Voice of Hope N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E H O P E H O U S E

April, 2015

“Rights of every man are diminished when

the rights of one man are threatened”.

John F. Kennedy

Often we come across individuals that leave their

fate and future to the destiny without ever realizing

the inner potential in them. It is believed that all of

us are made to be resilient enough to fight to reach

greater heights but only a few tread that path

because it is easier not to.

In this edition of ‘Voice of Hope’, we are featuring a

young lady - ‘Radhika’, who was put to test at a very

young age to choose between destiny and desire and

she chose the latter. Rest is history.

Radhika was the only child to her illiterate parents

but her father abandoned them when she was a little

girl and she was living with her sickly mother. When

things got tough at home, she decided to do

something to support the family – she went to work.

Often she skipped school and began to work at a

construction site carrying bricks. Sometimes she

used to work as a maid in houses only for a square

meal. At times she used to graze her goats. But in

midst of all this, she only thought “if only” many

times and that day never came, at least that’s what

she thought.

Noticing the plight of her family, the school

authorities wanted something more – make Radhika

to fish than to give her a fish. They called the Social

Worker of CHAD hospital and sought their help to

find something more concrete for her. Mrs. Gifta

Augustine was the Social Worker who made the

home visit and contacted the Hope House for a

placement. After all the formalities were

completed, she was admitted to the Hope House

in 2012 while in 9th grade.

Very quickly Radhika learned to make use of the

opportunities and started excelling in studies.

Passed 10th grade with almost 70% marks and

took pure sciences in high school.

Today, apart from excelling in academics,

Radhika can engage in English conversations

and undertake many leadership responsibilities.

She wants to pursue a career in nursing at the

best nursing college in India (ranked # 1) –

Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore in

2016.

Every time she goes home for holidays, she

comes back with a heavy heart to see her former

classmates drop out of school and some even

being given away in marriage. She speaks out

against the ‘child labour’ and wants to do her bit

to the society.

Looking at her confidence today, we can only

marvel at this young lady’s great transformation

that is aspiring to make this world a better place

for some, tomorrow. Credit for her

transformation must be given where it is due –

staff and supporters of the Hope House. Write

to Rads and encourage at her email address at

radhika20140619@gmail.com

Gran Transformación

On day 1 at the Hope House

ROJA – our “Child of the Month”

Aura of positivity is highly prevalent in the

Hope House. Be it staff encouraging children or

children encouraging each other to do well in

whatever they attempt to do. One such activity

is to recognize a girl each month with an award

called “Child of the Month”. This recognition is

based on observing the child’s activities and the

inputs given by all the staff members before

inviting a guest to give away the prize (a

certificate, citation and Rs. 100/-).

Roja (fondly called by all of us as ‘Rose’) is been

recognized as the ‘Child of the Month’ for the

month of February.

On March 3rd 2015, we had invited the District

Child Protection Officer of Vellore

(Mrs. Sivakanthi) to give away the prize but not

before our Social Worker [read the citation] on

Roja describing in detail about all the activities

that helped her to win this coveted prize of the

Hope House. We have taken many [photos]

Many names came up during the staff meeting

to finalize February’s child of the month. Roja

was described by the staff as ‘Physically Strong’

(she is a Kabaddi player and tries to stay fit),

‘Leader’ (she is our ‘Green Officer’ and looks

after the green initiatives of the Hope House)

and ‘Studious’ (she is a winner of a talent test

conducted by the Government of India that

entitles her for Rs. 500/- each month for the

next 48 months). Above all these, one quality

that set her apart from others and swung the

prize in Roja’s favour was her ability to learn

the concept of forgiveness. We are very proud

of Roja because many girls want to follow in her

footsteps now.

‘weltwarts’ volulnteer from Germany

The word ‘weltwarts’ in German means ‘towards

the world’ and it is the name of the program of the

Ministry of Economic Cooperation and

Development (BMZ) of Germany to promote

volunteerism. Under this program youngsters are

encouraged to spend some time in the developing

world volunteering to learn valuable life skills.

1. All employees must sign child protection

policy document.

2. CCTV camera coverage 24 hours a day

3. Solar power plant to support during the

power outage times in the nights.

4. Security Guard

5. Empowering Children about security using

common sense approaches

6. Monthly Children’s Meetings with no adult

interference to report incidents of abuse

7. Children-Family-Staff meetings every three

months

Read a recent write up about what an

American writer/ poet has to say

about the Hope House here

Hope House entered into

an agreement with BMZ

through their

intermediary (DIZ) and

received our first

volunteer (Ms. Larissa

Ahlers) on February 4th.

Thanks Liz for choosing

the Hope House.

What child protection measures do you

follow at the Hope House?