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A group of children on a teeter totter Abode for Childrens India Orphanage

Quick Facts about India

  • Second most populous country (1.3 billion)
  • 1 in 3 children are malnourished
  • 68.8% live on less than $2 a day
  • Of India’s poor:
    45% are illiterate
    94% lack access to tap water

St. Thomas Orphanage

The orphanages house 101 children between each other and the school educates up to 400 students in kindergarten to tenth standard (or tenth grade) each year. The school year begins in June and ends in April.

While many of those who live at St. Thomas and Mother Teresa Orphanages have parents who are still living, they come from very poor families that cannot afford to care for them. If they lived at home, many of the children would be forced to work alongside their parents on farms and in factories doing hard manual labor to earn enough money to survive. Some would be left alone on the streets to beg, living in constant danger of being maltreated.

A picutre of the St Thomas Orphanage in India
School bus with kids standing in front from the St Thomas Orphanage in India - by Abode for Children

Living at the orphanages provides students with the basic necessities they need to focus on their education. Instead of worrying where their next meal will come from, the children can focus on learning and growing. Instead of working in dangerous conditions, the children can enjoy their childhood. By striving to excel for service, the children can envision a bright future for themselves and for their community.

The children who live in the orphanage, along with other local children, attend school at Mary Rose Buds School. The state-of-the-art school building contains classrooms, offices, a library, a science lab and a computer lab. Subjects include Math, Reading, English, Computer, Library, Religion, Science and Lab.

There is a convent on campus and two of the Sisters teach at Mary Rose Buds School. The school principal is the Mother Superior of the convent. They are from The Congregation of the Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo. The Sisters also take care of the needs of the girls in Mother Teresa's Orphanage. The presence and the involvement of the sisters in the school have a great impact on the children. Their self-sacrificing spirit and dedication for the cause of the poor bears witness to the beauty of the Catholic faith to Christians and non-Christians alike.

The classes within the school are taught in English, with Hindi and Telugu as secondary languages. The school has become a model of education within the community. Now-retired Bishop Gali Bali reported, “We are taking every care to maintain good standards of education with moral and spiritual values and discipline of conduct. There is a general appreciation of the entire people for the school.”

Kids dressed up inside the St Thomas Orphanage in India - by Abode for Children

Day in the Life of a St. Thomas/Mother Teresa Boarder Child

Time Activity
5:00 am Wake up, Bathe
6:00 am Mass and Morning Prayers
8:30 am Classes
12:00 pm Lunch
1:30 pm Classes
4:15 pm Assembly, games, and snack
6:00 pm Study
7:00 pm Dinner
8:00 pm Study
9:00 pm Lights out
Students at St thomas orphanage

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