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Project Motto:
“Not words but deeds”
summarizes in a line what Pumpkin House
for Children Trust is all about. The rest you read is just details.
This project is a dream come true of the legal project holder Mrs.
Stella Manuel and her husband Mr. Manuel. The couple has been an
active worker all throughout their lives in some way or the other in
creating a better place to live in this world. With the birth of
Pumpkin House, a new found wings was discovered wherein they
ventured into the world of needy, parentless, abandoned kids
irrespective of their caste, colour and religion. Pumpkin House
teaches and preaches with their work and not with their lectures.
It’s a place where the smiles of children is the only religion
followed and their love is the only profit gained.
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Is this really a
beautiful world that we live in???:
By the end of
2003, there were an estimated 143 million orphans (from all causes)
ages 0-17 in 93 developing countries. More than 16 million children
were orphaned in 2003 alone. Today there are about 150 million
orphans worldwide. 8% out of the total number of children in this
world are orphans. 42, 200 children are orphaned every day and 35
million orphans reside in India alone. Less than 10% of all orphans
who require treatment receive it. About 10% of all orphans commit
suicide after their 18th birthday. 60% of the girls (ages 15-18) end
up in prostitution. 70% of the boys (ages 15-18) end up in a life of
crime.
About 90 per cent
of those abandoned are girls whose mothers cannot afford to keep
them. They face a bleak future as beggars, prostitutes or menial
labourers if not adopted. Last year only 4,000 such children in
India were adopted, of which 1,000 were placed abroad. There
continues to be high incidence of child labour, child sales and
out-of-school children, girls remaining particularly disadvantaged.
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Our Humble
Beginning. . . . |
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“Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just
sit there.” |
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And
so we started! When the Pumpkin House was inaugurated in 2005, its
inventory listed a small house, scanty furniture, nil funds, old clothes
and plenty of determination.
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Pumpkin House was, from its very birth highly determined to work, no
matter what. Determination arises from a passionate love for what you do
and it was this same determination, bathed in love that helped us
overcome inertia and just begin! And thus, began our journey from a
small yet, warm house at Vidyanagar. Housing just a small number of kids
in the beginning, Pumpkin House saw itself reaching out to orphans,
semi-orphans and needy children. We were happy not just to be on the
right track but we were happy to have begun…
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