Keeping families happy and whole.














































A home - not an orphanage.
























































Child Welfare - Another Perception.























































Our Goal is to make women self-reliant.
























































Help us to help them.










































A Haven for women in distress.



























Every Child Deserves a Home.


Ashraya
[Introduction] [Special Events] [Workshops] [Visitors] [Childrens Home] [Womens Centre] [Creches]
[Neelbagh School] [Observation Home] [Ashraya Volunteers] [Conclusion] [News Page]

ASHRAYA REPORT 2002-2003

Introduction :-
We are 21 years old and this must signal a coming of age and maturity ! This year, in many ways, has seen a validation and recognition of our work, without us seeking the recognition. Ms. Nomita Chandy, Secretary of Ashraya, was awarded the prestigious Kittur Rani Chennamma award, on the 8th of March 2003, on the occasion of Women’s Day, by the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Shri. S.M. Krishna. This award is more than an individual award ; to us it is a recognition of our innovative and path breaking programme to help battered and abused women. The Social Workers and the Staff, steering our work at Tara, deserve all the credit for running an excellent center.

The working of the Home Committee at the Observation Home, is in a state of transition, as the J.J. Act 2000 has finally been implemented in Karnataka. The Observation Home will now house only children in conflict with the law. It promises to be a challenging time with the prospect of releasing young adults up to the age of 18, from the Central Jail to the Observation Home. The Creche programme has got a new lease of life, just as we were despairing of finding the sites to work on, because there are now other players in the field. Two new crèches were opened, taking the number of crèches we run to four. The Children’s Home is looking good after a spurt of renovation, to add on more space, which was badly needed, to house the growing number of children referred to us. We continue to attract a large number of Special Needs children who most other organizations are reluctant to take . While placing a normal healthy child in a loving home, is a source of great satisfaction, placing a Special Needs child, through the help of the wonderful organizations we co-operate with is immensely more rewarding. It is with a sense of pride that we can say, that there has been a coming of age in our Indian Adoption Programme. We have placed a child with severe Icthyosis with an Indian family, in long-term foster-care. Another family accepted a two year old little girl whose mother was certified as mentally retarded. A third family discovered that their child was mildly spastic, but dote on her and give her all the care, as they would have done with a biological child.

Neelbagh Higher Secondary School is ready and looks wonderful. We are now waiting for a date for the inauguration , as both Ms. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Minister of Karnataka, have agreed in principle to grace the occasion.

The Ashraya AGM was held on Saturday the 9th of November at 11 a.m. We have had five Committee Meetings during the year under review.

SPECIAL EVENTS :-
1.The Ashraya annual picnic, found us at the Bannerghatta National Park on the 10th of October, 2002. There were fifty five staff, committee members and children, including some of the senior staff from Neelbagh, for the first time. Everyone had a good time driving through the Safari Park and then enjoyed an excellent Biryani packed lunch. Much fun and games were had by one and all and it was a time for bonding of the Ashraya family.

2.Ms. Nomita Chandy, was one of the chief guests and speakers at a mass women’s rally and exhibition, as a special invitee of Smt. Motamma, Hon’rable Minister for Women and Child Development, on the 30th of December 2002, at Mudgere, Chikmagalur district.

3.The children at the Children’s Home, had a fun - time over the X’mas season with an in - house party on Saturday the 21st of December. One of our volunteers, Barbara Munro had organized a delicious cake and we had a grand Santa Claus in Micheal Mercy, with Ann and their children adding to the fun. There were gifts for all the children.
On the 24th of December, Mrs. Roberts and “ The Family ”, had a song and dance performance of X’mas music at Ashraya, which the children enjoyed immensely.

4. Ms. Nomita Chandy, continued to be the South Zone representative on the CARA Committee till April 2003.

5. At the annual function held by Seva Sethu on the 17th and 18th January , Ashraya shared a stall with the VC-K, to promote Indian Adoption and disseminate information to the public.

