MARGAO: The Supreme Court, on May 28, had ordered district authorities across the country to immediately fan out and identify children in need of care, and provide them with basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter.
Two months earlier in Dhavali, Ponda, Subhash Bhosale, pramukh of the
Matruchaya Balika Kalyan Ashram, knew this was coming when 45 of its inmates tested positive for Covid-19, following which the premises was notified as a micro-containment zone on March 21. By the time the zone was denotified 41 days later, Bhosale mooted the proposal of throwing open its doors for children
orphaned by the pandemic — an idea that received wholehearted approval and support from its trustees and management.
Matruchayya has now appealed to people to identify children who have lost both parents, or families who have lost livelihoods owing to the pandemic. “We at Matruchaya are always ready to give a normal childhood to destitute, orphans and children whose parents cannot afford to take care of them due to genuine reasons,” said Bhosale. “Matruchhaya also lets parents take their children back home once their economic condition improves.
Matruchhaya is a social organisation dedicated to the service of orphaned, destitute and abandoned children. It has three child protection homes — Matruchhaya Balika Kalyan Ashram, Dhavali, Bala Kalyan Ashram, Talaulim, and Balika Kalyan Ashram, Margao — which together house 110 children.
Chairman of the trust Shrinivas Dempo said that the endeavour would focus on providing succour to children in cases where the pandemic has left them distraught.
“Matruchaya has, over the years, been raising children with the right kind of traditional Indian values like respect to elders, discipline, etc,” Dempo told TOI. “We have seen that during the pandemic, many children lost their parents, grandparents, etc, and the entire family fabric got destroyed. As we already had a structure in place, we thought this was the right time for Matruchhaya to step in.”
Expressing his appreciation for Matruchaya’s team, Dempo said, “Apart from finances required to support such a task, the biggest challenge lies in raising them on Indian values.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic from March 2020 to May 2021, Bhosale told TOI that seven children were placed in adoption with the help and cooperation from the the state government’s child welfare committee (CWC).
Matruchaya now plans to shift the Balika Kalyan Ashram, Dhavali, to a spacious premises 2km away, the construction of which is under way. This will facilitate more admissions, as the accommodation capacity could go up to 70 from the current 45.
Bhosale, a professor in zoology at PES college, Farmagudi, and who has been offering voluntary services at the Matruchaya, said that the organisation meets its financial requirements largely through donations. Since its inception in 1976, Matruchhaya has given 800 children for adoption. Retired professor Madhukar Dixit, a founder-member of Matruchaya, said that the latest idea of admitting children orphaned by the pandemic was a testimony to the fact that the organisation, true to its name, has always been in the forefront providing the “warmth of maternal love” to children who have been deprived of it by a cruel turn of fate.
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