ASHRAYA REPORT 2000-2001
If anything stands out in our minds this year, it would be the endless SAGA in the courts. 13 cases of children being adopted under the G&WC Act were dismissed by the Family Court, in August 2000. The ripple effect from the Andhra Adoption Scandal and the inherent delays in our Judicial system itself, have meant an agonizing one year wait for children, families and agencies. We are still hoping and praying for a resolution. Ashraya for its part, can quite honestly say that we have left no stone unturned, to unravel this unfortunate situation. The Family Courts have also been moving forward sluggishly, because no Principal Judge was appointed for a long time. We have had to play a major role to expedite these matters, as well.

SPECIAL EVENTS :-
1.The Rotary Club West, organized “ Seva Sethu 2000 ”, on October 14th and 15th, as a meeting ground for NGO’S. The meet was opened by the Governor of Karnataka. Ashraya was represented by Surya Vaz, Shanthi Chacko, Priya David, Nirmala Motha and Chitra. Our stall had graphic charts, showing different aspects of our work, which attracted a lot of attention and queries.

2. On the 11th of November 2000, we had our annual Diwali Party, which was attended by over 120 parents, children and Ashraya staff and members. The children enjoyed the special tea and put up a good performance for our guests. They were all dressed up in bright traditional clothes. The fire cracker display was the highlight of the evening. The meet was televised by NDTV, to mark the Adoption Week, and a few couples were interviewed by the TV Anchor, Nupur Basu. NDTV also featured Shalini, a visually handicapped child, adopted by the Menon family, a few years ago from us.

3. Children’s Day was celebrated at Neelbagh on the 14th of November. The Neelbagh teachers put up a wonderful entertainment for the children, which had them rolling over with laughter. We were impressed at the amount of histrionic talent our staff displayed. Special sweets were distributed to the children.

4. A special non-vegetarian lunch was also organized by Ashraya for the children at the Observation Home to mark the occasion. This was especially poignant because these children have so few treats.

5. Ashraya’s annual picnic was organized on 18.11.2000, at a farm near Kothanur, about 35 km. from Bangalore. We are grateful to Major Appachu for his kindness in letting us use his farm house and for organizing tea and snacks for us. 45 of our children, staff and members had a wonderful day relaxing, playing games and letting their hair down. Children had fun taking turns to ride on a horse. It was a rather tired horse at the end of the day ! Our thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Raman who organized the bus and to Mr. & Mrs. Datta, who sponsored the picnic.

6. The Christmas Party for children at our Children’s Home, was organized most beautifully by the OWC volunteers, on our upstairs terrace. All the children got watches as X’mas gifts, with which they were enthralled . They enjoyed the lavish tea and the games that had been organized.

On the 25th of December, John and Ulka Serrao, and Amanda Britto and friends, organized an evening of X’mas carols, in which our children, with some prior coaching, were able to participate fully. It was a fun evening.

7. On Sunday the 7th of January, we had a special lunch at the Women’s Centre to celebrate the New Year. All the women at the Centre, joined together to cook a delicious meal. The variety entertainment that followed, showcased their talent. There were special gifts for the children. A film crew from Italy accompanied us to the Centre and interviewed quite a few of the women.

8. On the 12th of January 2001, we held New Year parties at all the Creches. Special lunches were served to all the children and each child received a New Year gift. The entertainment programmes done by the children were performed with great enthusiasm . As usual the Ashraya Members and Social Workers distributed themselves between the 4 creches. The event was sponsored by A.C. Dalarna, to whom we extend our thanks.

9. The Ashraya Children’s Home children participated in a programme organized by an NGO, ECHO, on 14.04.2001, and performed a group dance, which was much appreciated by the audience.

OUTINGS FOR THE CHILDREN IN THE CHILDREN’S HOME :-
Sue Condos took some of the Ashraya children for a picnic to a Water Park on the 27th of March, which was quite an unusual experience for them. Barbara Munro took her small group of children for a special treat to Windsor Manor in April.

On the 15th of July the Ashraya children went to a Puppet Show at Chitrakala Parishath, organized by an NGO, Sutradhar. It was an exciting evening for the children.

