Coimbatore Shelters Kandhamal Kids
Uprooted from restive Kandhamal district in Orissa, 41 girls have found a home here. Coimbatore-based NGO Michael Job Orphanage for Girls has come to the childrens rescue. Penelope Leao of the orphanage said some pastors in the strife-torn Kandhamal contacted the NGO founder and president, Dr P P Job, and he agreed to adopt them and give free food, shelter and education.
When interacted with some of the girls, they shared eerily similar experiences of the violence that rocked the district last year, and continues intermittently. Neena, 16, daughter of a pastor said that on December 24, a mob set their house on fire. The family was able to make its way to a relief camp. Morina, 16, said her father, a soldier, was confined to bed when a mob torched their house. She saw her father burnt alive. The girls are being taught English and good habits. Leao said, Some of the girls are not even used to toilets. Free education will be given to all of them up to PG level, she said. A batch of 108 more girls from Kandhamal arrived here on Wednesday.
