Children of a lesser god

CHILDHOOD has no foreboding, said George Elliot. But this holds true only for the privileged ones who have a family. For those children living on a street mere survival is a nightmare. They have no known parents to provide them food and clothing, no brother or sister to give them security, no home to provide shelter.
But every cloud has a silver lining.And Holy Family Ashaniwas situated in Mahavir Enclave near Dwarka, brings a ray of hope to the destitute girls. It takes care of the destitute and deprived street girls between five and 20 years, irrespective of caste and creed.
Conceptualised and supported by the Congregation of Holy Family, Kerala, the orphanage was formed two years back. Sister Lilly Chirayath, the director of orphanage, along with the team of four sisters believes that a street girl too has equal right for life, freedom and growth. In Ashaniwas, the policy for these hapless girls is salvation. At present there are 25 girls in the orphanage, the youngest of them being four years old.
The oldest girl in the orphanage is 20-year-old Shilpa. She will be taking her 10th standard examination through Open School while the rest have joined the mainstream at Nagar Nigam Prathamic Kanya Vidyalaya, Mahavir Enclave, and Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Janakpuri.
Like other schoolgirls, they also go to school in uniform with lunch boxes and water bottles. Back home in Ashaniwas, two tutors have been kept to help them do homework. In the evening, Ashaniwas sways to the rhythm of a dance teacher. Sonia, who is studying in Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Janakpuri, is also doing computer course, while Shilpa is being trained to be a beautician. Besides, both are learning tailoring.
On being asked whether the girls are given for adoption, Sister Lilly clarifies, “Our girls are mostly grown up i.e. above five years and normally people prefer to adopt infants. But we do have a sponsor programme for their development and education.�
In order to help the girls find their own place under the sun, the organisation has recently bought land at Najafgarh to construct a vocational training and rehabilitation centre. The organisation is supported by the Congregation of Holy Family.