The children were invited to participate in a painting competition by the students of the Indian Institute of Management on 19th of August. We are really proud that little Asharani won a prize of a watch.

Nomita hosted the children to tea on the 21st of August, at her home and they had a good time eating, dancing and being entertained by the dogs chasing Frisbees !

The volunteers from a Software House, WIPRO, took the children out for a picnic to Bannerghatta Safari Park on the 9th of September. The children were entranced with all the animals they saw.

The Bangalore School of Music invited the children to a musical show at the Alliance Francaise, on the 14th of September. They were so thrilled , they wanted to go for a second performance !
As you can see, the children have had a lot of outings and exposure to the outside world, this year.

WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS
1. On the 13th of November 2000, Parivarthan organized a workshop on sexual abuse of children , at the Spastics Society Hall. Our Social Worker, Nirmala Motha, attended the Workshop and said that it was a good learning experience for her.

2. On 21st of October Sutradhar organized a workshop on “ Design for School Improvement “ which was attended by Priya David and Tejeswini, the Headmistress of Neelbagh.

3. On 7th and 8th Nov, Tejeswini attended a skills training workshop for teachers, at Ashirwad , organized by Boyancee.

4. Our Social Worker, Priya David, attended a workshop on “ Life Skills”, on 19th of January at Ashirwad, organised by the Banjara Academy.

5. The Voluntary Co-ordinating Agency, Karnataka, organized a workshop on the theme of “ Parenting through Adoption ”, at Ashirwad on the 20th of January 2001. The workshop was for adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents. Nomita Chandy and Priya David were resource persons for the Workshop.

6. Nirmala Motha, one of the Ashraya Social Workers, attended a Counselling Course in Bangalore, from the 19th to 21st of March. The workshop was organized by the Indian Society of Health Administrators.

7. Priya David attended a workshop organized by MAYA, from the 6th to 8th of April, on “ Communications Skills ”, which she said was very well conducted.

8. Nomita Chandy, Secretary Ashraya, was invited to present a paper on Adoption , at Hampshire College, USA, from the 11th to 13th of May. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet researchers from all over the world and to get an insight into the Adoption reality of different countries.

9. Ashraya organized a small workshop for adoptive parents on the 22nd of September, with the aim of forming a support group for the organization. About 30 parents attended and we were really happy that so much enthusiasm was generated and lots of good ideas tossed around. We would like to draw our adoptive parents into a more active role in participating in all our programmes. The adoptive parents , based in Dubai have blazed a path in the past few years, of pro-actively helping the organization. We hope that, in a similar fashion, we can draw on the wealth of talent that our local parents have.
Every year we like to give our staff the opportunity to widen their experience through attending workshops and seminars and visits to other NGO’S. It is our belief that education is an on-going process and it is never too late to develop new skills and insights.

VISITORS :-
1.Ginny Bell, who had volunteered at Ashraya some years ago, and continues to support us by sending invaluable educational material for the children, visited Ashraya and volunteered for 10 days in November 2000. We are grateful to her for the gift of a special filing cabinet to keep all this material. Ashraya hosted a lunch for Ginny on the 20th of November.

2. Ms. Denise Hongel, who adopted Mary from Ashraya 14 years ago, visited us on the 17th of November 2000. She wrote in our visitors’ book “ Our daughter has blessed us for 14 years ”.

3. Mr. Harsh Wal, Headmaster of the Lawrence School Lovedale, and Mrs. Madhu Wal, visited the Children’s Home on the 22nd of December 2000 and Neelbagh School on the 21st of December. They were extremely impressed by our work.

4. Nandita Baig and Supreeth from Youth Reach, in Delhi, visited Ashraya on the 11th of December 2000, to discuss a volunteer programme. Nandita wrote, “ beautiful babies and a wonderful job looking after them - I haven’t seen such cleanliness and order anywhere ! ”,

5. Graziella Teti and a group of CIAI Adoptees, ( 30 people ) visited us on the 7th of January and had tea with us. It was a pleasure to welcome back Antony Vettori, now a smart lad of 15, adopted from Ashraya when he was six years old. Antony wrote , “ I have come back and I am very happy and I hope that all the children can find a family ! ”.

