Running FFC India costs about $25,000 to $30,000 per month. The home is located in Podanur Junction, near the city of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu State, in south India. The languages spoken are primarily Tamil, and English. We have over 300 children residing in India. The site is comprised of a number of houses, all of which are owned by FFC.
( FFC INDIA MAP )

FFC has a large Special Care Center for children who are mentally and or physically handicapped. We have a number of blind girls, post-polio children, and children with a variety of special medical needs. The special needs are primarily health issues such as being HIV positive, speech problems with repaired cleft lips, mild cerebral palsy, Downs syndrome, one with a disfiguring skin disease, blindness and deafness. Excellent locally hired Special Educational teachers are employed to care for these children.

As for our staff, this year we have hired an additional classroom teacher (we now have nine) and a young woman to teach dance to the Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes. We have hired the best teachers who all speak English as we feel it is important they learn English fluently as well as Tamil. Identified children also get instruction from a Special Education teacher and a Speech Therapist. Each year, our little school will grow a class bigger as the oldest group moves up a grade and new children enter the preschool. There are currently 99 special needs children attending the school in FFC India. Many special needs children spend half a day in one of the Special Education rooms.

The school children in India are currently enjoying their quarterly and pooja holidays. They had some left over paint, so the girls were asked to paint the girls' home. After the cleaning and painting, the girls were given snacks.

We now have 104 students in total in our Pre-School to Grade 5 and Special Education classrooms. The formal registration of the FFC Elementary School is close to completion - something that has required a lot of paperwork. All other children attend local Indian schools, and many are old enough to attend colleges and universities, or are in apprenticeships. Several are taking nursing. FFC offers vocational training for destitute women and certain of the older children who have not made it through the regular school system.

Above, FFC India has a new Special Education teacher, Satya Bama.

The school educates all FFC children in its preschool and kindergarten programs. Then at Grade 1, those children with families and who are physically and mentally able, attend local schools in Podanur village. The orphans and those with various special needs and circumstances stay at our school.

A water deviner was brought in to search for water, in order to locate the best spot for a new well on the property. He was successful, and a new well will be dug in the near future.

At left, a short video clip of Ramu learning to read.

Old Boys (Girls) Reunion

FFC India was the site of a big reunion on January 8, 2012. Approximately 75 of the "old boys" (and girls) made their way back to FFC from Erode, a part of Tamil Nadu that a lot of the kids originally came from, as well as other places for the reunion. With their husbands, wives and children, the total number of participants was over 250. It was great to see so many of them doing so well.

Ted, an early volunteer at FFC, has recalled that "we had a big influx of kids from Erode. There was a drought that ruined the groundnut harvest in (I am going to guess) the summer of 1982. I think that was the summer we went from 80 kids to 300, and I asked if that was enough and Sandra said don't turn anyone away (as usual), but to keep writing the sponsorship letters and that there were sponsors for all."

  A Year In India

Rani was adopted by the Ferris family, and she has returned to India three times for extended stays. This time she was there for a year and joined the teaching staff for the kindergarten class. In an email she reported that: "Two days ago Lakshmi asked if I could do circle time in her class from 2:00pm for 25 mins. The kids really seemed to enjoy me doing circle time with them so I am going to make it apart of my routine since my kids are sleeping or having quiet time till 3:00pm. The netting is done in the canteen and it looks way better now. The coop women are still working on the new school uniforms for the kids I saw some of them and they look great. Tomorrow my Kg class is supposed to put on a small program with singing, dancing we have practiced and have picked out clothes for the kids to wear. It should be fun."

At left, Rani is shown holding Brahmagiri and Harini.

Mushrooms! Yum! Yum!

The newest development at the FFC India site is the launch of a mushroom farm. At right, Rama, the head of our weaving and dyeing sections, is now in charge of growing the oyster mushrooms at the India project, as seen on the right.

At left, Rachel, who works in our office, and Mylama, our cook, are shown preparing the very first mushroom meal.

Click on the photo at left for more photos of the mushroom meal being prepared, and served to Tove Kilburn and Muriel Hemmes in our canteen.

The FFC project also took part in the event, and the children are shown in the photos watching the flag-raising ceremony, and performing in a parade.

  Independence Day

On August 15, India celebrated it's national Independence Day, to commemorate independence from Britain and the establishment of the sovereign nation of India. Flag-raising ceremonies were held across the country.

FFC India Library

Caroline Furrer is a student at Queen's University. She is studying health and hopes to work in pediatric physiotherapy. Caroline is spending eight weeks at the FFC India site this summer, working with Mukil the physiotherapist and the extra special care children. At right, Caroline is seen working with Sophika.

In the evening she has been working on organizing the library, and has sent an email from India to update the progress she has made:

Here are some of the pics I took of the library yesterday. It is really starting to look nice. I've been labeling all the books that need new labels and I am almost done that stage. Once finished we are going to put everything in alphabetical order for each of the categories that Tangarej has set.

