Where Love Resides

Prema Vasam (prehm-ah vah-sahm), Where Love Resides is the name of an orphanage I was forunate enough to visit on Sunday. The orphanage first opened with a special child who would soon come to be named Prem, which means love in Tamil. Prem was mentally and physically handicapped and was abandoned by his family as a young boy. An amazing man named, Anto Selvyn Roy, who learned of the story adopted Prem as his own and soon founded Prema Vasam - where both love and Prem still happily reside.

The orphanage is a hybrid of children with an array of life stories. Many were abandoned, either because they were female, handicapped or simply because the family could not afford another hungry mouth to feed. Some families still maintain contact with the child, most do not. One of the most amazing stories was that of a baby girl left on the railroad tracks – we can all imagine why... She was saved and brought to Prema Vasam where she resided with the special kids. Although she was not mentally handicapped, she was physically handicapped and unable to walk. She has lived at Prema Vasam her entire life. Year in and year out, Selvyn scooped her up everyday from her bed and carried her to and from school so she could learn; a wheelchair would be unable to conquer the obstacle course of jagged Indian sidewalks and roads. Today she is a grown women, yet the founder continues to pick her up and carry her to and from school; She is now studying at one of the top universities in Chennai finishing her Master’s Degree in social work! If that story doesn’t melt your heart, it is surely made of stone.

So who are special kids? There are five rooms of children known as the “special kids” at Prema Vasam. One trait the special kids share is different severities of mental or physical handicaps. Many have cerebral palsy or other forms of handicaps which do not afford this group of children the opportunity to play with the others, dress, clean or even feed themselves. Although the center gives them much care and kisses, they are confined to life in a bed except for the few times a week they are able to trade in their mattress for a gym mat downstairs where they receive physio. Each of the nearly 70 children must be carried up and downstairs as they are unable to walk. What makes this feat even more challenging is that some of the staff and volunteers face physical handicaps on their own bodies. Despite this barrier, they ensure that somehow every child makes it to physio weekly. Although it’s heart-breaking these kids cannot live a “normal life” full of silly activity that goes hand in hand with being a child, they are receiving loads of tender loving care from a family who while may not be their own, undoubtedly love them as if they were….

The other children of Prema Vasam pass their time between playing outdoors, studying, dancing and singing (a favorite pastime) and attending school. School-aged children are sent to government run facilities, which provide cost-free education. The few children that are sponsored are sent to privately-run schools, where they will receive a more thorough education. Funding comes through a variety of sources, but like many non-profits Prema Vasam is always struggling to maintain and secure more streams of money. Thanks to a number of private donors in Italy, there are around 14 children sponsored for private schooling. (80 more to go....) Similar to many non-profits in our own countries, Prema Vasam worries the world economic downturn will dry up their funding pools once filled by now ailing Western nations. Only time will tell what the future holds in store for Prema Vasam…

Although it was amazing to meet all these special little souls, receive a million little hugs and tugs at my pants and sing the A,B,C’s, one memory that will always remain with me involved just one child. He was a special child by Prema Vasam standards. I do not know his name, but I happened to be in his room when it came around to feeding time. Everyone in the orphanage is provided three meals daily and most little ones are fed in the mess hall, except for the special kids. I helped carry up silver plate after silver plate full of food to the special rooms. I was then told to feed one little boy in particular who was sitting up in his bed staring off in the distance. He was quiet and turned his eyes toward me as I approached him holding his plate of food. I sat on the edge of his tiny wooden slat bed, said hello and held his hand. I put the plate of food into my lap as he watched me intently. The food was very hot, so I slowly formed the rice, veggies and sauce into a small ball of food with my hand and cooled it before I placed it in his mouth for him to chew. This is the only way special kids can eat. It was very humbling to sit on this small bed, balling food in my hand and placing it into a grown child's mouth. I sat there and fed him until he had finished his entire plate of food and then carefully washed his face with some water to wash away the sauce and rice that had escaped us. He was a precious child and someone I will truly never forget. It’s very easy to disregard how much we take for granted on a daily basis. However, walk in this little boy’s shoes for just one minute and imagine the life you might have lived if your circumstances happened to be different….

If you would like to learn more about Prema Vasam, view pictures or make a small donation click here. "...perhaps this is what ultimately unites us as a world: the fact that, no matter how prosperous a nation, how developed, all share the plight and embarrassment of having so many suffering children. We are united by our neglect, our abuse, our absence of love. Have we forgotten about the children, and thus forsaken the next generation?" ~Audrey Hepburn.