The plight of orphans: Do you care?

By: Puneet Ahuja

Throughout our world, hundreds of thousands of children are currently living in various orphanages. These children require our proper care and attention for them to be able to lead a happy life. While most of the orphanages take good care of these children, there are, however some instances, where these children are neglected and oppressed. If they are taken care they will grow up with a burden and concern for children like them. They need our love, support, and encouragement to fulfill their dreams and it is our first and foremost responsibility to do the same.

THEY FACE:

LACK OF FULL-TIME SUPPORT SYSTEM

Parents play the biggest role in our development, be it mental, physical, social, financial, or career development. With their absence in one’s life, it gets quite difficult to get onto the right track. This is where the orphanages have a key role to play.

ABSENCE OF A ROUTINE

Most of the orphanages have made proper routines for the kids when to study, when to sleep and when to play. Still, most of the orphans don’t have educational facilities and the children there lack the basic knowledge. Sometimes, they don’t get proper nutrition which affects their growth.

Not all children are treated equally in orphanages. Some children are exposed to risk factors, lack of nutrition, stress, and exposure to toxic substances. Children who are sickly are more challenging to care for that’s why they are usually ignored by staff. If a child responds easily when spoken to or touched, the caregiver gets some satisfaction from that response. This is the reason why that child receives more attention and in effect, responds even more positively. On the other hand, if a child does not respond easily to caregivers, he/she receives less attention. The cycle of stimulus-response-stimulus affects the child either positively or negatively. Another scenario is when a child who is physically more attractive receives more attention than their less attractive counterparts. And children with obvious physical handicaps may receive less attention if they are placed with children who have no disability. This is something that urgently needs to stop.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Think about living in a room with torn walls, broken beds, or torn bedsheets. Think about getting tasteless food or the same food daily and not even in sufficient amounts. Think about where you have only limited resources and can’t do what you feel like. In this progressing world, think about a life where you don’t get a proper education which is the foundation for your future and how will that person cope up with such a fast-moving world. Think about a life where you are confused about whom to trust and who not to.

It’s dreadful and still, a lot of the children are going through this. Even today, some of the orphanages are in a very poor situation and almost little to no help is given to them by the authorities.

MISSING OR LONGING FOR THINGS

They are parts of society who are ripped off from the freedom to desire. They have to accept the life they get, the things they have, the food or clothes they receive. The least we can do for them is try and help them get basic facilities like education so that they get onto the right path and hence become independent in the long run.

PHYSICAL OUTFIT

Factors such as lack of material resources, including food and clothes, limited possibilities to attend school on a regular basis, vast responsibilities, and reduced possibilities for social interaction all contribute to causing worries and challenges for the child heads of households. Most of the children claimed that they were stigmatized and, to a great extent, ignored and excluded from their community. The

The government provides support to the orphanages but these are not usually enough. The children need more guidance and the orphanages need more financial aid to provide full support to the child for their future. However, there are various steps that can be taken.

RESCUE AND CARE OF ORPHANS

We should all take a pledge to never promote forced labor. No matter how big an industry or organization you own or work for, one should never promote this. The early ages shape the future of the child and if, at that age, a child is exposed to something like working at a factory or somewhere, this will totally ruin the future of the child and they might not be left with any other option but just to work under someone as a laborer.

TAKE PROPER NUTRITIONAL CARE:

Proper nutrition is a must for the immune system which helps them fight off disease. However, many orphanages are in urgent need of resources for them to be able to feed the children properly. Here, our donation in any form would really help the kids and save their lives. Younger children need to eat more frequently and need to be sure to have healthy meals. Young people are very energetic and are still growing, therefore they need at least three meals during the entire day to maintain their energy levels. So, whenever you find any child suffering or getting an inadequate amount of food, make sure to donate at least something or buy some food for them. Well, you can always welcome doing a good deed.

EMPOWER A CHILD WITH EDUCATION HE/SHE HAS ONLY DREAMT OF:

The least we can do for these children is helping them or the orphanages with the education of all children. Help, in the form of donations, funding education would certainly make a big difference.

Other things that we can do:

 To satisfy primary needs: water, nutrition, hygiene, and health

 To guarantee guidance for ensuring a good future for children.

 To protect boys and girls who are victims of exploitation and abuse, and to provide; education security, serenity, and protection to all.

 Introduce a struggling child to God’s love

JUVENILE CARE — WORKING FOR A CHILD’S FUTURE

Juvenile Care is a non-profit organization that strives to work for the welfare of the lesser privileged section of society.
We organize several projects like Each One Teach One, with which we aim to assert the importance of education through our teaching sessions in certain orphanages. In addition to that, we also have our projects wherein we conduct visits to cancer care centers and some impairment schools and interact with the students and play games with them so as to bring positivity in their lives. Adapting to the pandemic, we also came up with two new projects, Hakuna Matata wherein we enlightened children about wildlife and project swasthya which taught the children about the importance of health and hygiene. It was a beautiful experience bringing smiles to those children’s faces.

Giving money or providing help to those in need can be a personally satisfying experience. We should try to find those orphans or orphanages which truly need help. Also, we need to make sure to keep track of all the donations made up to the last point. We should always show gratitude towards the universe because it has given us a life we wanted. In fact, we should help fellow humans who are in need. And that would be the most intelligent thing that we could ever do. Bringing a smile on the faces of children would certainly be the most fulfilling thing to do.