6.Valeria Dragone, from CIAI visited us on the 20th of March. Monica Lind, from the Swedish Adoption Centrum was here on the 29th of March. Myriam Avery from WACAP, came to Ashraya on the 24th of March We welcomed Teri Bell from AIAA on the 27th of July. It is always a pleasure for us to have our counterparts from the agencies we work with worldwide, visit us at Bangalore.

7. Amanda Cronkhite , US Vice Counsul for Chennai, visited Ashraya, along with Mr. Sitaram, Consul Officer, on the 13th of June 2001. She wrote to us saying, “ I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and your staff for your hospitality earlier this week. In a time when allegations of corruption flood the press, it was heartening to see the joy in your children’s eyes and to meet an exemplary group of individuals, devoted to the welfare of children. It was a wonderful visit and I consider myself honoured to know you ”.

8. Roopa and Vinay and Shivagami Blackwell, (all adopted from Ashraya) were in Bangalore for a while in June 2001 and were in and out of Ashraya. We look at these children in total amazement, that inspite of much adversity, here they are in their later teens and early twenties , self –confident, well-educated and on their feet. It reinforces our strong belief that for the destitute and abandoned child, adoption is definitely the answer, even for children who are so much older when they go.

9. Adoptive Parents, and Ashraya supporters, C.B. Ramkumar and Laitha, visited Neelbagh on the 30th of April, and were pleased to see the progress in the school buildings, which they have done so much to fund.

10. Ms. Arathi Menon, from the K.C. Mahindra Trust, visited us on the 28th of June 2001. The K.C. Mahindra Trust continues to sponsor 48 girls at the Neelbagh School through their ‘ Nani Kalli ’ programme, for which we are most grateful.

11. Mr. & Mrs. Ravi Shreedharan, now based in Singapore, visited us on the 19th of July, along with their adopted son Nimay . It really is a thrill to see these children growing up so well.

12. Rashna Imhasly, a well known Counsellor from Delhi, visited Ashraya on the 19th of March. Rashna writes, “ What a wonderful haven you have created for the helpless”.

13. Mrs. Leila Baig, President CVARA, visited us on the 17th of August. Leila observed, “ Wonderful as always, to see how well Ashraya is run . The children are alert and happy – congrats on the new building for older children ”. Praise coming from a professional in the field of adoption, is much appreciated.
14. Neena Kishan, adopted from Ashraya and now based in the USA. visited us on the 31st of July. Neena wrote, “ I enjoyed the visit very much and I would like to visit again ”. We of course would love to see her again, and many more of our adopted children.

ASHRAYA MILESTONES
1. In November 2000 we embarked on an ambitious building project to expand the Ashraya Neelbagh School, into a High School. The building contract has been given to CIEDS and Mr. Kumar , who specialize in low cost buildings. We aim to built 23,000 sq. ft. of space, for more classrooms, dormitories, a new library and computer center and workshops and staff quarters. This will be a 1 ½ year, to 2 year project and will do much to expand our facilities for rural children.

2. Ashraya Children’s Home was televised by Cauvery T.V, a Kannada T.V. Channel, in November 2000.

3. Doordarshan, Kannada channel, interviewed Nomita Chandy, Rekha our Creche Worker and two Adoptive Parents, for a special porogramme on adoption, which was televised the week through 8th of January 2001.

4. Ashraya volunteered to be a Collection Centre for clothes for the victims of the Gujarat earthquake, in February and March 2001. We were totally amazed at the generosity of public spirited citizens and groups, who donated a huge amount of clothes and supplies. Our congratulations to our staff, who did Yeoman’s service in sorting and packing all this stuff to send to Gujarat. It feels good that we could do our mite, to help our fellow citizens, so badly crippled by the earthquake.

5. The J.J. Act 2000, was passed by The Parliament, in December 2000, to come into effect on the 1st of April 2001. Ashraya has been involved with the National Law School of India, in consultations with regard to the formulation of the Act. We were also involved in the formulation of rules for Karnataka, especially with regard to the section on Adoption.

6. A land dispute with regard to our property in Neelbagh, gave us a lot of sleepless nights, earlier in the year. We managed to get government surveyors to survey the land and have demarcated our boundaries. We have also brought all our land records and documents , up-to- date.