6. Nomita Chandy was re-elected as the Treasurer of the VCA-K unanimously, at the VCA AGM held on 29th August 2003.

7. The Annual Diwali party and get-together of Adoptive families and children was held on the 9th of November. In all, 120 people attended the function. The highlights of the evening were a variety entertainment by the Ashraya children, a Magic Show, a tea and fireworks. Gifts were given to all the Ashraya staff.

WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS :-
The organization remains committed to enhancing the skills of our Committee Members and Staff, through workshops and seminars.

1. For the first time Ashraya had an in-house residential workshop at “ Fireflies ” on the 6th & 7th of November for the Committee Members and Key Staff. This was facilitated by Dr. Uttara Vidyasagar and Mrs. Anna Chandy of Disha and it was titled “ Looking Back and Looking Ahead ”. It was a cathartic experience and made all of us do a fair amount of introspection about ourselves and our workplace and the organisation.

2. The International Conference organised by ICCW on Adoption was held in New Delhi from the 21st to 23rd of October. Ms. Nomita Chandy was a resource person on a Panel representing Indian agencies, titled “ Interface ”.

3. Ms. Nomita Chandy attended a Pre-conference meet on “ Children and Residential Care. “ New strategies for a new Millenium ” 9th and 10th December, at Nirmala Niketan, School of Social Work, Mumbai.

4. Ms. Nomita Chandy and Priya David were resource persons at the VCA training programme for Social Workers, South Zone, from the 27th to 29th January 2003.

5. Gowri and Nirmala, Ashraya Social Workers, were trainers at a training programme on the J.J. Act 2000 for government functionaries, organised by NLSIU at the Law School.

6. The CARA annual meeting of agencies was held in New Delhi on the 6th of February 2003. Ashraya was ably represented by Priya David.

7. Ms. Nomita Chandy was a resource person at the VCA –K orientation programme on Adoption, for medical practitioners, on the 8th of March 2003.

8. A Pre-conference meet on Children and Residential Care was held in Delhi by DCCW and A.C. Sweden in March. Priya David presented a paper on schemes for de-institutionalization of children.

9. The National Law school and APSA organised a training programme on the J.J. Act 2000, for Government functionaries on the 21st to 22nd of April. Priya David was a resource person.

10. Surya Vaz and Nomita Chandy attended a partners conference organised by the G.E. Elfun group from the 18th to 20th of April. This was intended to help us enhance our managerial skills corporate style !

11.The Karnataka State Council for Child Welfare hosted a consultation on “ Quality Institutional Care and Alternatives ” on the 21st of April. Ms. Nomita Chandy was on a panel on Adoption.

12. The University of Stockholm had an International Conference on “ Children and Residential Care ” from the 12th to 15th of May 2003. Nomita Chandy presented a Workshop Paper on “ Winds of Change in a Government Institution ” about our work in the Government Observation Home.
On the 17th of May Nomita made a presentation at the Adoption Centrum “ Roots ” seminar. On the 18th of May she presented a paper on “ Mothers who relinquish children ” at the A.C General Assembly.
The interaction with people from so many countries and meeting fellow Social Workers from India and abroad, was an enriching experience.

13. Ashraya and The Ashraya Adoptive Parents Association, organised an extremely interesting Workshop on Adoption research, on the 31st of May at Ashraya. About 40 people attended the workshop. Dr. Shobha Srinath presented a thought provoking paper on her research. Dr. Aloma Lobo facilitated a discussion on Victor Groza’s paper “ A Study of Indian families Adopting Indian Children ” . The Session was chaired by Ms. Nina Nayak, President of KSCCW. Our thanks to Pavani Ramesh for all her hard work in putting the workshop together.

14. Anand, our dance and music teacher from Neelbagh, attended a workshop of dance therapy organised by Sahayog on the 16th and 17th of August, which he found to be very stimulating.

15. Kantalakshmi, one of our Creche Workers, attended a story telling workshop organised by Sutradhar on the 27th and 28th of August.