A Volunteer In India

Meena's Story

Meena and her older sister Marriamal were brought to the FFC project in India when they were approximately four and six years old in 1992. Their parents were street beggars. The father had TB and the mother was mentally ill with schizophrenia. Over the years three more children were born to the mother; a son Jeeva born in 1993, another son Vellaiyannan born in 2006 and Roja born in 2008. A few years ago the mother was tested positive for the AIDS virus and although the last children were born testing positive for HIV they were very fortunate and at a few months old they were found to be negative. The mother was removed from the street, put on anti psychotic and AIDS medication.

Marriamal left school in Grade 8 and and went on to work in a mill and lives in a hostel close to her work. Meena completed grade 11 but failed her grade 12. She has repeated the exams. A board member found her a good goverment. job and she donated 1500 rupees to FFC from her first pay! The exciting news is that Meena has found a small house undergoing repairs and has with the help of FFC she rented it and will move there with her brother Jeeva and hopefully her mother. We paid the advance and we are furnishing it with all the essentials. Needless to say we are all like very proud parents!

At left, Meena and Jeeva in their new home.

Seventeen boys and girls, along with a teacher, went to visit and learn about the Podanur Junction railroad station. The Podanur station was established during the British era and has a long history. The children enjoyed their outing very much.

For more photos of the Podanur trip, click on the photo at right.

Podanur Junction

Kalai Sevi has sent in details of another excursion for some of the students at FFC India. A group of the students, who are currently enrolled in grades 5 and below at an outside Tamil medium school, went out on a day trip.

Art Classes In India

Ashkik Jaffer Ali is an architect from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has visited Families For Children orphanage in Podanur, India, and started "Art For All", a workshop to introduce art to under-privileged children. It will educate children who would otherwise never have the opportunity to be exposed to art.

On the first day, one group was asked to draw whatever they wanted, while another group was asked to sketch scenes from stories. Ashik planned several other sessions, covering fabric art, newspaper art, paper mache and clay art. For a great write-up of the art session, you can read an article in The Hindu.

At right, Chinna hitching a ride in Ali Cherniak's bag.

Above, Jessie listens to the teacher while thinking about what she will draw.

The children taking part in these sessions will be able to explore various artistic media and express themselves through drawing and painting. Ashik divided the children into groups, each named after an artist, and each day allowed them do different kinds of artwork.

At left, volunteer Ali Cherniak from Toronto works with Kavin.

Above, Vanessa is shown with Shakila.

Vanessa also spent time in the preschool classes, working to increase the participation of a few special care students in the class, and taking the afternoon preschoolers to play outside. During her time at FFC, Vanessa also arranged for two groups of the special care students to go see a Tamil movie and to go to the zoo, which they enjoyed very much.

Volunteer Teacher

For five weeks from February to March we had a volunteer teacher from the University of Calgary visit FFC India. Vanessa spent most of her time in the special care and preschool classes. In the mornings she worked with students in the speech therapy class on their enunciation and oral language skills. In the afternoons she assisted in the special care class, helping students individually in areas that needed improvement, such as hand-eye coordination through art.

A Visit To FFC India

Nancy Goodman and Judy Mosoff recently visited the FFC project in India. Here is an account of their visit, sent by Nancy and Judy:

Dear Sandra: As you know, we visited FFC India in November and December of 2010 for two weeks, and were so very grateful for the experience. It is a remarkable place - spirited children, a devoted staff, and a real sense of belonging. We were struck with the kindness that was given to us and the real appreciation for our very modest contribution. Here are some highlights!

We spent the majority of our time with the special needs children of Leo's House. On our last full day, we had the pleasure of taking 14 children to a movie in Podanur. The experience gave everyone an immense amount of pleasure. Although we fretted in advance about how to transport wheelchairs, this was all for naught. The auto rickshaw drivers carried most of the children into the vehicles and up the stairs of the theatre. Besides, the children were so determined to go, they probably would have propelled themselves! What they wanted was to have fun, be out in the world and to be included. And they were.

We were thrilled to work in Leo's House and we saw the tremendous potential of all of those children, the determination and keen sense of Uma, the depth of Nitya, the tremendous calm of Shivakami, the intelligence and will of Tulia. We watched a troubled boy, Rangool calmed by the warmth of human contact, soft words, fresh air, and even a quiet trip to the library.

We visited the pre-school and the classrooms in the new school. In these groups we read to children, had them read to us, and sang and danced. The children were certainly happy with the chance to show us what they could do. But even more, they seemed thrilled to let loose, jump around and have little structure. We realized that children in India work very hard in a programmed curriculum from very early in the morning until late at night, probably more intensely than most children in Canada

We also spent some time with the boys in the paper project. They were lovely people - good humoured, bright, industrious, with an incredible sense of caring. And support for each other.

