It is a home for women and children when the husband is no longer in the picture (dead, abandoned them, etc...). It gives these people a second chance to get back on their feet instead of ending up poor and on the streets.
They also have about 30 orphans there and some special needs children.
They support these women and children for 5 years. In this time they feed and educate the children and they teach the women a vocational skill (shop keeping, embroidery, etc...) The women receive pocket money, half of which they can use for themselves and their children, half of which goes into a bank account for them so that they have some money to kickstart their new life once they leave SSPP.
They currently have about 120 women and 300 children living on the campus.
Our guide, a highly articulate bright young man named Prodip, revealed that he grew up at ShiShu Polli Plus and now he works there! It was so nice to see how a place like this can allow children to grow up into extremely intelligent, compassionate people.
They have sleeping rooms for the various age groups, school rooms, dining halls, gardens where they grow the vegetables they eat (we even saw a black pepper tree! And a papaya tree!) as well as a pond where they raise the fish they eat!
At ShiShu Polli Plus, they also make homemade paper which they turn into beautiful greeting cards. These cards are decorated with embroidery, bamboo.... they are really lovely. They even had a writeup in a UK newspaper calling them the best Christmas cards!
If you would like to check out this place (and order some cards for next Christmas!) you can check out their website at http://www.sreepurvillage.org/
Everyone there was so lovely and friendly. It was worth 2 and a half hours each way on CRAZY bumpy roads and dusty dusty air. :)
Some of the beautiful kids at ShiShu Polli Plus
Prodip showing us around their gardens. He is a perfect example of how a child growing up at SSPP can grow up to be very bright and articulate!
No comments:
Post a Comment