“These are my 12 children I got from the corridors of death with God’s blessings. Here we are happy and contented with the blessings of the Almighty,” a beaming Ammini Oommen said with the girls flocked around their ‘mother’.
Ammini Oommen, 57, of Carmel Mercy Home at Thalachira, near Kumbalampoika, whom the villagers call sister, is the mother, guardian angel, sister, and caretaker to the girls she had given asylum when they were infants of 16 to 20 hours.
Ms. Ammini of Kanjirathummoottil House at Mandamaruti in Ranni, who had successfully braved a deadly disease at the age of 15, had dedicated her life in the service of humanity.
Ms. Ammini, a spinster, recalled the travails that made her the mother of the 12 children from Usilampatti who, otherwise, would have been victims of female infanticide in the underdeveloped Tamil Nadu village.
She came to know about the deadly practice during a visit to Usilampatti along with a prayer group in 1999.
Ms. Ammini assured a medical team at a village hospital there that she would be happy to look after the infants, if those babies saved from the clutches of death could be brought to her in Kerala.
The first child was brought to her from Athippatti after 18 hours of her birth on August 21, 1999.
It was the beginning of the Carmel Mercy Home. She received four more baby girls from Usilamapatti in the next four months. Ms. Ammini continued to receive abandoned girl children from Usilampatti till the arrival of the 12th kid in May 2002. Ms. Ammini said she limited the number of children to 12 so that she could provide them individual care.
Now, the girls are pillars of support to their mother. They are studying at Sacred Heart English Medium School at Mylapra. Her first child, Angel Ammini Oommen, is in Class IX and was adjudged the best student last year.
“All the children are brilliant. They are well mannered, god-fearing and affectionate,” says J.Thomas, Bobby Avagama, Usha, and Sheeba, supporters of the Carmel Mercy Home.
“Sharing is a quality we have to learn from these children. Give a chocolate to one of them, she will divide it into 12 pieces,” they said.
“These girls also nurse tall ambitions. Angel wants to become an IPS officer while the others wish to become engineers, doctors, and teachers,” Ms. Ammini said.
She said the children got birth certificates from the Vadasserikkara grama panchayat following an intervention of the District Collector in 2003. They had all taken the Aadhar card.
“Giving them quality education to scale new heights in life and making them better human beings are my objectives,” Ms. Ammini said.
