Aloor Girls Camp

Some of the buildings where children have classes and/or sleep are quite grubby. We plan to give them a lift (read below).

A long way into the countryside, in the middle of nowhere is Aloor Girls Camp operated by MV Foundation (our water project partner) to put young village children into school and take them out of child labor. These girls go home to visit occasionally and their parents come there for visits so they are not totally separated from their families but they are protected from parents' desires to exploit their children for money.

This beautiful six-year-old (in blue above and below) followed us around the camp instead of going to her classes. Her mother was a Hindu and her father a Muslim whose differences over religion ended with the father throwing gasoline on his wife and setting her on fire. She grabbed onto him and set him afire as well. She died and the father lived a short time but couldn't care for his daughter and sold her to a truck driver for 500 Rs ($12.50). The driver sold her to someone else for 5000 Rs ($125) and that person was trying to sell her for 15,000 Rs when MV Foundation rescued her and put her in their camp. I suppose she is too young to understand the horror of her story but our hearts ached for her. Another girl, age 13, was being sold into marriage when found by MV. They care about the children and try to give them a foundation for a better life. In fact, they follow them all through school and help them find a job when old enough.

We will be submitting a project this coming week to help these 200 girls who range in age from about 6 to 15. We hope to be able to give them sleeping bedding (something soft like a sleeping bag--but no cover is needed) and pillow (they are currently on cement), sports items for activities (volleyball, badminton, etc.), books, and a supply of sanitary napkins. If approved, we will take branch members out there to whitewash their buildings, inside and out. MV has offered to feed us while there but our Branch President Joseph doesn't trust the sanitation conditions and wants us to bring our own food. Bill and I ate while we were there. It was good and we survived without even a stomach pain.