The more Latha smiles, I suspect she is hiding something. But she doesn’t spill her worries out. Her pleasant demeanour and the enthusiasm with which she talks about “her girls” do not reveal the tough time she is going through.
She only talks with pride about her four girls who are first rank holders in school. Another girl who scored high marks in class XII board examination last year; Another girl who can hold anyone captive with her melodious rendition of devotional songs; And one whose drawings and craft work have won appreciation; And another who clings on to her in sleep; The three who got married; And how much she misses the five girls who have shifted to college hostels now. Latha spiritedly lists some high point in each of her 34 girls.
People may know her as the “adoptive” or “foster” mother but quintessentially the 36-year-old Latha is “a mother” at heart. “Please do not call my place an orphanage,” she pleads. “It is our home where we all live like one big family,” she says.
Inside the two-storeyed building in Samayanallur lives this happy family consisting of Latha and her husband Ramesh Kannan and their eight-year-old son, Naveen Shakthi Prabhu with his 29 sisters, aged between five and 19 years. Latha brought them all over from broken families. “Most of them are from my village Chaklipatti near Thiruparankundram because people here know me and trust me. They handed over these girls to me because they were confident that I will give them a better life,” she says.
Involved and responsible So what made Latha take on this unusual task. “It is not a job,” she immediately responds. “It is a service I enjoy. I am totally involved in and responsible for bringing up each of them as my own daughter,” she adds.
She feels by providing good education and creating job opportunities, she can make the poor, orphaned or semi-orphaned girls confident of living. “Love, security and education are their essential rights and it will give them the confidence to thrive in and contribute to the society”
Latha can’t really offer a reason for what she does but remembers as a college volunteer she used to take adult literacy classes in villages and also visit a children’s home in Nagamalai Pudukkottai. “I loved spending time with the children there but always returned sad wondering about their future.”
She came across some foreigners who were impressed by her friendly nature. One day, a French man offered to help her with funds and the first thought that flashed in her mind was to help the poor and needy girl children. But nobody would give their daughters just like that to a stranger. So she picked up four girls from her native village and registered the Sakthi Trust in 2002. She became their “Amma” taking care of every need. Two of them are in college now and other two are in class VII and XI.
As word spread about her good care, more families started bringing their daughters to her. Over the years, the number rose to 35 and Latha with her husband Ramesh remained as dedicated to the welfare of the girls providing them with not only all living, educational and medical expenses but also lots of love and personal attention. “Just as a good parent would do,” says Ramesh. Latha acknowledges the financial support she got from the French national and emotional support from her husband.
Committed Following the global economic recession, the foreign funding stopped two years ago. “But we can not leave our girls because the money is drying up,” say Latha and Ramesh, committed to the girls for long term, from childhood to college until they find independence.
“We are running on savings,” says Ramesh, who works as a TNSTC contractor and puts his entire salary into the upkeep of his large family. Theirs is an inspiring story of resilience and survival. “I have faith in God. He will provide, the way he has taken care of us all these years,” says Latha. Her innate confidence and belief help her to retain the warm smile on her face.
She does not forget to remember the innumerable people who have showed up in the past few months with food, clothes, stationery, uniforms, notebooks, school bags, shoes and other basic requirements of the girls. “So far we have not fallen short of anything but have to be prepared for any emergency. There are enough good samaritans in our city,” says Latha.
If anything, festival and birthday celebrations and the annual outstation trips have been curtailed so far. “But my girls never complain. They have understood and cooperate. I was giving them the best of opportunity, education and entertainment when cash flow was easy. We will tide over any crisis,” she says.
It is Latha’s unconditional love that has kept the family going happily. She can’t forget the day when she brought five year old Chitra (name changed) when her parents succumbed to AIDS in 2004. “The little girl did not get enough to eat or could ever sleep at home with her parents on death bed. Today at 15 she is one of my toppers.”
Or the two girls aged nine and six who came to her when their father deserted the family and the mother tried to commit suicide. The neighbours brought them to Latha. Now when the mother comes visiting the Home, she cries in joy seeing them leading a better and peaceful life. “It has given the mother too a purpose to live,” says Latha.
(Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail soma.basu@thehindu.co.in to tell her about someone you know who is making a difference)
