A NEW MEMBER OF THE YASHODHARA FAMILY

Once we finished moving Yashodhara to Kamshet and our 20 children got accustomed to their new surroundings, the next step was to open the Shelter’s doors to more girls and boys, as our new facilities will be able to house 26 more children. Of all the applications we received, only a few were chosen for closer examination. Among them, Ravi Jadhav’s (now 9 years old) stood out. Both of Ravi’s parents had died in his hometown a few years back, and his maternal aunt had taken him to her humble home in Pune. However, Ravi's tribulations did not end with the death of his parents, for living with her aunt’s sons, around ten years older than him, proved to be a very trying experience.

Due to the continuous beatings from his cousins, Ravi’s aunt reported her own sons to the local police, who shrugged the matter off. Powerless to stop the abuse, and desperate to get his nephew out of this situation, the aunt came to Asha-Kiran hoping to find a way out for Ravi.

In a situation where immediate action was of the essence, Ravi was admitted in the Shelter almost immediately, where the children gave him a warm welcome. Not only did Ravi physically blend into the Home very fast, but emotionally as well. After one month in Yashodhara, he is attending the local school. Besides having joined a home where he is emotionally cuddled by peers and caregivers, the psychologists who work with the children in Yashodhara will also work with Ravi so that he may gradually assimilate new patterns of coexistence. Psychological counseling will also be offered to his family, since aiding to achieve family balance and offering new avenues of communication between children and their guardians or relatives, is an important part of Asha-Kiran’s work, aside from being a significant element in the healthy development of children.

Pleased to have Ravi among us, we continue evaluating applications of children who will bring new shades of color to Yashodhara Shelter.

PROJECT NEWS IN SUMMER

Wishing to keep you up to date about what is happening in our Projects in Pune, we bring to you a short summary of our activity in recent months.

The Hadapsar DCC had water blockage problems which were solved by the complete renovation of the Center, now a semi-permanent structure.
Twenty four children from this DCC have enrolled in school, while all of the Koregaon Park Center children go to school. In addition, nine children have enrolled in an ‘English Medium School’, where all classes are in English.
The vaccination program was postponed until August because the Hospital that works with Asha-Kiran was not able to carry it out on the dates scheduled for July. The hospital has agreed to continue immunizing not only children but also women, including breastfeeding mothers.
Four women in the Koregaon Park slum have agreed to undergo sterilization under the Family Planning Program.

We found that two children in Hadapsar and three in Koregaon Park were undernourished. We will plan a diet for them to be followed at the DCC’s and at home. While discussing this issue, we saw the possibility of starting a Teenage Health Group which would include all young people in the communities, who would be responsible for monitoring the health of community residents. More discussions and planning are needed before we can put this idea into practice.

After moving Yashodhara to Kamshet in June, we have been working on the remaining touch-ups that were pending in the Home; to date, only the solar water heating system needs to be installed.

Together with you, we keep on moving forward.