an incredible impact in the Center. Unfortunately, as India has grown the demand for low-skilled labor has increased; so fewer and fewer children are interested in technical training, instead they want to enter the job market directly – short-term perspective. Hearing this, our initial thought was that maybe linking other orphanages to Don Bosco could potentially help both Don Bosco continue its sustainability model as well as help other orphanages with giving them a place to send their children after high school. Hopefully, we can further analyze this throughout next quarter.

Helping Hearts Home - Chennai, India - Dec 13, 2010

We visited Helping Hearts Home today. Mr. Suresh came to our hotel to pick us up.  In the crazy traffic to the orphanage at the city, Mr. Suresh gave us a basic overview of Helping Hearts Home and showed us the children's profiles. The children's aspiration and annual education sponsorship were listed with their profile as well.

We met five staff at the orphanage.  They had a welcome party for us with a few children dancing to "Barbie Girl."  Then, after the leading staff had a speech, they asked us to give speech to the kids. The children were all seated on the ground in lines staring at us.  It's hard to tell their feelings because we didn't have much of a chance to interact with them directly.

The orphanage staff told us that all the children got very good grades and that they want to send all children to college.  However, they need a study room for children and a sick room for the elders in the other unit they have in the rural area now.  So, we went to see that unit and the potential site for the construction.

It was located in a rural area 1-hour away from the one at the city. The children there are above 15 years old. There is also an elder caring center in the house too. The elders sleep together in a big room and can grow some fruits and vegetable in a small garden in the backyard.  To our surprise, the children in this orphanage are not as good in English as those in HFFCT, although they are all good at studying.  The staff asked for donations several times during our visit, even in front of the children.  They believe that with connections with foreign investors, they can provide a better education to those children.

Hope for Future Charitable Trust - Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu - Dec 12, 2010

Today, we visited the Hope for Future Charitable Trust Orphanage. We met with the director of the orphanage, Rev.J.D.Glaxon and spent the rest of the day with the children. The orphanage has been in existence for 4 years, but has already made an incredible impact in the community of Poonjeri Mamallapuram, a small village about 50km south of Chennai. There are 26 children at the orphanage and each one is taken care of as if it were Glaxon’s own child.

Tae had a notepad and had each orphan right down their name on a piece of paper – it was amazing to see that each one, even the youngest at 4 years old, could write down their name in English, when many of them don’t even study in English. Lastly, Glaxon also shared his vision with us on expanding his orphanage to support a vocational training center.

Having received vocational training himself, Glaxon strongly believes that such a center will help give the orphans the skills they need to lead a more successful life and eventually use those skills to help those in need.

Rev Glaxon

Team India arrived at Chennai, India - Dec 11, 2010

Team India (Li-Wei, Tae & Shan)

After enduring 20 hours of flying, waiting for connecting flights at Dubai and surviving a suicide taxi ride from the airport, we finally arrived at Accord Metropolitan Hotel in Chennai, India.  We all took a very needed shower and coordinated our itinerary for the rest of the week by contacting the orphanages.  Despite being tired from the travel, we were very excited to start our on-the-ground primary research.

Midpoint Presentation - December 7, 2010

Our presentation to the AMR office went well today. Got some helpful feedback from the Comm TA's and Prof. Abe. Looking forward to our trip this week. Chennai, India from Dec. 10-17.