7. In April 2001, we had a surprise visit from Mrs. Reddy, from the Women’s Commission in Delhi, investigating the Andhra Adoption scandal. It was pointed out to her that, Adoption Agencies in Karnataka and all the authorizing bodies, are functioning very well.

8. We are most pleased to have received a generous grant from the U.K. based, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, to support our Women’s Centre, from November 2001, for a three year period.

9. Ashraya’s Recognition, which was to expire on 5th October 2001, was renewed on 05.09.2001, for a period of three years, till 2004. CARA is now insisting on the State Government recognising Adoption Agencies for In-country Adoption and registration under The Societies’ Registration Act. This process is still on-going, though our inspections have been completed satisfactorily some time back.

10. Ashraya has been running an Opportunity School, as a service for children at the Government Observation Home for boys, for several years. On 16.08.2001, The State Government has sent us a letter asking us to co-manage the Observation Home, along with BOSCO, an NGO working for street children, as part of the “ Home Committee ”. This is a bold and innovative move by the State Government, for which they have to be congratulated. It brings the running of these Government Institutions, into the public domain. They will be more visible, more open and will give us the ability to improve the services dramatically. This is an important project, because it can pave the way, throughout the country, for co-operative efforts, between the Government and NGO’S, to provide better services for children in need.

11. In September 2001, we finally got a cable connection for our Children’s Home. The children are now allowed to watch selected programmes on TV. We are grateful to our neighbours Mr. & Mrs. Patell, for kindly sponsoring the monthly fee.

VOLUNTEERS
There are no words to express our gratitude to our growing number of volunteers, who do such a wonderful job for us. Whether it is teaching the older children, organizing a play group for the toddlers, or just cuddling the babies, their presence is felt everywhere at Ashraya. Our stalwarts are, Sujata Mukherjee, Barbara Munroe, Sue Condos, Karen Mehta, and Uschi. We are grateful also to Anne Marie, Anjana Pandit , Bulbul Mukherjee, Savitha, Arathi, Asha, Radha Narsimhan and Herta Bacher, for giving us some of their invaluable time. We must. make a special mention of a group of WIPRO volunteers, through their social service group “ Elfun ”, who devote time every Sunday, to come and interact with the children. Through the year, volunteers have organized treats and outings for the children ; helped them with crafts work and in short, been an inspiration for them.

Surya Vaz, Ashraya Committee Member, has been in-charge of organizing the volunteers since February 2001, and has done an excellent job of it.

Melanie Goering from Germany, a student of Social Work, started volunteering at our Neelbagh School from 6th of September. Melanie has adjusted extremely well to the rural atmosphere and simple lifestyle at Rayalpad. She teaches the children crafts work and English. Melanie is to spend three months with us. She is to be joined by Charlotte Waters from Australia, at the end of October.

Monika Rolland and Giovanna Caloiero, also from Germany, are volunteering at “ TARA ”, our Women’s Centre from 1st of October. They are helping, to run the crèche and to hold literacy classes for the women.

On the 10th of September, Ashraya was asked to have a stall at the meeting of the Overseas Women’s Club, at Windsor Manor. We showed the Ashraya film and put up a lot of our charts and material to give the OWC members an insight into our work.

Anna Maria, a new volunteer, has started some basic Spanish classes for children going in adoption to Spain. This will certainly help the children in the process of adjustment, when they join their new families. She also plans to teach some of the children Italian.

Toddlers going to Sweden., are learning Swedish rhymes and songs from Swedish volunteer, Anitha.

We were sorry to bid farewell in July to Kajoli Khanna who volunteered at our Shivajinagar crèche, for the last few years and did a wonderful job. We are grateful to her for the donation of a Fridge and some furniture.

