Poverty and medical care - a new era

by Jaya Koilpillai Bohlmann

These days, millions of Americans deal with the nearly impossible juxtaposition of rising healthcare costs and decreasing incomes and savings. As the population ages, we hear too many heartbreaking stories of many people, especially seniors, having to choose between buying food and buying medicine.

Although extremely difficult and unfortunate, our country is relatively new to this situation, at least in terms of percentages of population. In many other countries, including India, this is not new. Especially prevalent among those with little education, which includes a high percentage of women and those who live outside big cities, the choice to get medical care doesn’t exist. They just do without.

For many lucky ones, this is where Anantha Ashram has been stepping in. Thousands of people who live in villages outside Hosur (in Tamilnadu, India) are being given high quality medical care through the health camps and mobile clinics that are part of AA’s community health program. (Some of the programs are described in the recent newsletter (http://www.cupinternational.org/cupnew_007).

The cost is to provide these programs is minimal because of the volunteer efforts of healthcare and administrative professionals…they cost just over $900 (USD) a month. For that, preventive and curative treatments are given families, children, babies… whoever needs it. It’s one set of programs in one part of the world… with a huge impact.

Of course we encourage your support of these programs. I'm also interested to learn about any other actions you're taking... in whatever corner of the world you happen to have an interest in... to make changes big and small that help people deal with poverty...

From Cradle to Children's Home

by Jaya Koilpillai Bohlmann

Helping my four year old daughter wind down last night after a busy day of work, pre-school (for her), bill paying, housework and life, I found myself sitting still with her in her cozy, night -lighted room that smelled sweetly of baby lotion and the soft innocence of little girlhood. The pure tiredness of a happy day at pre-school ending in each others' arms filled us both with simple, profound joy. To think of that physical and emotional connection being taken away is unbearable. I believe that probably all of you reading this who are parents share that opinion. It is universal.

Yet, in some parts of our world, it is common practice for parents to give up their children because their economic or social conditions give them no choice, in their belief system. In India, infants, mostly girls, are abandoned by many families who are too poor to care for them. Babies even are killed at birth by parents or mothers who cannot bear the shame of wedlock, poverty, widowhood or other conditions that are unbearable to them. To help alleviate the deplorable practice of infanticide, the Indian government has established "cradle centers," where family members or parents can safely and with anonymity leave their children. From there, the government gives the babies to local organizations for care.

Many of Anantha Ashram's young residents of its Home for Abandoned Children come from these government cradle centers. One baby was brought to us just a few weeks ago - she was born at the end of January to a poor couple in a village called Periyampatti near Palacode. Her picture appears here. The parents surrendered the child since she was the third female child in the family. She is so tiny and now that she's in the care of Anantha Ashram, she will join "brothers and sisters" in receiving loving care and the chance to be adopted into an appopriate Indian family.

Over the years, Anantha Ashram has helped more than 400 children like this tiny girl. We are growing the programs allowing for their medical care, education and even an endowment for higher education - we truly raise them as our own children.

Note on costs: The Children’s Home needs about $42,000 US dollars to operate every year, excluding medical care.

Note about author: Jaya K. Bohlmann is on the Board of Directors for both Anantha Ashram in Hosur, India and CUP International, a nonprofit based in Maryland that raises money and awareness for Anantha Ashram.

Welcome to CUP International - by Jaya Koilpillai Bohlmann

One of the first babies was a boy – we named him Kumar. He was brought to us as a newborn, barely breathing, by some workers who had found him discarded in a corner of a clinic in a nearby village. It was 1990, and my parents had just arrived in Hosur, Tamilnadu, India, to build what would become Anantha Ashram, with a set of programs and facilities to house and care for abandoned children and offer them for adoption to good families in India; a medical clinic and community health education classes and outreach. Then, though, they had no way to care for this tiny being, fighting for his life. Some of their helpers, nurses, created a makeshift incubator – really just a box with a lightbulb – swaddled him warmly and fed him and medicated him and held him and watched him around the clock until he stabilized. And then he grew.

Today, Kumar remains part of the Anantha Ashram Children’s Home in Hosur. He is being educated and is helping his “brothers and sisters” in the home – nearly 50 of them today. More than 450 children have been nurtured and cared for by Anantha Ashram.

My parents founded Anantha Ashram to realize a dream of putting public health expertise and knowledge of India to work in this remote area where others didn’t even look at that time. Since then, of course, the city of Bangalore (one hour’s drive from Hosur) and Hosur itself are no longer sleepy “garden” cities – but world class centers of technology and commerce and industry.

Still, the social needs of this ancient culture and the role of women mean more female babies are given up by their relatives who are too poor to care for them – poverty in India remains a dire situation. Girls without education or social standing are often at the mercy of their husbands and in-laws – ill treatment of all kinds is a sadly common story.

Anantha Ashram is funded by the donations of individuals who care about the issues of women, children and India, and is supported by a 501c3 in Maryland, US called Community Uplift Projects (CUP), International. My father, Samuel Koilpillai, is the founder and president. I lead communication.

We are currently raising money for an endowment fund of $25,000 for the older children of Anantha Ashram, like Kumar, who have not been adopted by families who would pay for their higher education, and to whom we are deeply committed to ensure their future employability so they will grow into well adjusted, contributing adults. This is a modest amount, we realize – we have become used to a lean operating budget – it costs about $52,000 US dollars to run all of Anantha Ashram’s projects for an entire year. This includes all paid staff, mostly caregivers for the children, and medical professionals, including doctors and nurses to run the clinic. My parents take no salary for their management role, and the Board of CUP International are fully volunteers.

Please help us by sharing your thoughts and insights about how to grow this Education Endowment Fund, and your encouragement.