Further Education Students
Several of our oldest children have graduated from intermediate college, and have gone on to higher education at degree or diploma level. Here are dome of their stories. Rambabu is going to study engineering, Kumaraja wants to become a lab technician, Chittababu is studying for a diploma in fashion technology and Chinnari is studying nursing.
Rambabu
Rambabu came to stay at the home around six years ago with his younger brother. His parents were both suffering from AIDS and approached Dr Premdas to see if he would care for the boys after their deaths. Premdas took the boys and their parents in. Sadly it was only a few days before both parents died in the Home.Rambabu has now completed his schooling and is now at local engineering college. Hopefully he will be the first of many of the children who now have an education which will give him the chance to find work which will enable him to support himselve once he leaves the Home. Rambabu, along with the other older boys is very much 'Anna' (big brother) to the rest of the children and works incredibly hard at the Home-cum-School looking after the others as well as devoting time to his studies. Naturally we are all incredibly proud of him and his great success.
Kumaraja
Kumaraja is the first in his family to complete school and go on to further education. He comes from a family of labourers or ‘coolies’ and he is the youngest of three. His brother is a coolie, his sister married at the age of 15.
Kumaraja was born with polio, and struggled immensely to walk. He came to the Light of Love Home when he was eight years old and remembers well the first visit of Gillie Davidson and her Scottish team. In 2005, SLA funded corrective surgery for Kumaraja’s polio. Kumaraja says:
Chittibabu
Chittibabu is one of five children. His father was a fisherman until he had an accident. His mother is blind. He explains village life. “Most poor families skip education and earn money through child labour. But there is no governing body to stop this happening, they just sit in their office and take their salary,” he says.
To cover the cost of his three sisters’ marriages Chittibabu’s father borrowed money at a high rate of interest. Then his brother’s marriage was arranged. “We also took some dowry money to get rid of some of the debt from our sisters’ marriages,” Chittibabu explains.
Having passed 10th class and completed an intermediate course in commerce, Chittibabu is now studying a fashion technology degree. He says:
Chinnari
Chinnari is the youngest of six daughters. Her father works as a wage labourer usually earning less than £1 a day. The family could not afford a full education for all six daughters. Chinnari wrote a letter to SLA. “In India it is very hard to bring up a girl child. Nobody wishes to have a girl child,” she writes. “My father was always trying for a boy, which actually happened after his third daughter. My mother gave birth to twin boys, but they died within an hour. My father stopped trying after me.”
With SLA’s support Chinnari completed her intermediate college course and is studying to become a nurse. She says:
