Charity begins at home and every sunrise is an invitation for us to arise and brighten someone’s day. The children at the SVGV Higher Secondary School at Kidangannur, near Aranmula, have shown the way by building a house for their friend Ashna Sreenivas, a Class 6 student.
It was sheer chance that brought the plight of Ashna, hailing from a poor labour class family at Pullad, near Kozhencherry, to the notice of the school authorities when she failed to attend the classes for a week in July 2014.
The small dwelling that sheltered her and family had collapsed in heavy rain, leaving them homeless. Ashna, her younger brother, Abhilash and parents, Sreenivas and Sindhu, were left to stay in a tent-like structure covered with torn plastic sheets, braving the rain.
Upon seeing this, her classmates and teachers proposed to construct a small house for Ashna. The staff council and Parent-Teacher Association decided to mobilise funds from the alumni, staff, and parents.
The plan for a small house with two bedrooms, kitchen, toilet and a sit-out was prepared. The school PTA, adjudged the best in the district and fifth in the State, donated its prize money of Rs.1.90 lakh for the project. A Facebook group formed by the staff council and alumni mobilised funds as well as building materials to complete the house, Sneha Veedu, at a cost of Rs.6 lakh, according to V. Jyothisbabu, housing project coordinator. The project was monitored by a village-level committee led by ward member P. Unnikrishnan.
Vice Chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam Deemed University P.N. Suresh handed over the key of the house to Ashna’s father on Monday. A ganamela by local auto-taxi drivers and schoolchildren added colour to the simple housewarming ceremony.
Friends, teachers, and school PTA reach out to a homeless student
