Bringing Joy Into Hapless Lives

Bidyarani Thingujam *

Nongpok Maheikol Girls Home at Bamon leikai in January 2017

When we enter the small premise what they call office, there were ten innocent faces looking at us with awe. Also the forerunners and members of the Children Home were present inside the office. Situated at Bamon leikai, the Nongpok Maheikol Girls Home is a children home only for girls.

Currently there were only ten girls living at the Home. Other girls passed Matriculation exam and left the Home for further studies. The inspiring thing about the Home is that the Home is run by women who were mostly spinsters who gave up everything to attend to the life of the children.

The Home is run under an organisation named Organisation for Underpriviledge Group. The Nongpok Maheikol Girls Home was founded on the faithful month of December 2004. Since then there was no looking back for the founders. They did everything to cater to the needs of the children.

The official foundation day of the Home falls on 21st January every year.

The President of the Organisation for Underpriviledge Group, who herself is also a spinster, said that, they took girls who were between the age of 5-11. She said, "It's not an orphanage.

It is a children's home and we are their family. And we make sure we do the best we can for them". On 22 of January 2017, our group of like-minded friends called the "Waving Flag" got a chance to visit this Home.

This happen, when we were searching for a children home in and around Imphal some days back. And passer-bys told us that there is a children home at Bamon leikai.

And lo! we visited the Home and met with the little children. We started this initiative on October 2016. Since then, we have been contributing and donating every month to differen children homes in and around Imphal.

Nongpok Maheikol Girls Home at Bamon leikai in January 2017

The children were aged between 7-13 years and they are doing their schooling at Nongpok Maheikol School. There were currently 30 members actively working under the organisation who contribute financially every month for the welfare of the children.

The Home is a sister organisation of the Nongpok Maheikol School and all the children are getting their education for free. The founder of the School is itself the member of the Organisation of the the Underpriviledge Group.

All the girls were in a jolly mood that day. They make tea for us. Within that short meeting, we learned from the girls that losing our dear ones is not the end for us.

There are still beautiful things ahead of us and we must go miles and miles to achieve it.

As we bid goodbye, the smiling faces of the children came into the rear-view mirror of our vehicle and that was the greatest joy one can feel.

As Dr Christian Barnard, a South-African Cardiac Surgeon, rightly said, "it is not what you have lost that's important, but what you have been left with".

The children proves that the business of living is in the celebration of being alive.