In India, orphaned, abandoned and separated children often end up with a fate that is unimaginable to the rest of us. Caught up in the complicated landscape of socio-economic disparities in the country, where there are very limited resources to provide them with care and education, thousands of kids get trafficked or exploited. These kids are vulnerable and are in need of a stable safety net.
Such a safety net is provided by Muthu Lakshmi, popular as Amma, who is 75 years old and has an ashram set up at Kachapuram village, Mantralayam mandal of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh which houses such orphaned and abandoned children, reported TNIE.
She had set up the ashram in 1981 which provides shelter to children under 14 years of age. Whatever Amma earns from her 8 acres of agricultural land, she pours it all into running the ashram – a two-storey building with all basic amenities that housed over 2000 children in the past 40 years, benefited another 1000 with its welfare activities and currently gives shelter to over 50 kids.
In order to be dedicated and committed to her act of sheltering children, Amma never got married or had kids of her own. Many kids from the ashram are now settled in life and some of them are continuing Amma’s legacy of helping underprivileged children. The inmates of Santhi Ashram celebrate only one festival, which is Amma’s birthday on May 5.
We salute Amma for her noble work!