New Delhi(Agencies): “I
tried my best to give them everything that a mother would. When I look back, I
know I have done my part in making their lives better,” says 87-year-old Sudha
(name changed) as she fondly recalls her younger days spent caring for children
at an orphanage.
Sudha said she always wanted
to do something meaningful in her life but after her mother passed away, she
found herself bogged down by familial responsibilities.
Next came the pressure from
her family to get married. However, instead of marrying someone and starting a
family, she chose to become family for those who didn’t have one.
She started working with SOS
Children’s Village, Faridabad at the age of 31.
“In the past 50 years, I have been a parent to
around 30 children,” the proud mother told PTI on Sunday on the occasion of
Parents’ Day.
Sukriti Sharma, 64, who has
worked with various childcare homes across the country, is another such parent.
She started working with an
orphanage after her mother passed away. Taking care of children was not only a
way to help them but herself too.
“After suddenly losing my mother, I became
very depressed and wanted to help those who did not have parents. I decided to
become a caregiver to orphaned children. Living my life around children gave me
a bigger purpose,” she said.
Having looked after around 15
children at a childcare home in Delhi over the past 20 years, Sharma said they
are her real family now.
“Some of these children had come from very
difficult situations. It is particularly difficult to deal with older children.
They remember their families and also the trauma they suffered. In that case,
we first become their friends, make them feel safe and then gradually take the
role of a parent,” she said.
Working with childcare homes
for two decades now, 53-year-old Padma Rawat has looked after 24 children,
seven of whom are now married.
After her family did not
approve of the man she wanted to marry, Rawat decided not to marry anyone else
and devote her life to caring for children who do not have anyone to look after
them.
“Today my family has more than 35 members with
sons-in-law, daughters-in-law and grandchildren,” she said.
For 67-year-old Mariam (name
changed), a domestic violence survivor who has been working with orphanages for
15 years, the children have given her the love of a family.
After her husband remarried
and threw her out of their house, she had nowhere to go. She found shelter at a
government home and trained to take care of parentless children.
“After 15 years now, I am finally content. I
have taken care of around 26 children who are now more than my family. I have
not been in touch with anyone from my biological family. It is these children
who helped me get back on my feet,” Mariam said.
“We are connected not by blood but love,” she
sums up. PTI
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