Shreyas Balgram: SOS Children's Village

A Balgram Cottage.		The Shreyas village was established in 1964 for once homeless and destitute children and those from broken families. They find a hearth and a home in Shreyas from birth to maturity. The deep urge of a woman for motherhood is fulfilled in Balgram where a woman finds children and in whom the children find a 'mother'. Shreyas Balgram was one of the first of its type in Asia. Balgram is affiliated to SOS Kinderdorf International, Vienna. Balgram is a part of the larger Shreyas community, and its unique character prevents it from becoming a mere asylum. At Shreyas, a 'mother' raises a family of about ten children, looks after siblings, and does the housekeeping, cleaning, cooking, washing, sewing, shopping, keeps accounts, does kitchen gardening and looks after a cow. The village has an indoor and outdoor clinic, a playroom and a biogas plant. Shreyas Balgram has four cottages with a total of thirty three children, and a home for boys of over thirteen years of age. The children join the Shreyas Nursery school at the age of three. After completing schooling at Shreyas upto junior level; they move elsewhere to a day or residential High School or Vocational School. At eighteen or twenty-one, they start earning, working and living on their own. Many of them marry and start homes of their own. Some grown up boys and girls are active working members of various Shreyas departments—the nursery and junior schools, museum, library, fine arts section, physical education centre, office, etc. "And whosoever shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me". - Mathew 18 : 1-6		A Family at meal time.