Learning how to make something beautiful or useful = learning a skill that can provide essential life income. And basketry is such a skill. Ms. Karpagam Meenakshi conducted vocational classes on basket making for Hope Centers children. She also taught creative crafts, including bowls made from...
Q: What could be sweeter than a cake baking class? A: A cake baking class teaching children a skill to support themselves and their families held at a Hope Centers in Coimbatore, India. Mrs. Elizabeth came from the Middle East and brought along recipes for many types of cakes. Her specialty is a...
Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. At a recent summer vocational training class held at a Hope Centers in Coimbatore, children were taught how to recognize inner beauty and how to make everyone more beautiful on the outside as well. Long-time beautician Mrs. Nithya, taught eager girls...
Looking back with tears in her eyes, Chinnaka described the day when she first heard the news that her son and daughter-in-law died in a motor vehicle accident in which they were traveling. It was the day that she gave up singing due to sorrow and stress. Chinnaka was suddenly the full-time...
Traumatic events can happen at any time. The more frightened and helpless someone feels, the more likely s/he is to be traumatized. Victims may experience upsetting emotions, frightening memories, or senses of constant danger. Or, they might feel numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other...
When Manjula first came to her local Hope Centers less than a year ago, she was sad, silent and ignored almost everything that happened around her. She sunk low to the ground and did not know how to laugh and play with the other children. Now, she is happy, peaceful and enjoying her life in...
BPL = Below Poverty Line. This is more than just a term used in government reports; it describes the lives of millions of human beings too. Many of these are elderly people. In India, over 23 million elderly people fit this description and 10 million more are classified as...
When Krishnaveni first joined her local Hope Centers, she did not know how to read even a single line in English, and she struggled with her studies. After a year-long effort taken on by the Hope Centers mentors, Krishnaveni is able to pass all her subjects. For any event announced at the Hope...
Arunkumar (Arun) is in the 6th grade. He astonished his schoolteachers and parents by getting good scores in all subjects on his last term exams. Before joining his local Hope Centers, he had no interest in studies. Instead of studying, he used to play after school hours, simply wiling away the...
Hemalatha is currently in 7th grade. She especially loves walking to school on crisp mornings. She comes from a large household, with three siblings, her parents and her maternal grandparents all living under the same roof. Her father suffers from alcoholism and spends all of his...
Kaaliyamal is an elderly woman living in Madurai, India. After her husband’s death and being abandoned by her daughters, she lived on her own, isolated, and struggling to provide for her own basic day-to-day needs. That is, until our Hope Centers students found her and began caring for...
Maruthavalli’s father passed away when the flu hit her family’s village. Her mother, grieving for her late husband, abandoned her elder girl child and took off with her younger son. Maruthavalli was barely 8 years old when she was left behind. A villager found Maruthavalli alone in the house,...