Anyone who looks at Kanavalli for the first time would have no idea that she has endured so much pain in her 12 short years of existence on this earth. She doesn’t know who her biological parents are, as she grew up in an orphanage from infancy.
It’s equally hard to believe her story as she narrates how she came to live with Mariyayi, who she fondly calls her grandma.
Kanavalli says “I don’t remember when I came to my grandma’s house. My father [Mariyayi’s son] adopted me from the orphanage. He was the only child to his parents. He grew up in this village and he was married. Even after several years of their marriage my foster parents were not blessed with a child and they decided to go for adoption. When they thought that everything was going on well suddenly my mother died of an ailment. Since my father was so attached to my mother he did not wanted to marry and he wanted to fulfill her last wish, so he came to the orphanage and adopted me.
My father and my grandma took good care of me. My father was so affectionate and he took good care of me. I thought that everything was going well. However God had different plans for me. A few years ago my father met with an accident and was severely injured. Before he left this world he called my grandma (his mother) and asked her to promise him that she will take good care of me.
My grandma takes good care of me. We are only left with each other for support. I feel both sad and happy for my grandma. I am sad because she is already 80 years old and partially blind. But she does so much for me. I am happy that she is the only person who is there for me.
I have to thank God for bringing me to Tripura Foundation’s HoPE Learning Center. My teachers Ms. Sudha and Ms. Kasthuri, in HoPE Learning Center are the main source of my strength. Till recently, we were surviving only on the old age pension of Rs.1,000 ($18) a month given by the government. I wanted to thank our HoPE coordinator Mr. Saravanan for providing a monthly ration under the HoPE for the Elderly scheme to my grandma. Also I wanted to thank my sponsors for giving us a daily snack. Till last year I would not go out anywhere since I did not have a proper dress to wear, now I am happy to go out as HoPE learning center provides us good dress clothes during Diwali festival. With this help and support of Tripura Foundation, I believe that I will come up in life and will take care of my grandma.
My only prayers these days to God are that my grandma should live long so that I will not be orphaned again.”
Make a donation to our HoPE Learning Centers or HoPE for the Elderly initiatives at the button below, to help more orphaned children and elderly folks living in destitute circumstances, like Kanavalli and her grandmother. Thank you.
