Parents are stars who guide us through our lives. With their love and care, we grow up, sheltered from the hardships of life. They try to give us every comfort that we desire. But after visiting Palna on 31 August 2015, our outlook on life feels different! We are suddenly feel humbled and deeply thankful to God for blessing us in a very special way. We cannot imagine how we would have survived if our parents had not been there to look after us. The mere thought horrifies us.
Palna which means "cradle" is a home for abandoned, homeless and destitute children. It is possibly the most well-known programme of the NGO named Delhi Council for Child Welfare. Established in 1978, and located in Qudsia Bagh, Old Delhi, it is a haven of peace, security and stability for the children who come there. There were children of all ages and from different strata of society. From new born babies to ten year olds, from very poor and destitute to the offsprings of even middle and privileged families, in some cases abandoned by their parents because they were girls! Among others are those were either lost or given up because of the compulsions of their poverty or for not being born out of a marital relationship.
[gallery link="file"]The counsellor of Palna informed us about various aspects of the organisation, its founder, the role of CARA- the government-run umbrella body which oversees national and international adoptions etc. She also showed us around the heartwarming premise. We were amazed to see how immaculately maintained it was. It was heartening to see the love and affection offered in abundance to these children by their nurses, teachers and caretakers.
Before we entered Palna, we wondered how children who have lost their parents lived. Now we know that they are not alone because there are organisations like Palna that take such good care of them. They teach them good manners along with basic academics and provide them counselling to manage themselves emotionally as they grow up and leave behind their early traumas.
After visiting Palna we feel that we cannot express our gratitude enough to God in any better way than by sparing some of our time for those not as privileged as us. We realised this when we shared with them the goodies that we had brought with us. Their smiles gave us such a strange joy.
We would love to visit Palna again. We thank our school for giving us this wonderful opportunity. We wish that every child visits such places because only then can we understand the value of love and the importance of parents and family in our lives. We have certainly learnt an important lesson that we should never complain about trivial things but value the beautiful lives we are blessed with.
As reported by Devanshi Mendiratta, Stuti Mundra, Ayushi Gupta, Class VIII.
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