16. As part of the training programme organised by the National Law School on the J.J. Act 2000 for Child Welfare Committees from all the districts, the field visit and training component on Adoption was held at Ashraya on 13.09.2003.
Dr. Aloma Lobo, Ms. Nomita Chandy and one of our adoptive parents Tasqueen Machiwalla, made interesting presentations. The question and answer sessions were quite lively and for many of the participants it was their first insight into adoption. This was important, considering the crucial role they will play in the lives of abandoned children, to determine their future.

17. Mr. James, Principal of Neelbagh School attended a training programme conducted by Sutradhar, on “ Quality Pre-school Education ” at Ashirwad.

18. Ms. Nomita Chandy visited Madrid on her way back from Sweden and met several of the adopted children and families. It was heart -warming to see how well the children are doing and how deeply they are loved by their families.

VISITORS :-
Barbara Knowles from WACAP, visited Ashraya on the 24th of October, after the Delhi Conference. It was a pleasure to have Barbara with us after a long time. Valeria Dragone, from CIAI also visited us on the 25th of October after the Delhi Conference. Monica Lind from the Swedish Adoption Centrum came to Ashraya on the 2nd of November. Keeping in touch personally with our partner agencies and people we have been associated with for many years, certainly enhances our work.

A group of 17 sponsors from CIAI, Italy, visited the Neelbagh School on the 27th of August . One couple were sponsoring a child in the school and were extremely happy to meet her. The Italian group were very impressed with the facilities that are being provided at Neelbagh for rural children. On the 28th of August the group visited the Children’s Home. Some of the comments on the visitors’ book were “ This institute is very beautiful ” . “ We are pleased to meet you and your children. You have done wonderful work ”. “ We are very impressed. Place is so clean so nice and so happy ….. ”.

Manjula Anbratt an adopted child from Sweden, visited Ashraya on 24.02.2003 and she wrote “ My first visit to Bangalore after being adopted. It’s nice to see the city but I don’t remember anything ”.

Gunilla Syren, the dynamic new General Secretary of Adoption Centre, visited the Children’s Home and Women’s Centre on 22.01.2003. Gunilla says “ I’m very proud to have got the opportunity to see such a nice and professionally run Children’s Home ”.

Mr. Chidananda, Deputy Director , Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Karnataka, visited the organisation on 09.10.2003 and wrote in our visitors’ book, “ Kept clean. Very good maintenance. Needs all encouragement ”.

CHILDREN’S HOME :-
Our Adoption statistics related to the period April 2002 to March 2003 are as follows.

Indian Adoption : 16

International Adoption (Special Needs) : 16

International Adoption (Normal) : 2 89 % of Healthy normal children were placed in Indian Adoption.

We have returned 23 lost children back to their families.

The children from the Children’s Home were hosted to a Fun day Sunday by the hotel Grand Ashok, on the 26th of January. Much fun and games were had by all the children.

Gowri, the Ashraya Social Worker attached to the Observation Home project, left on 10.03.2003 to join her family in Delhi. We had a small farewell party for her. Subhashini the new Social Worker was appointed in her place on 6th March 2003. Nirmala Motha leaves Ashraya on the 10th of November 2003, to get married. We wish Nirmala all the very best in her future.

The children have had a lot of outings this year. We took 8 of the older children to see Jungle Book, the play, on 30.08.2003, performed by the Bethany School children. The children enjoyed the programme thoroughly. The G.E. Volunteers and Karen Mehta have taken the children out on several outings and Surya and other volunteers have taken them to the parks nearby. This is to give them a feeling of moving outside the boundaries of Ashraya.

