orphans

When Abdul’s family was trying to find a match for him, it seemed that his union with Naima was preordained.

In a country where state and central governments have been continuously fighting against female foeticide and where one regularly reads stories about the abandonment of girl children, it is heartening to see that there is a ray of hope too.

These brides, bridegrooms and their families have probably changed the definition of Indian weddings! Let’s hope, their unusual weddings inspire many more modern-day couples to have a wedding with a cause!

'Nambikkai' takes care of children orphaned by the tsunami.

The Hope Kolkata Foundation was founded in 1999 with the sole purpose of bettering the lives of the 2.5 lakh children who have to fend for themselves on the streets of Kolkata.

As a part of an empowering initiative in Vellore, a group of girls from underprivileged backgrounds, some of whom are orphans, started their own crowdfunding pages to raise money for college education.

Manan Chaturvedi is the proud mother of 98 adopted children. And from now on, she will also be recognised as the chairperson of Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Thousands of orphaned children in India never find loving homes because the authorities take too long to declare them ‘free for adoption.’ By the time they can be legally adopted, they have grown, and prospective parents in search of newborns pass them over. Prabhavati Muthal, 79-years-old and mother of to two adopted orphans herself, has been fighting to get justice for these children all her life.

“It’s not an orphanage. It’s a children’s home and we are their parents. We are their family and we make sure we do the best we can for them,” says Shobha Kumar about a very special place called Spandana.

A toddler found tied to a post in a goat shed, a widow so traumatized she became mute, a teenager who was trafficked by her mother and stepfather – these are but a few who have escaped their dark pasts to find a home in Bal Sadan.