The Bal Bhawan consists of Residential complex, Middle School for the Deaf, Primary school for the Impoverished children.
Bal Bhawan:
This is home to 52 children who vary in ages from 5 years to 14 years of age. This has mix of Orphans, Children of Parents who are physically impaired or institutionalized for their illness, Children of very poor families, Children of parents who have shown unwillingness to look after them due to various family situations and almost half of them are children with various disabilities. These are children looking for someone to give them love and spend some quality time with them. Some kids are very talented but lack of opportunities and atmosphere is their misfortune.
School for the Deaf :
This is a middle school and has 55 students from Bal bhawan and some local students from surrounding areas. Some of the children here have severely impaired hearing and almost all are mute. They are so loving and expressive of their feeling that it touches everyone who visits them.
Government Primary school:
This is a regular school which is also present at the complex and here students from Bal bhawan and children from slum areas in the vicinity come to get education. The school has two shifts to accommodate all the students.The children of this school need lot of help in learning as the standard and teaching is not at par with other schools.
Goals for 2006:
We will continue supporting these two institutions so that these children have sense of belonging and feel they are wanted and not ignored by the society. Sahaita as organization will help all deserving children get better education and higher education as part of our commitment to the welfare of impoverished children. We are working on:
1. Creating a separate library room with its own study desks and chairs.
2. The storage rooms will be fitted with custom made cupboards for the children to be able to have their own space to place their belongings.
3. A new lawn will be made for the children to be able to use as play ground and for beautification of the surroundings of the Bal Bhawan.
4. We will continue to support effort for extra caretaker for help and sweeper and landscaper for maintenance of the lawns.
5. We will continue to do repair work as needed from time to time.
6. We will sponsor any child for further education even if they leave Bal Bhawan due to age limitation if the Child and his or her Parents or Guardian agree.
7. We will work on getting a part time teacher for extra tutoring for these children as they need lot of help in education given the poor education they are getting or extra help they need to improve the level of studies.
8. Looking at the talent these children have shown we will consider having a part time music teacher to come and train these children.
9. These children will continue to get healthcare as needed and will continue to get evaluation for health and dental diseases.
10. We will continue to provide the daily needs of these children.
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Bal Bhawan complex, Ludhiana .The deceiving view of the building can be eye catching but the inside stories are so touching and disturbing that one cannot imagine till one find time to sit down and talk to these kids. |
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Children from school for the deaf in the recreation room at the Bal Bhawan waiting for the movie about the teacher day celebration at the school. |
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Children from the Primary school at the premises waiting for their turn to watch the show. |
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Shanker is thinking what is going to be the next show on television, while Pipal singh as usual with a smile ready to see movie of the teacher day celebration along with rest of the children from Govt. Primary School. |
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Some pictures of Lohri at the Bal Bhawan:
There is a new lawn and playground made for the children at the Bal bhawan and it was finished in the month of February. Some trees are still to be planted to finish the landscape part of Bal bhawan complex. The space, which was dirt on the Bal bhawan residential compound area, has been replaced with bricks and cement to make it look nicer and safe especially during rainy season. In the month of February another event was celebrated with Dr. Rajinder Singh joining the children of Bal bhawan in celebrating birthday party arranged by Sahaita.
Children at the bal bhawan celebrated Lohri festival with Dr. Rajinder Singh and they were very happy to do this and Dr. Harkesh Singh talked to the children on the phone and congratulated them on this occasion and encouraged them to study hard for success. In the month of February another event was celebrated with Dr. Rajinder Singh joining the children in celebrating birthday party arranged by Sahaita. [click here to see pictures]
Project Bal Bhawan:
During this visit to India Dr. Harkesh Sandhu and Dr. Rajinder Singh from Ludhiana, India spent quality time with the children at Bal Bhawan and School for the deaf. Following improvements were done at the Bal Bhawan:
1. Bal Bhawan rooms for the children were repaired and painted with attractive colors keeping in mind Boys and Girls rooms.
2. All the broken windows, vents and doors were repaired and painted to give a new look to the building.
3. Rooms were decorated with matching curtains over the windows and doors.
4. New beds with brand new bed sheet sets were made available to match the walls and curtains in the rooms.
5. All the wiring in the building was made child proof and covered inside and outside the rooms.
6. Additional lighting and Fans installed in the building to make rooms brighter and for children to be able to get comfort in summer and during studying.
7. The rooms were decorated with wall mounted Inspirational pictures.
8. A special Recreational room was made with new furniture including chairs, sofa sets and audiovisual equipment. The Korean War Veterans from the Concord, California branch of the organization, donated the money for this recreational room.
9. A library book cabinet and books were provided for the children to learn and enjoy during free time.
10. New aluminum cabinet placed in the Bal Bhawan office and its couches repaired and steam cleaned.
11. Bal bhawan kitchen has been provided with extra lighting, exhaust fan, dinning and the stairs area had extra lighting put in to make it well lighted.
12. We are paying supplemental income to the caretaker and actively recruiting for extra help with care taking and sweeping.
School for the Deaf:
Sahaita has repaired the broken windows, glasses on the windows and wiring in the school also secured and made safe for the children. The rooms in school also received wall mounted inspirational pictures and educational material. A room was created for audiovisual displays for the children with wall mounted Television and DVD player. The school was also given educational material like American Sign Language books, CD-rom and DVD’s beside other helpful special educational stuff used in America.
A Teacher day celebration was organized with the help of local Lions club at the school for the deaf. Children from school for the deaf and Primary school at the Bal Bhawan complex participated in this and displayed their talent in front of their parents and the lion’s club and senior citizen home residents. Students and teachers were honored for their contributions. Lions club Ludhiana chapter has offered to celebrate such events in future as their contribution looking at what Sahaita organization as NGO (NRI’s) has been doing for promoting these facilities.
There are over 50 children at the Red Cross Bal Bhawan in Ludhiana comprising of deaf and dumb, orphans, leprosy-afflicted children and children from poor families. They are cared for by an 80 year old care-taker. They live in an area without a proper gate or any type of security. Sahaita have already added a gate to the Bal Bhawan and are currently working on getting proper care for the children, as well as building a library and recreation room.
You can read more One caretaker for 48 Bal Bhawan inmates from the The Tribune in Chandigarh.
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