This was apparently not enough, as three of our little boys age 7, 6 and 5 respectively, decided to “ run away ” and have a little escapade. They left at five in the morning on the 23rd of September and in the dark managed to creep through the fence into the MEG firing range and graphically described the dummies they saw, to us. They then wandered into the cemetary nearby and got scared because they saw “ ghosts on the trees ” . They waded into a puddle of rain water and splashed around and managed to lose their shoes and got completely dirty. Their story goes that they had a ride on some ponies in a field, which they found wildly exiting . Eventually they landed up at the Gurudwara near Ulsoor Lake where a good Samaritan found them, fed them and changed their clothes and reported the matter to the Ulsoor Police Station. We were indeed relieved to find the children, who by the time were tired and hungry and quite happy to be back at Ashraya as little “ heroes ”. At least till the next day, when they got a good dressing down from Aunty Nomita.

Surya Vaz has taken charge of the classroom and has organised a lot of individual attention for each child.

Jennifer, Physiotherapist from the Spastic Society comes once a week to work with the children who need therapy and stimulation.

We have started a small documentation center on Adoption and put all our material together. Adoption Centrum has given us a grant to print Adoption Pamphlets on different subjects, to be translated from Swedish originals. We are most grateful to A.C for the help given.

We are grateful to G.E. for the donation of two computers to Ashraya.

WOMEN’S CENTRE :-
We had an intake of 29 women and 17 children, seeking refuge at the Centre. 19 women left the Centre, after spending a considerable amount of time at TARA, having got their lives together.

Nomita Chandy was a Chief Guest at a rally organised by Gokul Das Images, on the 8th of March 2003, on the occasion of Women’s Day. We were really proud and happy as the women from “ TARA ” who work in the factory, won a lot of the prizes on offer and one of our women compered the whole show, very professionally and with great confidence.

Later in the day we had a nice lunch and function at the Women’s Centre and a small cultural programme.

We are now thinking of embarking upon building a training -cum - convention Centre, near TARA, to help us to fund the Women’s Centre, once the Paul Hamlyn grant ceases. Ms. Laura Livingstone, from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi visited the Women’s Centre on 27th August 2003 and was impressed by what she saw.

CRECHES :-
We are currently running four creches and cater to the needs of about 150 children. The creches at Shivajinagar and K.R Road continue to run as before. The new creches are at two Puravankata sites, in HSR Layout and Hebbal and started functioning in August 2003. The HSR Layout creche had to be temporarily closed as there was severe flooding during the rains and the entire workers’ colony was affected.

This year we had a New Year party for the creche children at the Children’s Home, on the 10th of January 2003. 75 children came for the function, along with the creche staff and had a good time watching the magic show and enjoying a Biryani lunch. There were special gifts for each of the children.

15th August , Independence Day, was celebrated at each of the creches with flag raising, a cultural programme and a special lunch. All the Committee members spread out, so as to represent the management at each of the creches. Special sweets and gifts packages were sent by Mr. & Mrs. Puravankara for their two crèches, which were greatly appreciated.

We had an intake of 6 children from the creches into the Neelbagh School and are happy to report that these children of construction workers, continue to excel in school and make the best of the opportunities that come their way.

We are grateful to Adarsh Developers , Puravankara Builders , A.C Dalarna and Hebbel Schule and other well wishers, for all the support they give us for running these creches.

NEELBAGH :-
EVENTS DURING THE YEAR :-
The school has a new Principal, Mr. James Joseph, who took charge in January 2003. Mr. Raghavendra continues as the Headmaster of the school.

It has been an exciting year for all at Neelbagh. Mr. James Joseph joined us as the Principal of the school in January 2003. The most memorable event was the shifting of the high school children to the new campus. The new campus comprises of a block with 6 classrooms, 4 laboratories and vocational training rooms and a computer room, an office block, senior Boys and Girls Hostels, Laundry area, Kitchen, open dining room, two wards for sick children, a well equipped library, an Amphitheatre, staff quarters, 2 guest rooms, a games room and playing field and a basketball court. The children have been very happy and excited with the new buildings.

The construction cost has been approx. 240/- a sq. ft.

