Kannur is a small seaside village in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh that was ravaged by the Indian Ocean tsunami.  ERD’s partner, the Church of South India (CSI), is working there, with ERD’s support, to care for the children most deeply affected by the tragedy.

The highest level of education offered in Kannur is elementary school.  The nearest high school is about 6 kilometers away, and families are too poor to afford transportation.  The future of Kannur’s children is at stake.

Children from Kannur and other villages like it who are orphans or semi-orphans, who come from large families, families suffering from tsunami-related psychological trauma, or extremely poor families are recommended to CSI’s youth hostels by social workers who frequent the villages.

The Krishna-Godavardi Diocese in Andhra Pradesh operates a boys’ hostel and a girls’ hostel which through which they are providing food, shelter and education for children in Andhra Pradesh.

The Boys’ Hostel
The boys are sitting cross-legged in rows on the floor, wearing blue uniforms.  When they stand, with their arms folded stiffly and stern expressions on their faces, they have an almost military quality of obedience.  The boys take turns telling me how they were affected by the tsunami.

Soloman Rajan, 15, from Pedapatnam, was at home when the tsunami hit.  The water took his family’s house, their belongings, their cattle – and two of his brothers.  Soloman survived by climbing to the roof of a building.  He still has nightmares about the waves. 

Since the tsunami, Salomon’s large family has been living in poverty.  His six sisters are not able to scrape together enough earnings to feed everyone.  One of his sisters is at the neighboring girls’ hostel.  He hopes to be an engineer when he grows up, and the headmaster beams proudly adding that Soloman has promising marks in math.

Despite the tragedies that brought them here, these children are in fact the lucky ones.  They were plucked from their lives of poverty and given the opportunity for a better one through the church.

The Girls' Hostel
The students at the neighboring girls’ hostel are sitting on the front porch of the school building wearing colored outfits and ribbons in their braided hair.  All of the girls have been either directly or indirectly affected by the tsunami.  There are 32 girls here and the Bishop has been funding this out of his own pocket for some time.  He has a young daughter and the welfare of girls is the cause dearest to his heart.

Pratusha from Lanka is 14.  Her house was damaged by the tsunami and her family’s crops lost.  Her entire village was washed away because it was right on the water’s edge.  Swapna lost her mother in the tsunami.  Lakshmi lost both parents.  Another girl’s father committed suicide after the tsunami due to psychological trauma.

At the hostels, these boys and girls receive meals, housing, and an education through high school.  They also receive something just as vital, something that many of their families could not provide – attention and care.

Investment in children is an investment in the future.  CSI and ERD are providing children in Kannur with food, clothing, shelter and an education.  That means providing them with opportunity to take hold of their futures and to build a better India than the one they were born in.