Premkumar's story

Premkumar (the first son of Vennila, a labourer studying in our school) says “I am proud to be in nineth standard at Meikandaar School. I am happy and thrilled to go to school every day wearing neat uniform & ID card.  

In school, the new spacious  classrooms give me much space to display my work, put up words on the colourful walls, themes of the week, which improves my vocabulary. Other than studying from textbooks, I read story books in the library.  The new library is superb. It has huge windows, so there is fresh air and is very calm.

Now I love to read history books. I am slowly developing my reading and understanding skills. The student to student program has exposed me to books, autobiographies etc. In this program two students share a book and we get turn to read to the other. In this we help one another. The books tell me that to succeed in life, education and determination are needed. I am determined to give my best to study and I want to become an engineer. I am also given awareness programs in school on environment issues.  I would like to work in bio energy field and contribute to lessen the energy problem. Through our science club at school I get a chance to try new projects on my own. I can do experiments of my own and create my own project. My science teacher is very enthusiastic and encourages me to do new projects.

I have been taught to share my knowledge with my parents and friends who go to other govt schools. I am able to carry ideas and skills learned at school to my house and share it with others in my family and neighbourhood. This has made me feel happy and confident as I am helping others and contributing to other students. By helping my street mates in reading and Math, my ability to read and understand has improved drastically. Just like what we do at our school we have developed teams of students in the neighborhood and the members of the team help one another to learn better. I am the leader of one such team. I am so happy to be helping my teammates.

I will always be thankful to the teachers of the school who always took extra care in my projects and studies, because they knew we couldn’t get help from our parents for helping us with our studies. The school is my foster home. “

Marimuthu's story

Marimuthu now is a handsome and sociable teen boy. He likes to put together puzzles, cricket bowling, go for walks, play on the playground and go swimming in the local wells. In the grocery program he puts groceries away. He participates in the janitorial program where he washes dishes, and wipes off tables. He is a very helpful boy who get much enjoyment out of interacting with staff and his peers during these programs at his school. He is a very outgoing young man with a smile that can light up a room!

This young man has been described as polite, sweet and loveable. However Marimuthu  had a rough start in life. The father of Marimuthu, passed away four years back. He had terminal illness and died because he didn’t have money to get food to support a proper treatment. Marimuthu lived in a 6 by 6 feet hut with no roof, along with his mother Sivamalai who has sickness too, with his two siblings Roja and Kalyani. They lived in a in a small village Pillankulam near Perambalur, where they have to walk a lot to have any transportation, not connected with any other town or for any treatment where they have to travel 60kms to a head quarters hospital. Marimuthu now is a handsome and sociable teen boy. He likes to put together puzzles, cricket bowling, go for walks, play on the playground and go swimming in the local wells. In the grocery program he puts groceries away. He participates in the janitorial program where he washes dishes, and wipes off tables. He is a very helpful boy who get much enjoyment out of interacting with staff and his peers during these programs at his school. He is a very outgoing young man with a smile that can light up a room!

HUT took up these three kids, when they were left on streets, “I used to bring some money daily by selling fish and we used to sit and share one meal among the three of us. It is really horrible during the rain and winter when we have to sit all night in a corner. I pray God not to put me in that situation ever again” Marimuthu remembers his olden days with fear.

He required a lot of reassurance and support to feel safe in his relationships and took time before he will trust others and let down his guard.

With the House of Hope shelter’s schooling and care now, Marimuthu demonstrates strong academic potential. He is both meeting and exceeding the performance expectations for his grade level. He has evolved to be creative, imaginative, and has good mechanical and spatial ability. He is also known to reach out to with real compassion to his fellow classmates.

With our House of hope home’s educational systems, his memory, learning skills focus, and mathematical abilities, reading and writing skills grew phenomenally.  He strives to please others, and with the steady support of his caregivers, is making real progress in changing his learned survival strategies.

Marimuthu did extraordinarily well in his class XII and got a merit scholarship for a college education in commerce. Taking his past life into account, one has to say he has gone above expectations. He dreams of owning his own landscaping business one day and help children like him and becoming an auditor.