The old school buildings are now being renovated, one by one and the primary and junior classes are still being held there. The vocational unit of pottery and crafts is still in the old campus.

On 8th November, 10 students took part at the Taluk Level Inter School Cultural Activities. They got the first prize in the quiz competition and clay modelling and second prize in the folk dance.

On 14th November, Children’s Day was celebrated with the enacting of a drama ‘ Health is Wealth ’, by the Ashraya teachers which was set in a hospital. It was a humorous play and the children enjoyed seeing their teachers in a totally different role.

On 23rd November the older hostel children went for an excursion to the foothills of Rayalpad. It was a new experience for them, as they could hear loud echoes in the hills.

We have applied for our high school recognition, as well as the SSC code, from the Board of Secondary Education, for the 10th Standard Public Examination, which will be held next year.

On the 4th of January we had our New Year Party, where Mrs. Nomita Chandy and Mrs. Surya Vaz graced the occasion. A cultural programme was put up by the children and all the children were given gifts. Once again, a big thank you to ICARE for their generous donation for the function.

On 8th February, some of our staff and the volunteers attended a metric mela at Rishi Valley school.

The school closed for the summer vacation from 12th April to 14th May.

During the academic year of 2003-2004, we had 26 new admissions, of these six were from our crehces on construction sites.
Presently we have 122 boys and 83 girls. In the hostel we have 68 students ( 32 boys and 36 girls ) and we have 137 day-scholar ( 84 boys and 53 girls).

A Computer Centre was set up with six computers, a Printer an UPS and a Scanner, with the collaboration of VAPS Technologies. We also have internet facilities in our school. The children are making full use of the computers with great enthusiasm.

During the 2003 7th Std Public Examination, all our students passed the examination with distinction.
Presently we have 17 teachers and 7 non-teaching staff at Neelbagh.
On August 14th we celebrated Founder’s Day, for which our children performed various folk dances and songs. We also had our Sports Day, for which Dr. Uttara Vidyasagar, from Vishwas was our Chief Guest. A special lunch was prepared for the students and staff. Prizes were distributed for the sports events, as well as academic and cultural prizes for the year 2002 -2003.

In the 1st week of September 15 visitors from Italy visited our school. They were a group of sponsors for various CIAI projects all over India. They were very impressed with Neelbagh. We had a tree planting ceremony to mark their visit.

We bought a 32 seater Swaraj Mazda bus to transport the children from the villages to the school everyday, which has been a boon for children who had to walk long distances to school, or come in over -crowded autorickshaws, which was quite dangerous.

In July Ashraya acquired an additional 3.1 acres of land adjacent to the school, which has a nice orchard of mango trees. We planted a lot of other fruit trees subsequently. Our thanks to CIAI, ICARE, K.C. Mahindra Trust, and Individual donors who sponsor children at Neelbagh and make it possible for us to run the school.

VISITORS :-
Dr. Shiva Raj - Deputy Tashildar, K.G.F. on 29th October 2002.
Mr. Simon Leske from Australia in December 2002.
Mr. Prasad and Mr. Ravi from Madanapalle who are old students of Neelbagh .
Ms. Nargiz Reza from Dubai.
Mr. Malcom Gregory from Dubai.
Mr. Venkatashiva Reddy - MLA of Srinivaspur.
Mr. V. Muniappa, Cabinet Minister.
Ms. Anjolie Ela Menon.
Deputy Commissioner , Kolar.
Volunteers of G.E.
Ms. Sue Condos, from Australia.

VOLUNTEERS :-
We are grateful to the volunteers who have worked at Neelbagh and who, though they come from countries all over the world, manage to make an instant rapport with the village children they work with.

