By Cecilia Dsouza St. Catherine’s Home in Andheri was founded in 1922 by a young British woman named Ida Dickenson, as her initiative to provide shelter and an environment of love and care to homeless girls, especially unmarried mothers. Ida started with 12 street children in a small hut. Later, when she ran into difficulties, she handed the whole project over to the Daughters of the Cross who then took the initiative ahead.
The children here are housed in different ‘cottages’ with positive names like; Anand Bhavan (Home of Happiness), Dilkhush (Happy Heart), Nirmala Niwas (Pure Nest), Snehalaya (Abode of Love), Snehanjali (Offering of Love), and Karunankur (Compassionate Blossom). Many babies are abandoned by young pregnant women who are cheated in relationships and are brought to the institution when it is too late for an abortion. Sometimes they are brought by families or by social workers.
At other times the babies are found at stations, in garbage dumps or other public places. Some are in really bad shape, bruised or even attacked by rodents. The police bring them around and all are accepted willingly by St Catherine’s. Currently, there are around 22 babies in residence. Both girls and boys. There seems to be no problem about adoption because there are nearly 300 couples on the waiting list.
There is a three-month process for the clearance of papers for parents wanting to adopt children. You usually apply online. “Mostly parents adopt girls,” says the head of St. Catherine’s Home, Sr. Sagaya. The girl child in India is oppressed yet young adopting parents choose to adopt little girls. It’s strange to know that more young parents adopt girls rather than boys. She adds that the parents who come for adoption are not allowed to choose the child but must accept what is given to them. Sometimes they reject a child, in which case they are given one more chance, but then that’s it. And of course, Indian families do not accept handicapped children. Hence these are given in adoption to families abroad, usually one particular area in Sweden.
Quite often nowadays, these children grow up and then come back to St. Catherine’s to try and trace their roots. That’s when heartbreak can be the result for the child who can be rejected all over again by the birth mother. The nuns look sad as they tell stories about women who invariably never return to claim their children or even make inquiries about them.
The institution has a school for girls from kindergarten to SSC, attended both by inmates as well as under-privileged children from the neighbourhood. They may study as much as they want, and some girls have gone further than SSC. But many find the going tough, and for these, there are vocational courses like hospitality, run in collaboration with corporates who then place them once they have completed their studies.
Among the inmates are girls who have been trafficked into prostitution or forced into working as domestic help who are often abused. These girls do Open Schooling and are trained to make artificial jewellery or do art. The nuns are proud that many have participated in exhibitions where they sell their work, the money being kept in accounts opened for them. “Some have collected as much as Rs 50,000 which comes in handy when they leave St Catherine’s, whether it is to go into group homes or get married,” says Sister Sagaya.
The children are talented in music and dance; there are people who come to teach these girls musical instruments and classical dance. They are encouraged to take part in competitions. Volunteers are always welcome, but they must come for a year and this commitment is considered necessary to enable the children to benefit. There are also about 50 HIV positive girls in the institute who are very well cared for. Many of them have been here for several years, being provided with treatment as well as education and care. These children have either lost both or at least one of their parents to the disease. For this segment in particular, St Catherine’s is a haven.
