BTS 9: Final week... or is it?!

This was to be my last week at BTS and it was time to turn my attention to the website, Facebook page and a Google Grants campaign (free Google advertising for charities). I’d also been asked to give the staff some photography training (slightly worrying since I am by no means an expert photographer!) and I still had a couple of apprentice reports and one new child profile to complete. It was a short week, with Easter Friday approaching and when I sat down to look at the work I realised there was actually quite a lot to be done! So I offered to stay an extra week so that I'd be able to dedicate a bit more quality time to it. Everyone was really grateful but it wasn't entirely selfless – I just didn't want to leave!

On Monday evening I had my first visit to one of the children's villages - Rengesamy (named after the farmer who helped Joe so much in the very early days of the poultry farm). I was here to complete a child profile, which goes out to new sponsors. As ever, the children were delighted to have a visitor and couldn't wait to show me around. 

At Rengesamy Children's Village

Look! Look! Look!

The other reason for it being a short week, was that I had a full day out of the office on Tuesday, making a trip into Madurai to see my new sponsor child Suganya, as well as my Mum’s former sponsor, Selvi. 

In an earlier post I explained that the Boys Town Society is an Indian-registered charity, but it falls under the umbrella of the UK-based Joe Homan Charity (JHC). As well as supporting BTS, over the last few years JHC has expanded to offer a helping hand to other Indian NGOs in the region. One of these is the Madurai Sevashram Girls Home, and this is where Suganya is being cared for. There are around 120 girls here, aged from 5 right up to 18. Unlike the BTS homes, the facilities here were a bit more basic. For a start, all 120 girls sleep in one big room, in 3 rows of 40! I can't even imagine it!

This was a dual purpose visit as I actually had a few apprentice reports to write here too. I arrived and had lunch and then when I went to meet the apprentices they brought Suganya out. She was shaking like a leaf and seemed completely overwhelmed by everything - I was worried she was going to burst into tears! (I don’t always have this effect on children, honest!). Sivakumar asked her a few questions in Tamil and her voice was barely more than a whisper as she answered. He tried to explain who I was but I think she is a little too young to understand really. We let her be and went on to interview the apprentices, but she stayed at the edge of the room and I caught her stealing a few curious glances at me now and then and each time I responded with a little wave and a big smile! I’ll be going back next week as I've decided to buy some games and sports equipment for the home, so hopefully she’ll be more used to the idea of me by then! Photos to follow!

Next we headed to the hospital in Madurai, where Selvi is now working as a nurse. It was really moving to finally meet this young girl who has been a part of my parents' lives for so many years. She was really happy to see me and as we walked to the hospital canteen for a drink she insisted on introducing me to everyone we passed, from the chief surgeon to the canteen staff! 

Selvi came to one of the BTS Children's Villages when she was 5 years old and an orphan. My parents sponsored her the whole way through the Children's Village and Girls Town and then during her two-year nurse training. Now she has a steady, well-paid job with a good future ahead although she still lives in a hostel with the other young nurses. I hope she'll be able to move out and into a real home at some point, although it's hard to see how this will happen, given that arranged marriages are still the norm here and she has no family to arrange something for her. Still, she is happy with her friends for now, and we are all really proud of what she has achieved. 

Selvi and I

On Thursday I also made another brief trip to the primary school to take ID photos for a couple of children who were absent last week. This time school had just finished and the children were outside waiting for the school bus, so we had time for a bit of "Hokey Cokey" while they waited! They couldn't understand the words of course (although what does hokey cokey mean anyway?!) but they loved copying the actions and especially the bit where everyone rushes into the middle! 

"Shake it all about..."

"Ohhh hokey cokey cokey"