Ms. Natalie Leske from June to December 2002.
Ms. Marion from France
Ms. Kathlyn from Germany

OBSERVATION HOME :-
A Children’s Day function was held at the Observation Home on the 14th of November 2002. The Juvenile Court Magistrate was the Chief Guest,

On the 14th of October 2003, we helped to organise a gala function at the Observation Home to mark the implementation of the J.J. Act 2000. For the first time there was a Joint Programme, and the function was organized by the two Home Committees of the Observation Home for Boys, and the Certified School for Girls and Boys ; Ashraya, APSA, BOSCO, KSCCW and ECHO along with the Department of Women and Child Development . Children from all the homes put up a cultural show and each of the Home Committee NGO Members, highlighted the work they have done. The occasion was graced by the Honourable Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Motamma.

A nice lunch was organised for the children and all the participants. A brochure was brought out to highlight the work of the Home Committees.

The number of children in the Observation Home has reduced considerably, as under provisions of the New Act, only children in conflict with the law will now be housed in the Observation Home. It needs to be seen how best to rehabilitate the young juveniles currently housed in the Central Jail, through provisions of this act.

The Elfun volunteers, through their project Jagruthi, have provided two sewing machines and pay for the salary of the teacher, to give the boys some vocational training.

The children’s Bal Adalats have also been very successful, as the children speak out quite boldly and can express their concerns and problems very vocally. Vishwas volunteers continue to do the counselling on a regular basis.

We are grateful to Adoption Centre for supporting this project.

ASHRAYA VOLUNTEERS :-
We are very lucky to have a small band of regular volunteers. Their backgrounds are diverse – teachers, housewives, scientists, software engineers. What they have in common is their commitment and compassion. At the Children’s Home, Karen, Vidya and more recently. Jaya, do fun things with the ‘ under twoes ’ and physically challenged children. This provides them with the stimulation, mental and physical, that they so need. Marie and Clair help and encourage the older children with their school work. Clair, also teaches craft and Monica and Sheila spend afternoons playing indoor games with the children . Vidya helps with the reading. Rakhee has taken a break to have a baby. Volunteers from the Elfun Club of General Electric Company spend Sunday mornings with the older children. There are games, painting and sometimes a dancing class. These young, enthusiastic volunteers organize outings for the children - visits to parks, museums, kite flying and once a sing – along – at an old people’s home.

CONCLUSION :-
As usual, this has been a year jam packed with activities and programmes. On the adoption front we have had concerns about the slow movement of the cases, mainly due to long delays in granting the endorsements, sometimes taking as long as six months for one endorsement. We are also concerned with the multiple licenses that are now required by one agency and have asked for some kind of streamlining of inspections and licenses. With the formation of the new Child Welfare Committees, under provisions of the J.J. Act, we are hopeful of the process being quicker and more child friendly. All the recognised agencies in Karnataka have collectively filed a Writ Petition in the Karnataka High Court against provisions in the rules of the J.J. Act 2000, regarding relinquished children, to also be brought in front of the Child Welfare Committee. Our contention is that it is outside the jurisdiction of the Act.

Our plans for the next year are to finish the renovation of the old campus buildings in Neelbagh and to have the formal opening of the Neelbagh Higher Secondary School. Start building the vocational training cum convention centre near TARA and have a fund raising event to raise money for the project. Work towards further streamlining the Adoption process, to see that children are in family care, sooner, than later.

A SIDA evaluation is underway of our Women’s Center, Neelbagh School and the Observation Home, which is being done by Ms. Anuradha Rao.

Our special thanks to our auditors Panth & Co., ; to our lawyer Mr. G.L. Vishwanath , to all our members and staff for their untiring efforts to build up the organisation ; to our valued partners A.C. Sweden, WACAP, CIAI, AIAA ,ADAI, ICARE, The K.C. Mahindra Trust, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and last but not least to the growing number of sponsors who support our work.

Nomita Chandy
Secretary, Ashraya.

BANGALORE
OCTOBER 2003

[Introduction] [Special Events] [Workshops] [Visitors] [Childrens Home] [Womens Centre] [Creches]
[Neelbagh School] [Observation Home] [Ashraya Volunteers] [Conclusion] [News Page]

Copyright © 2003 Ashraya