Orphans from Hyderabad bring relief to flood victims

ALAPPUZHA: The flood victims of Chengannur received a lot of relief materials from different parts of the country, but two truck loads of goods brought from Hyderabad are special. They were collected and taken there by a group of orphans of ‘Sankalp’ in Hyderabad, run by founder Rosy Gundra, a post-graduate in social work and an advisor of Telangana Juvenile Welfare Board.

The team consisting of 20 students studying in class 10, Plus-One and Plus-Two along with Rosy distributed the materials at Pandanad, Kallissery and Paavukara areas with the help of the local bodies.

The goods worth Rs 20 lakh, including rice, utensils, chapels, vegetables, bags, books, medicines, buckets, clothes and sanitary items were collected by as many as 132 orphans of the Sankalp Foundation.

The distribution of the goods which were brought earlier this week was completed on Friday. Rosy said the inmates of the orphanage, including 50 girls, collected the items from various parts of Hyderabad during the last one month.

“We took them to Chengannur after the Ranga Reddy district collector gave the approval. Our children feel happy in seeing the relaxed faces of the victims after getting the materials. These kids know the pain of loss more than anybody else. So, they volunteered to collect the items by meeting hundreds of philanthropists. The materials were given to several families in every village,”she said. 

Durgesh, a Plus-One student, said that they had met 527 philanthropists in and around Hyderabad for one month. Many of them gave us cash and some bought us relief materials,” he said. 

Rosy said Durgesh was brought to the orphanage by police as a child after he was rescued from a train. 

It was Durgesh who led the collection team. Rosy had got all the kids from trains or begging groups. They are being taught in the school that she runs in Hyderabad.