A breif history of our Girl's home

It is another sunny warm day in India, and I am still very much enjoying my stay. I thought I would provide some information in responce to some inqueries about the YMCA here and the history of the girl's home.

The YMCA 14 acre campus in Ranaghat began as hospital in 1916 serving the people of Ranaghat and surrounding areas. Most of the buildings were erected for this purpose and the clay that built them came from the land itself. There are presently two ponds on the campus which were dug for the clay and to create a water source. The history of the hospital is a little hairy to me, but from what I am told there was some disagreement between the various doctors and at some point the hospital ended. (On a side note, the hospital system here in India is divided between Government hospitals and private hospitals with the latter apparently having better care.) Then from 1970 to 2002 the YMCA in Ranaghat (acting as a satalite campus of the Calcutta YMCA) was a boy's home.

Around 80 boys were selected for the home based on thier poor living conditions. They came from surrounding areas, but mostly Calcutta where many of them lived with their families on the streets. It was here at the YMCA that the boys were given proper nutrition (three meals a day and perhaps snacks), clothing, a place to live off the streets, and were placed in local schools for the needed education. They had a very organized daily schedule that included games, gardening, prayer, the school day, and most importantly study time and tutors. The tutors included curiculum based tutors and trade teachers. In addition, the YMCA boy's home had a strong community outreach program and was visited by India's generla secretaries, the vice-president, and Mother Teresa (whose home for the destitute is based in Calcutta). The boys left after 10th grade and many have become successful based in strong part from what they learned here. I have met a few whom continue to work for the YMCA, and I also met one man who is now an excellent artist. His art pieces have recently been selected for an upcoming show in Calcutta where only 100 artist throughout all of India were chosen to display. Despite all the sucess, most of the buildings were in such need for repair by this point that the whole program was becoming too costly and came to an end.

The campus was inactive for some time and then in 2005 it was reopened as a girl's home. The builings on campus remain vacant with the newest building, the Terry Waite Vocational Training Center, becoming the sole building used on campus (besides the guest house where I now live). There are 52 girls ages 5-16 whom now call this building home. There are three large bedrooms upstairs which the girls share and thier house mother Mrs. Roy stays with them. On a floor above there are also one or two rooms for some staff members. On the main floor there are three class rooms that the girls use for study and socializing. There is still ample amount of lands and gardens for the girls to roam. The girls home is set up in structure very much like the boys home but on a smaller scale and with some additional activities: no gardening but sewing, cooking, computure, and dancing. A lot of this was made possible by a joint venture between the YMCA and World Vision, a charitable organization that funds the girls. Without World Vision's support the YMCA would not be able to provide the building and caretake for the girls. A representative from World Vision stops by on a monthly visit.

Like the boy's, the girls were chosen based on thier poor living conditions. Local community leaders recommended the girls as possible canidates for World Vision sponsership due to their financial needs. Perhaps, the leaders noticed our girls on the streets begging, or living in inadequate housing along the footpath and thought of them as being able to benefit greatly from this opportunity. Some of the girl's come from single parent households and caring for them is a great monetary stress on thier parent. World Vision then approached the girl's families and asked if they would like to participate in this great opportunity. So while our girl's home may look like an orphange, it is not as the girl's all have families. The parents do visit on parent's day, the journey is 2 hours by bus from Calcutta, but Ranaghat remains their home almost year round. While this is a new program and sucess has yet to be determined, I feel it is a very worthwhile program and is a great benefit to all the girls and families involved.