KARUNEIPURI ORPHANAGE

LESLIE & JANET STEPHEN'S VISIT AUGUST 2007

It was wonderful to meet everyone at Karuneipuri again and we were able to visit almost everyday for two weeks.  The weather was very hot and windy due to particularly heavy rain on the western coast of India. We had a great reception; everyone seems very happy.  All the children remembered and asked about those who had visited from England with us at the end of last year.  There were quite a few new children who had arrived at the beginning of the school year in June. One of them is only four years old but he seemed settled and content.   It was good to hear about the secondary students’ successes in the end of year exams. 

A busy two weeks.

We were able to spend time with the children and staff at Karuneipuri and get to know them much better. The warden and his wife had obviously been practising their English and were much more confident in conversing with Janet as were the senior school girls who all want to visit England!  The younger children are also eager students and enjoyed singing new English rhymes and songs.

   A digital camera from England for the warden was a great hit.  He will make a photo record of children and events and send it to us regularly on CD.  We did plenty of shopping in Trichy.  Our purchases included two CD and cassette players, for use in lessons and at weekends, and new lighting in the boys’ dormitory.  Some wiring and roof repairs were carried out.

   With Moses and Savithavathy Xavier, we spent a day in Tanjavur.  Here we visited Rajamani, a former student of Karuneipuri, at a teacher training college.  She will be completing her course very soon.

   A friend in Trichy has donated a television which the children are allowed to watch on Sundays – Tamil films are very popular.

Our visit ended with prayers and good wishes to everyone in England.

The primary school.

We discovered that very recently the government has introduced a new common curriculum for standards I to IV.  This is based on individual learning and achievement at each child’s own pace rather than whole class teaching.  The teachers had attended training and we spent considerable time in discussion with them.  A big difficulty has been funding the new initiatives.  The government has supplied the teaching cards which defines the levels and content of the new system but has requested schools to provide the other new resources.  As the school at Karuneipuri is an aided school it has received only 2000 rupees for implementation compared to 14000 rupees given to state schools.  Using a generous donation from David and Caroline Cotton we were able to purchase much of the equipment needed.  This included steel cupboards, storage trays, seating mats, books and writing materials. .  The teachers are very positive about the changes and want to do the best for the children and so the new curriculum should get off to a good start. 

Building Projects.

The new bore well donated by Trichy Rotary Club has been dug and is ready to serve the new sanitation block.  Janus John, from Trichy Rotary, and the building contractor accompanied us to Karuneipuri to finalise details for building this new block.  Hopefully more news soon.  We also with them discussed the refurbishment and extension of the kitchen.  Plans are to be drawn up.

The new highway.

Access by car to the orphanage was difficult.  Road building was taking place right in front of the site cutting it off from the existing main road.  It is still not certain how much land will be taken for the new road but the bore well supplying the kitchen and the electricity supply control room will definitely be affected.  A small amount of compensation has been given but will not cover the cost of replacing these essential services.

• Posted by david.cotton on 16/09/2007.
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