Swimming Mania!

Katie took a group of boys to a local swimming pool. They all had a wonderful time. It is a great way to spend a hot day.

Indrani's Marriage

Indrani came to FFC through childline when she was 17 yrs old. She worked at FFC in the silk project. Indrani keeps in contact with her sister who is studying in a hostel in Coimbatore.
Indrani is 23 years old now and married a young man from Coimbatore. Her husband's name is Vijay Kumar. He works in a petrol bunk as a cashier. They had a Hindu Wedding date- May 26th 2008 and the reception was at FFC. Indrani has been back to visit FFC since her wedding but seems to be happily situated in her new home.

John Graham

John Graham was born in 1983, he grew up at Families for Children. He moved out in 2000 and has been working as a cook in a hotel. He and his friends from the hotel have started to donate school books to the FFC children. They now would like to donate a special meal for each section at FFC every month. They will cook the meal themselves. This will be a real treat for the FFC children.

We are very proud that he has grown into such a responsible young man and happy to have him return to help the others. Below is a photo of John Graham and one of him donating notebooks to our older boys.

FFC Baby Room

Families for Children India is home to up to 40 babies under 18 months at any one time. They come to us for various reasons and from many different places.
We are fortunate to be able to feed our young babies goat milk which is tolerated well by even newborns and minimizes allergies and other illnesses.
The goat milk is produced at FFC at our goat farm.
We have a dedicated staff of caretakers who look after the FFC babies as they would their own children. Many have been with us since FFC India began in 1978.

FFC some general photos

FFC India is a wonderful place for children to grow up. The photos below are of various areas of the project.

FFC's New Boys Junior and Senior Football Teams

FFC now has 2 football teams. They are coached by Padmanaban and
A. Arokiaraj the FFC Sports Masters. The other coaches who worked with our boys were Asmathaual, Sajun and Wesley. The Senior team has 15 members: Sasi Kumar, Udhaya, Kumar, Naveen Kumar, Kumar,Vinoth, Ramachandran, Sadesh, Arumugam, Sarath Kumar, Babuji, Ajay, Ganesh, Ashwin and Gokul.

The Junior Team has 14 members: Sakthivel, Praveen Kumar, Anandh, Vanaresh,Ramamoorthy, Jeeva, M. Jeeva, Arjun, Prakesh, Chinnasamy, Manoj, Deja, Gopi
and Kalimuttu.

They boys participated in a football camp that required them to practice everyday for 4 hours. They played against other teams around Coimbatore and our senior team won 1 game and lost 1 game. They won 8 to 0 in the first game and lost 0 to 3 in the second game...which was semi finals. They were supposed to play another team but that team did not show up to play.
Our junior team did not win any games. They played two times and both games neither team scored a point. It was so cute to watch them run after the ball.
FFC conducted the awards ceremony and handed out metals to all of the teams. Our senior team took 3rd place!

Thangaraj - FFC Librarian

Thangaraj grew up at FFC, he is now 30 years old. He has been the FFC librarian since our library first opened. Thangaraj has done a wonderful job running the library which currently has over 900 members, he really takes pride in his work. The library is a peaceful place to visit, browse for books to take out or just to sit and read the newspaper. Thangaraj has a green thumb and planted a beautiful flower garden in the area directly in front of the library entrance. Last month he decided that he was ready to move out from FFC and to find his own apartment, he will continue his job as librarian. He found a place very near FFC which has an outer courtyard shared by the other tenants in the compound. He is very excited about having his own place and we wish him happiness in this new phase of his life.

FFC Extra Special Care Section

FFC India is home to almost 90 children and adults with special needs. Each person living in the special care section has been assessed for level of ability and will be assigned to one of the on site classes that matches their ability level.Classes range from the very basic play group, to learning how to dress or feed oneself, up to learning how to read and write. Our Extra Special Care Section is home to our youngest special needs children and those needing the most care, many are unable to walk or even sit unassisted. This section has a staff of dedicated workers who provide not only basic care but also provide lots of love and stimulation. You can see from the photos that our extra special children have a great environment to grow up in.

Sophie's House Opens

We are very happy to tell you about Sophie's House, a new living space that has just opened at FFC. The house is located on the same property as the small boys house and is now a home for our children with physical challenges who are mentally normal. Sophie one of FFC's longtime staff members and special care teachers will move in with them as the house mother. The first children to move in are Franklin, Raja and Muthulakshmi they have been anxiously awaiting the opening since the idea was formed. Vasenthi, Danacothi and Uma will also live in the house, they will be able to help Sophie with the care of these children as well enjoy the family atmosphere of the new home.

Jamuna's new baby

Jamuna is a young woman who has lived at FFC since 4 years of age. She has been the supervisor of the FFC canteen for 2 years. Jamuna was married in May 2007 and now lives in her own house very near FFC. Her husband Viswanathan is a vegetable agent, he loads and unloads produce in the vegetable market. We are happy to announce that Jamuna delivered a healthy baby boy last month, his name is Manikandan. Jamuna will return to work at FFC after her maternity leave. We are sure that Jamuna will be a wonderful mother.

Celebration Dinner for FFC Girls

We are proud of the 9 FFC girls who completed their 10th Standard or Plus 2 Exams. These standards are the most difficult academic years in the Indian high school system.
FFC visitors Katie and Geoff took them out for a dinner in Coimbatoire to celebrate their success.

It was an evening enjoyed by all.
Congratulations girls!

The FFC Main House cement wall has been renovated

This years group of visiting York School students and teachers put in alot of hard physical labour to completely redo the main house front cement wall. They spent many, many hours in the hot sun breaking down the old wall with sledge hammers. The York group then funded a mason to refinish the wall with fresh cement and paid for the paint.
Katie organized a work crew of FFC boys to paint the new wall and then had every child put their handprint in color on it.

Thanks very much to the York School Group for this. Their hard work has really improved the look of our main property!