Sanctuary Home For Children

We can get no words to describe the condition of the boy how he was. His mother went to a tank to wash the clothes, there she slipped into the tank, sunk and died . Father of this boy got again married. His stepmother developed a negative attitude against this boy, the torture he experienced had no bounce. He was with out food found half nacked, no place to sleep in that condition of mercilessness he was struggling. He was kept in a bonded labour but Govt. reacted and released him from the child labour. But he could not find shelter even not put up in the school. one of our friends spoke to us about the pathetic condition of this boy. on hard struggle we got him over here. We specially urge your good selves to make this boy a better citizen of future asperations through your generous sponsorship. it is also our anxiety that he must see happiness in his face.

Greetings! I wanted to tell you about our interview with Gopi. First of all, we spent the week observing him play and interact with the other children, and he is a happy boy and we didn't perceive any problems. Gopi is 12 years old and in 6th class. His favorite subjects are math and science. When we asked him what games he likes to play, he said swimming. There are two boys named Gopi at SH, so your child goes by P.Gopi. He is tall and lanky and always wears a silly, sheepish grin. He has a small problem with his eye, but it's not something they plan to do anything about - he is managing with it. When we interviewed him, his foot was bandaged up, because he had stepped on a piece of glass. He one of the followers, and is kind and helpful. When we asked him to tell us about himself, he talked about SH, saying that there is "good discipline here." It matters to him that someone cares enough about him and the other children to enforce the rules! He also said, through a translator, "I have been leading my life spiritually, honoring elders and the staff." He asked for prayers for his vision, good studies, and says he prays for us. Gopi is a good boy, and we enjoyed getting to know him. As an aside, he and Buddu both had a difficult time with the name Ellis - I think it must have an unusual sound in Telugu. Many of their words end in a U sound. A word ending in S was hard to say.

About the swimming: I asked where the children went to swim, and was told a very amusing story by Isaac. In the early days of SH, a group of five or six boys sneaked away from SH without informing anyone, and they went to one of the canals to go swimming. The canals are very dirty - I can only imagine what's living in that water. The other children reported on the naughty boys, and Isaac went to retrieve them. I had the impression that the only physical punishment they received was a twist of the ear, but that they got quite a talking to. Isaac explained more about the nature of SH, what was being offered to them, and what was expected of them. The boys were very repentant and promised never to do it again. Isaac called all of their names and had them line up before me, each wearing a very sheepish grin, shaking their heads and making motions with their hands to indicate "never again." It was difficult to keep a straight face. So some of the boys are good swimmers, but they're not permitted to swim in the dirty canals.