... there seems to be progress
I have recently returned from a visit to India which included a few days with Thirumaran and his family to discover more about the Children's Homes at first hand. I was travelling with my daughter Emily and a cousin.
The crisis at the Girls' Home
(if you have not read about the crisis, please read this earlier article)
While I was staying in the village (the timing was a coincidence!), the Deputy Director of Social Defense from Chennai came to have a meeting to discuss the letter he had received from Thirumaran, following the actions of the local Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the District Child Protection Officer (DCPO). There was a positive meeting between Thirumaran, the senior official from Chennai and local officials. The expectation is that there will now be progress towards re-opening the Girls' Home.
The registration will have to be renewed and there will be some conditions attached to that, one of which will probably be a requirement for a solid wall around the whole of the campus. This will cost money but I hope it will not be an impossible cost.
Whether the girls who were removed to other, government run, Children's Homes will be returned to TRUST is not yet a subject for discussion.
It was very sad, particularly for Thirumaran, to visit the empty campus, but it is ready and waiting for the authorities to allow the Children's Home to reopen!
The Boys' Home
We were welcomed by the boys to their home. It is four years since I was last there just before the pandemic, and it was wonderful to meet them all once more. Children grow up a good deal in four years!
We officially opened the new dormitory space that had been required (please read the earlier article!), which involved cutting a ribbon, unveiling a stone, thanking the builders with small gifts and a fire to heat milk until it boiled over. There are 18 boys at the moment, including three in the 18+ Hostel. There was a lovely atmosphere and, as always, all the boys were clearly supportive of each other. We were shown around and played games!
Thirumaran, the community activist
We experienced two of the other ways in which Thirumaran is involved in the local community. Emily and I first visited a large girls' school in the nearby town of Pavoorchatram, along with the local press, to raise the profile of the school and to encourage them to be involved in Thirumaran's tree planting and seed-ball projects. We spoke at their amazing morning assembly to over 1600 attentive girls! We then spent time at TRUST-India School, a much smaller English medium Primary School run by Thirumaran's wife, Shanthi, in their local village. There we met the migrant, brick-kiln, children who Thirumaran has been supporting - although much of the migrant labour has returned to Bengal at this time of year so there were only a few migrant children in school.
Thirumaran's family
For the first time in many visits Thirumaran's three children were all at home while we were there and it was wonderful to catch up with them. Tamil Aruvi, a girl, has trained as a doctor and has been working as a junior doctor in a local hospital. It is probable that she will be married soon and will then move to her husband's extended family. Aaekalaivan, a boy, has trained a a dentist and has now opened his own dental clinic in a nearby town. He has also been providing free dental health advice and check-ups (they call them 'dental camps') in local schools - his own community action. Nannan (the boy who came with Thirumaran on his last visit to the UK) is now 20 and is doing a Chartered Accountancy course. They all speak good English and it was lovely to be able to chat with them about their lives and hopes.
