Good things have happened at Little Acorns this month of March and we are hoping for even better in coming months
The number of children attending the Shelter has increased steadily. We believe this is due to the hard work and regular visits to families in and around Calangute. We even have children coming from the neighboring villages of Arpora and Nagoa and Sinquerim. It gives us tremendous satisfaction to see the joy on the faces of these children when they have had enough to eat, clean clothes to wear and when they are in the midst of their friends enjoying childhood.
Great things have happened at Little Acorns. The first is that Nagamma’s operation took place towards the end of March. She looks stunning now compared to what she was when she came to us about two years ago. We thank each and every one who had donated towards giving this girl a beautiful face and a normal life. A special thanks to Dr. Ajith Kadam who did not charge a single Rupee as his fee. Thank you Doctor, God bless you. Danush has worked hard to reach out to more children and encourage them to come to the Shelter. As a result many more are coming and many other medical cases have come to our attention and El Shaddai is in the process of assisting in their treatment. The Samaritan Purse gifts were distributed and children beamed with happiness. They prayed for the ones who sent them the gifts from across the seas. Danush our fieldworker took a few days of leave to attend his sister’s wedding. He will be returning shortly. Johnny has been assigned the added responsibility of coordinating the three Day Care Night Shelters. He went meeting the staff and gave advice and directions on how to make the running of Shelters more efficient. We know he will be an excellent coordinator.
The staff too has been involved in various activities. Kamal and Pinky attended a care-givers workshop where they were given some great information on how to handle children in various developmental stages. They say this workshop has helped them tremendously. A parent staff meeting was held and Colonel Thomas (Retd) came and spoke on issues of children and women. The parents were also spoken to individually along with the child. This helps them to look after the child more efficiently during the summer vacation when they go to their own native villages. Importance of education was stressed as well as hygiene. Most of the parents attended and were entertained by the children. They sure make the staff proud with their performances. Most of the parents stayed back to thank the staff individually for making a great difference in the lives of their children.
The exams have begun and soon the children will go on vacation. We will experience a drop in number of children attending as many will go to their native villages. Arrangements have been made to seek admission in schools for other children who come to Little Acorns and response from school authorities has been encouraging. Little Acorns being in an area frequented by tourists we know that many more children are out there who need our assistance and we hope we are led by the good Lord to be of assistance to them.