CHILDREN‘S HOME
At the time of reporting we have 55 children at our Children’s Home. During this year we have placed 19 children in Indian Adoption and 11 children in Inter-country Adoption, of whom 9 were Special Needs children . 3 relinquished children were returned to parents. Currently we have many handicapped children at our Centre. There are three children with a heart condition, one child with Albinism, one baby with a Congenital Orthopaedic problem, one child with retinopathy, one little boy who has only one limb, one sexually abused 2 year old girl, and a child with seizures. We are most grateful to David and Aloma Lobo, and their family, who have cared for little Nisha, suffering from Ichtiosis, with much love and affection and have given her such a leg-up in life. We are still looking for a loving home for Nisha.

Ashraya’s strength continues to lie in our strong advocacy for Special Needs Children. While it is relatively simple to find homes for healthy young children, finding those “ forever families ” for hard to place children, remains a challenge. In this endeavour we are blessed at having dedicated partner agencies abroad, with whom we have had many years of co-operation. Our thanks to The Swedish Adoption Centrum, WACAP, AIAA, ADAI, CIAI and SPECIAL ADDITIONS, for all the great work they do for children.

Our placement of children in domestic adoption is growing strongly each year. We are particularly gratified that more local families want to adopt girls, rather than boys. Ashraya is a much sought after agency and families approach us, not just from Karnataka, but from other States as well, as they have heard on the grapevine, that our services are professional and our children are well cared for.

91% of our healthy, normal children under the age of five, were placed in domestic adoption this year.

Ashraya continues to be an implementing Agency, of Makkala Sahaya Vani and we have a separate space to house these children. In this year under reporting, we have returned 29 lost children back to their families. It is creditable that our Social Workers and Staff, contribute a great deal to this success story.

In an attempt to further improve our services, we are most happy to have the help of Ms. Priya Rao, a Special Educator, who comes in twice a week to help to stimulate the younger children. The marked improvements seen in some of the little ones, bears testimony to her skills. Priya is attached to the Spastics Society of India.

We now have two new advocates working with the Adoption cases. Mr. Appiah and Mr. Vishwanath. Both are senior advocates, who have quickly learned the nuts and bolts of the Adoption process. Mr. Appiah is also fighting our battle in the Karnataka High Court.

Ashraya had our first confirmed HIV positive baby, little Monisha, a beautiful little girl. We are happy to say that we have been able, with the permission of the Juvenile Welfare Board, to transfer her to Deena Nilaya, a very well run Home for HIV positive children.

Our outreach programme, supported by A.C, has been quite effective thanks to Chitra. She and Suma, from our Women’s Centre, have travelled extensively around Karnataka and oriented organizations, hospitals and Nursing Homes, about our work. MOC have transferred 3 Special Needs children, to our Home.

We are grateful to Dr. Krishnan, our visiting Pediatrician, for keeping our children in general good health, apart from an outbreak of chicken pox in January 2001. As the hospital services, specially in the NICU, at Manipal Hospital, became unaffordably expensive, we have now started to use the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital, a very well run government hospital.

The fact that we were getting really low-birth weight and premature babies through Makkala Sahaya Vani, weighing as little as 750 grams, necessitated the change, as long - term hospital care was required.

We are grateful to Vishwas and the volunteers, Dr. Uttara Vidyasagar and Anna Chandy, for free counselling services for children. Uttara and Anna come in to Ashraya every Tuesday and have helped to give us special insights into the children’s problems. They have also had sex education sessions with the older children, which have been most helpful.

We have as many as 120 donors, who support our Children’s Home, to whom we are most grateful. We are particularly grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Lykes, who have given us a large donation from their trust, which is earmarked for buying furniture for the Neelbagh School. Also to Mr. & Mrs. Vikram, for a generous donation, which we will use to improve the living conditions in the Government Observation Home. Many people have given lunches and celebrated birthdays of their children, at Ashraya. We thank them for their generosity.

We were most touched to receive a donation from Mariah Goyanechea, one of the children adopted from Ashraya. She has raised this money herself. We have used the funds to cover our verandah and now have a nice play area for the toddlers and small children and a small waiting area for visitors.

A new teacher, Sumati, has been appointed to teach the children, on 16.07.2001.

Meenakshi, mother of Roopa and Vinay, has been appointed as House Mother on 1st September 2001.

Musters were done during the year for all our projects.

WOMEN’S CENTRE
Currently we have 14 women at the Centre and 5 children.

