Happy Children's Home

There are an estimated 18 million children in India for whom the street has become home. These children enjoy no protection, security, attention or care from responsible adults; they are forced to survive on their own, often in some of the most dangerous environments in the country. Children as young as five work as low-paid vendors or porters, or scratch a living by picking over waste dumps, looking for anything to sell for food. Many are forced into prostitution.

Although some of these children have irregular contact with their families, others are completely abandoned, orphaned or are runaways. They are subject to abuse, neglect, deprivation, malnutrition, and exploitation; they have little or no access to medical care and are often the victims of easily prevented diseases such as tuberculosis, polio and measles. They are outcasts from society: preyed upon by criminal gangs, ill-treated by the law enforcing authorities. For the majority, there is little hope.

But for a few, there is a way out of homelessness, disease and grinding poverty. Various charitable foundations exist to give these children a home, to feed and educate them, and to help them back into society. One such establishment is the Happy Children’s Home which was set up in June 2006 just outside the tourist area of Kovalam, Kerala, Southern India.

The children who live at the Happy Children’s Home are given the spirit of a family environment and we help with the physical, mental, emotional and social development of the children, while nurturing individual growth and promoting community values. The aim is to help these underprivileged children attain economic independence as they approach adulthood and to provide them with the means for a positive integration into society with a sense of dignity and self-worth, belonging, and a desire to continue serving their communities.

Since opening in 2006, we have become home for 18 children between the ages of six and fifteen from various different backgrounds. We would like to expand so that we can take in a more children. We also hope to establish an outreach project to help other children who don’t live at the home, providing a weekly drop-in centre where children can come to get a meal, some basic medical care, a bath and some academic help. Another area that we would like to expand into is helping the children that are abandoned in the City and railway station but we need to purchase our own property to enable us to do this.

Although we are registered, under the name of The Happy Charitable Trust (#74/IV/2007), we receive no Government help. Because of this we have to rely on kind hearted individuals to survive on a daily bases. It cost on average £250 each month to keep the Home running. This includes most items such as bills, food, and some school items. However certain months cost more. One such month is June, when the school New Year starts and most new children are admitted. This involves buying each child a school bag, books, etc, school registration fees, and each newly admitted child is issued with items such as bedding, sleeping mat, toothpaste/brush, etc.

There are many Children’s Homes, Hostels, and orphanages around Kerala and India. Many are only active for the benefit of the owner to ‘get rich quick’. Misuse of funds and dishonesty is also a problem at many homes. There are some where the owner lives in luxury and the children live in very poor conditions. Some owners do live as the children do but also have large houses (and bank accounts) in another area. Others only open during the holiday season and once this ends then the children are ‘kicked’ back onto the streets as their ‘job’ is done. We at the Happy Children’s Home have no luxuries and everyone lives and is treated the same. The owner does not have a large bank account or live in luxury, and lives, eats, sleeps, as the children do.

We aim to continue to help all the unfortunate children that seek our help and do what we can to improve their quality of life.

PEOPLE COLLECTING DONATIONS

Please note that it has been brought to our attention that some local hotels, taxi and auto drivers claim that they run institutions like our own. Whilst this may be true we would like to state that the HAPPY CHILDREN’S HOME has no official donation collectors (with the exception of Lenic of Cosmic Travel, Kovalam) and no matter what they say we advise you not to hand over any donations to them. Please report to us any instances of people claiming to be, so that we can report the matter to the appropriate authorities. We are not connected or associated with the Happy Home for Elders in Venganoor.

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LIVE Broadcast & Chat on THIS page......

After a very successful 1st Broadcast we are going to continue with a Broadcast every Saturday between 4pm and 6pm India time. This will enable you to view what is happening at the Home. We will also be Broadcasting special functions/days such as Christmas Day, Birthdays, etc LIVE. We could be 'viewable' at other times so please feel free to check whenever you wish. To view our Broadcast just scroll down the page. If you do not have broadband then you may find it better to go direct to our camera site (http://www.blogtv.com/People/hchome). We have changed from Smotri due to there being too much adult content. Please do give us some feedback about our BlogTV stream.

We have also added a CHAT box were you can chat when we are on-line or just post messeges. Just enter your name, click on GO, and then just type you messege in the lower box and press ENTER/RETURN. KEEP IT CLEAN!!!

CHOCOLATE BAR

I am happy and privileged to announce that the Organic Meltdown range of Chocolate has now been launched and is being sold by the Waitrose Supermarket store. The price per bar is £2.19 and a percentage goes towards our Home. You can read more about the Organic Meltdown range and see how you can not only help us but also 'save a tree' for every bar that you buy by clicking HERE. Many thanks to everyone on the Organic Meltdown team.