Orphanage at Podanur

Families for Children is a non-profit run by three women from Canada. Sandra directs the housing, Susan the education and Sarah the health care. The orphanage is quite large and has about 150 high needs special children -- cerebral palsy, club feet never treated, and other serious physical ailments. There are also 300 other children that live there that go off to school each day. Everyone seems content, well taken care of, but the tri-management system means things are not always coordinated. They do have a computer lab that is much older and most of the machines do not work for a wide variety of reasons.

There is a lot of excitement among the teens for us visiting in February. We spent some time talking with them -- showing them on a map where we are from and they really liked practicing their English.

They have two people from Nebraska -- a brother and sister -- John and Katie that have been volunteering there for 2 years and are continuing to do so for another two years. They work with the older teens so they will be a good resource with the computer lab. Luckily, Kumaaran lives close by the orphanage and is very technologically savvy too.

We stayed in the guest house which will work perfect. There is a kitchen, 3 bedrooms with bathrooms and a very large living area. They also have a cnnteen that can cook meals for us. Very yummy food. A new type of omelet -- it is fried into a thin crepe like pancake.

We had a very lovely evening with AGK's sister/Kumaaran's niece, Kumaaran's sister, and their families. They have two girls age 8 and 12, The 12 year old was away at an overnight camp. The 8 year old is adorable and highly accomplished. She has won numerous first prizes for a wide range of things: sports, backwards walking, math, science, reading, and many more. The food was delicious and the hospitality amazing. She packed some chapati for our lunch the next day at the preserve. They also gave us a package of sweets. And Kumaaran's sister and the neices in-laws both gave us oil lamps used by Hindus for good fortune and prayer. They were extremelty kind and generous to Larry and I, We were very well taken care of!!