Since October 2000, we have had 25 referrals of women and 15 children to our Centre. This year we have seen a new phenomenon, of well-educated young women seeking our help. Our Superintendent, Suma, has used her initiative, to find good placements for all the women, in keeping with their skills and education. 16 of the women have left the Centre and have been able to stand on their own feet.

The Creche looks after the children of the women in the Centre and also provides a service for children from the village nearby. Pushpa, our Creche Worker is managing well with the children.

Extensive renovation work and painting was done at the Centre this year.

We had one extremely difficult case this year, of a young women, living with a well-connected lawyer, from whom she was trying to flee. Though she left the Centre of her own accord, we have been harassed continuously by the man and his highly connected friends, to disclose her whereabouts. Our staff were seriously threatened and we had to file a police complaint.

CRECHES
The Creches we run are located at Shivajinagar, Jayanagar, Koramangala and the Electronic City. We continue to get support from the respective Builders and Developers, to run these crèches, for which we are most grateful. At any given time, we are able to help about 150 children. through this programme.

8 Children of construction workers, studying in our crèches, joined the Neelbagh School as resident students, during this year. We are happy to be able to provide them with some long - term education.

We celebrated the New Year and Independence Day, at all the Creches with gifts and special lunches. The children show-cased their talent and put up a good variety entertainment this year, as always.

We thank A.C. Dalarna and Hebbel Schule. for contributing to support this project.

NEELBAGH SCHOOL
The Head Mistress Tejaswini, resigned on Health grounds on 20.06.2001. We appointed Mr. George D’Souza on 10.07.2001, but had to ask him to leave during the probation period. The Managing Committee decided to appoint Mr. Raghavendra as Headmaster of the Junior School, on 1st October 2001. He has held charge of the school in-between Principals, twice and managed to run the show quite competently.

We will have to appoint a Principal for the senior school, when the new buildings are ready, by the middle of next year.

We have applied for Recognition of the High School at Neelbagh for classes 8-10. The inspection was completed in October, and we hope for a favourable outcome, as the BEO has given us a good recommendation. This year will be a testing time for us, as our first batch of 7th class students will sit for a public exam.

We now have 17 teachers and staff at Neelbagh and 147 children, upto class 7. 58 children are in the residential school. We had 28 new admissions this year.

We have managed to renovate the boys hostel, one of the staff quarters and one class-room, completely. We are aiming to renovate two more class-rooms and the girls hostel in the next couple of months. The buildings are now 35 years old and badly need a facelift.

We are grateful to the Rajasthan Association, which donated 50 thalis and tumblers for the school. The gifts were accepted by Priya David from the Chief Minister of Karnataka at a function organized by the Association.

We celebrated the schools Founder’s Day on the 14th of August, in memory of David Horsburgh’s birthday. A sport day was organized to mark the occasion, in which the children and teachers participated with great enthusiasm. They were divided into houses, which gave them an additional impetus to win laurels for their teams. We were very pleased to welcome Radhika Herzsberger, Director Rishi Valley School, as our Chief guest. Also her husband Hans, Rajan and Anu Chandy, teachers at Rishi Valley, The bursar Mr. Shailendran, the Panchayat Secretary and the village accountant. The children were treated to a special lunch. A variety entertainment followed, which was watched by parents of the children with unabashed pride. Tea was served to all our visitors.

A New Year Party was held in the school in January and was marked by a special lunch, individual gifts for each child, and a variety entertainment. We are grateful to ICARE for sponsoring this function

We are deeply grateful to CIAI for sponsoring 107 children in the school ; to ICARE for a generous monthly donation ; to the K.C. Mahindra Trust and to individual sponsors, who help us.

OBSERVATION HOME
We have two teachers at the Observation Home, to run the Opportunity School. The teachers have managed to win the hearts of the children who have turned to them for help, whenever they have needed it . With these inputs we have been able to successfully move the State Government, to improve the conditions in the home. There are 50 –70 children in the home at any given time.

ADMINISTRATION
All the Ashraya projects are administered through the collective leadership of a small and cohesive team, comprising of :

Rama Ananth - President , Ashraya
Nomita Chandy - Secretary
Sumati Satish - Treasurer
Shanthi Chacko - Member
Surya Vaz - Member
Sumathi Subbiah - Member
Ulka Serrao - Member

All the members have specific roles and functions within the Committee.