We were fortunate to attend a wedding reception during our time at Families for Children. It was wonderful to see the success of FFC graduates, the camaraderie of individuals who grew up together, and the sense of wanting to give back. We met Arun who started Youth Helping Hands. He is such an impressive young man and so grateful for what FFC has given him. It is obviously more than an abstract sense of social responsibility that motivates him. His dedication to furthering the education of children and creating a good start for married couples comes from his heart.

On several occasions we visited Lawrence and the wonderful goat project. Like the spinning and bag-making projects, it is terrific that FFC provides employment to members of the local community. In general we were surprised and moved by the general level of community involvement with FFC from the use of the library to the many donations, including the very frequent donations of food. This makes FFC all the more a permanent feature of the Podanur community where people have a real investment and connection.

We also had the pleasure of several conversations with FFC social worker, Gandhi, including a trip to court in Coimbatore to watch the finalization of an adoption. We took a photograph of a happy family at the conclusion of one successful proceeding! Gandhi told us that things go smoothly sometimes, but not always, and the process can be very long. It was also great to hear such positive stories about overseas adoptions in various countries, such as Finland and the U.S.

We are indebted to long-time FFC supporter Lawlor for suggesting that we visit Families for Children. At the time he said something like "you will get more out of it than you give." He could not have been more accurate.

There was no real danger to the site, though, since because of the precarious angle at which the sleeping guard was positioned, it would still have been nearly impossible for any evil-doers to slip past him. Nevertheless, changes are underway. A new guard will be assigned to the site, and who knows, the old one may turn up at a subway station near you.

Security Breach !!!!!!

At FFC, we want our security to be at least as good as the Pentagon, but apparently we have some way to go yet. Instead of the highly trained agents we were hoping for, our guards seem to resemble subway ticket collectors. Staff and students arriving in the morning witnessed the sorry sight of our security guard fast asleep, apparently as a result of a few too many drinks the night before.

Sheila's Visit To India

Sheila Casgrain spent a week visiting FFC India, and has sent along this account of her trip:

Dear Family and Friends

Here I sit in the lap of luxury at the Rusacks hotel in St. Andrew's, Scotland. It's time to sit and reflect on my week in Podanur, India at the Families for Children Orphanage. The world is full of contradictions. How can children with no parents/family survive and thrive in an environment of no creature comforts as we know, no showers, no toilets, one set of school clothes and one set for play, few books or toys? But these 385 children ranging in age from a few months to mid twenties, do manage and appear happy and well adjusted.

They are cared for by a myriad of teachers, staff, volunteers and their peers. I was amazed to see a grinning blind child being pulled along by a friend down a concrete ramp at quite a clip. I followed this little threesome to their next activity which was a music class led by this enigmatic,energetic man who clearly enjoyed instilling the love of dance and music to these youngsters. This little blind girl freely danced and participated in reciting her English numbers along side her six year old peers.

After our initial tour of the facilities we were free to wander the orphanage and participate in anyway we chose. A visit to the small babies was rewarded with smiles and happy sounds. The toddlers loved to clamber all over us in their excitement to get picked up and played with. The older kids loved to sit close to us and practice their English. One day I pushed Rachel, a beautiful, bright 23 year old young woman suffering from CP for an ice cream cone just down the road. Any outing is considered a treat and so this small extravagance was as special for me as for Rachel.

Two buses were ordered so we could take 40 boys and girls off to Black Thunder, a waterpark an hour and a half away. It's truly amazing how well behaved these youngsters were. No pushing or shoving, only cooperation especially when a child needed help getting onto a boat or a slide. They so enjoyed the freedom of cavorting in the water fully clothed as is the custom. We volunteers joined in the fun too. Going to the movies was organized for a small group of very physically challenged young adults. Wheelchairs were left behind so the individuals had to be carried into the theatre one by one. Everyone laughed and clapped and danced in their chairs to the music. Ice cream was the treat at half time of the three hour long show.

On my second day, there was much excitement when a buffalo cobra was found near the office. A snake catcher was called in to capture this sacred creature, but first he had to make a stop at the temple to be blessed before he could begin. After pulling the reptile from an ant hill he proceeded to extract the venom by placing a piece of wood in its mouth being very careful not to touch any of it. This 10-foot long creature was then lowered into a sack for careful removal to a location out of town. Killing a snake is considered bad luck!

Will I go back to visit Families for Children Orphanage again? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do know that I have a great deal of respect for the way this orphanage is run. These children are cared for in a supportive, caring environment. They are fed, clothed and given an education. They have been given a home and family, different from my expectations of what a family is, but none the less a home, where they are treated with respect for who they are regardless of their special needs. It's been an amazing journey which I shall ponder for the rest of my life. How lucky am I for being surrounded by a loving family and friends? Thank you all for your financial support in helping Families for Children and for encouraging me to see for myself how others less fortunate than me can live happily with so little.

Much love,