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An Experience that left its Mark in India

An Experience that left its Mark in India
September 17 to December 12, 2010

Fanny, a student from France, shared the lives of the children of Asha Deep for three months in India with the Daughters of Wisdom. She discovered a country, a culture and people who have left their mark in an interesting fashion. Here is the story of her experience.

Friday, September 2010
Arriving at Asha Deep!

Coming out of the airport, I immediately recognized the beige sari of the Daughters of Wisdom in India. Two Sisters and more than a dozen children were there to greet me, wishing me a « Hearty Welcome »! The whole « Smalah »was swallowed up in the vehicle and we drove off to Asha Deep where I was to live for three months. 

Asha Deep means « Light of hope ». This house hosts 60 girls from very poor families in order that they may continue their studies and become independent.  They can arrive there at age 5 and, in optimal circumstances,  can leave the house at 20, hopefully with enough diplomas to seek employment.

The premises having recently been enlarged, the children had a study room, a kitchen, a wide dining room and a small yard to play. Four Sisters lived at Asha Deep: Sr. Lucy, Sr. Alice (« Lu Sister et Ali Sister » for the little ones), Sr. Jackuline et Sr. Sawarmma.  Every day they were helped by Fahim the seamstress, and also Manjoula and Julie for the kitchen. In spite of the many children, the Sisters took care of the little one with a lot of attention and dedication!

Asha Deep was laughter, songs, and joy! It was little girls playing, running, laughing like all the children of the world. It is hard to imagine when you see them for the first time, that they have experienced violence, abandonment and bereavement. They were either orphans or had been abandoned by their parents, condemned to stay in the street and to beg for a living. Often, the parents were still alive but could not watch over them or take care of them, being themselves either sick or tormented by alcoholism.

As the time passed, they began confiding in me, trying to tell me with the few English words they knew, what was left of their previous lives, their souvenirs, their sufferings and even their anger.

I think of  Gayathri, abandoned with her little five year old sister. When she spoke to me of her father and mother, she placed a finger on her forehead, raised her hand to heaven and said « remember no ».  No matter what they had done, good or bad, her greatest grief was to have forgotten their faces.

There was also Deepa who, when she was sick cried and called out « apa » and « ama ».  There is no greater consolation for a small sick child than to be in the arms of parents. But for her, no one knew where they were. All the care that the Sisters gave her, all the small attentions she received could not replace the parents she missed so much.

Kalavathi sadly showed me the many scars she had on her forearm, that her father had made on purpose in order to attract pity when he sent her to beg on the streets. 

Other little girls, like Bannou, having no souvenirs to cling on, invent a past worthy of the most beautiful story tales for children. She became an orphan a few weeks after her birth and she preferred to imagine a beautiful and extraordinary life for herself in the past. She described her beautiful mother she had never known, and told me that if her parents had not come to visit her it was simply because they were always travelling.  But, « that is normal » she told me « when one works in a circus! »

And each day, there were new victories, new reasons for hope!

Sashi hoped to study as long as possible to help her two sisters. She confided to me that if God had given her so many gifts for studies, drawing, dancing, she should develop them!

Ammu who will finish her studies in a few months and will be a teacher in kindergarten next term…

Catherine, who was at the top of her class, had received class prizes each semester and would like to become a medical doctor! 

Pallavi who stayed very silent and timid but finally decided to speak to me in order to help me cook biscuits.

Gouna, who, with time, learned to be less aggressive and to control her violence…

Each morning was a new step forward, not so as to forget those lived in the past, but to pardon and to continue to live in spite of everything. They discovered love, confidence and sweetness as they were surrounded and supported by the Sisters. Now, they were able to learn,  to dream and to hope like all the other children!

Friday. December 12, 2010
Return Back Home! 

Fanny Dousson

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