The Committee is grateful to all the Ashraya staff for their dedicated work during this year. We are particularly happy with the performance of our key personnel, Priya David, Nirmala Motha, Suma, our Accountant Anuradha , Chitra and Sharmila.

Ashraya now has a total of 59 staff for our various projects.

We have had 5 Committee Meetings during the year. The Ashraya AGM was held on the 4th of November 2000 at 11 a.m.

We would like to thank Mr. Anil Chinniah for continuing to host our Website at www.nriol.com/ashraya. This is a point of referral for NRI families wanting to adopt ; for volunteers and those who support our various programmes.

We would also like to extend our grateful thanks to auditors M/s. Panth & Co, for doing a painstaking audit of our accounts, free of charge.

STAFF
ASHRAYA STAFF

1. Priya David , MSW - Social Worker
2.Nirmala Motha, MSW - Social Worker

CHILDREN’S HOME

3. Chitra - M.Sc. Child Development - Coordinator Outreach Work,
4. Rekha - Creche Worker
5. Sumati - B. Sc. - Teacher
6. Sharmila - Office Assistant
7. Meenakshi - House Mother
8. Vijaya - Cook
9. Thilaga -               }
10. Shantha              }
11. Shanthamma       }
12. Gunasheela         }
13. Yellamma           } CARE TAKERS
14. Sharada             }
15. Pushpa               }
16. Jacintha              }
17. Theresamma      }
18. Sara                  }
19. Lakshmi            }
20. Gowaramma     }
21. Gayathri            }
22. Martha              }
23. Prabha - Part-time cleaning lady
24. Alfred - Office Boy
25. Sridhar - Driver
26. Thimmiah - Part-time gardener

PART –TIME

Dr. N.V.S. Krishnan - Paediatrician
Ms. Priya Rao - Special Educator
Anuradha - Accountant

NEELBAGH SCHOOL

28. Mr. Raghavendra - Headmaster Junior School
29. Varalakshmi
30 Shivamma
31. Shankar Reddy - Crafts
32. Nagaraju
33. Uma Devi
34. Pushpalatha - teacher cum house parent TEACHERS
35. Manjunath - teacher cum house parent
36. Chandrakala
37. Yashoda
38. Rukmini Bai           }
39. Narasamma           }
40. Gangapamma         } SUPPORT STAFF
41. Reddamma            }
42. Gangulamma          }
43. Raja Reddy - Driver           

CRECHES :-

44. Rani
45. Balaneela
46. Ratna
47. Shantha            TEACHERS & CRECHE WORKERS
48. Sudha
49 Jamuna
50. Kanthalakshmi
51. Pushpamma
52. Anusuya
53. Rani
54. Rohini

WOMEN’S CENTRE

55. B. Suma M.A. Sociology - Superintendent
56. Pushpalatha - Creche Worker
57. Gowri - Creche Helper

OBSERVATION HOME

58. Seshavathi - Teacher
59. Sashikala - Teacher

Number of children served by Ashraya
Children’s Home                       - 55
Neelbagh                                 - 147
Observation Home                    - 50
Women’s Centre (Creche)         - 20
Creches                                    - 130
                                                ------
Total                                           402
                                               -------

Number of women served by Ashraya - 14

CONCLUSION
Next year we celebrate our 20th Anniversary. It is difficult to take on board that these 20 years have gone by so fast ; it seems like yesterday that “ Ashraya ” took shape in our minds and hearts and that Rama, Shanthi and Nomita are still here, steering the course of the organization .

Our big challenge will be in finding good and experienced staff for the Neelbagh and the prestigious inauguration that we plan to hold for the Neelbagh High School, next year.

We feel greatly inspired by the Government’s trust in assigning us the difficult task of running the Government Observation Home. We shall take this job on as a real challenge.

We hope to lend our shoulders to sorting out the Adoption mess and to work with other good organizations in the country, to see that the Adoption work is done ethically, within a reasonable administrative framework, in a time bound fashion.

BANGALORE
OCTOBER 2001