THENI: The frail children rummaging around the grimy streets for food with nowhere to go, was a common sight in Madurai in the sixties. In 1964, those images left Englishman Bro. James Kimpton, who just landed in Madurai after a 12-year teaching stint in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), flummoxed. Being a member of the De La Salle Brothers, a Catholic religious teaching congregation, and having spent most of his life teaching kids, he could not steer clear of the dejection writ large on the children’s faces, and the agony of famishment in their bellies.
By the time Bro. James passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, he had helped thousands of orphaned children and hundreds of widowed or destitute women become part of doting families. In 1974, he founded a boys’ home named ‘Reaching The Unreached’ (RTU) at G Kallupatti village near Periyakulam. An RTU Children’s Home was established four years later. These homes were not godown-like dormitories that coop up children. The establishments contained individual houses. Widowed or destitute women were rescued from the streets and assigned six or seven children for foster care in each house. The women are paid for their service and get benefits like PF and ESI.
At present, there are four large children’s villages Nirmala Children Home at Bodi-Dharmathupatti, Sirumalar Children Home in Theni, Nithyam Children Home, and Anbu Illam housing a total of 100 families comprising 1,000 children under the age of 13 years.
TNIE visited the Nirmala Children Home situated in a lush green region. Each family house consists of a single bedroom with a toilet and bathroom, kitchen and living room. 27-year-old J Meena says she reached RTU at the age of seven. “I came here with my younger brother. Our childhood was a mess before we arrived here. My father had passed away and my mother tested positive for HIV. It spread to me too and, our relatives and neighbours abandoned us. They looked at me like I was a worm. Faced with numerous challenges to raise us, our mother finally gave us up to RTU. Due to the compassionate upbringing, I managed to complete MSc and BEd degrees. Now, I work as a manager at one of the RTU homes. My husband is also HIV positive, and I am going to give birth to a child soon,” Meena says.
“Thatha Kimpton was always considerate of HIV-positive children. They are given priority during RTU admissions. It’s not like other orphanages; we are a group of caring families brought together by Thatha’s vision of humanism. His divine values inspire us. Once, another girl and I applied to Jayaraj Annapackiam College in Periyakulam. But, the principal denied us admission claiming that other students might get infected. Father Anthony Paulsamy (director and secretary of RTU) heard this and begged the principal for admission. Finally, the principal allowed us to study there, but without using the hostel,” she said. I still face discrimination, but my RTU family will remain my rock of support, Meena adds.
Assistant Director for Children’s Programme under RTU G Shanmuga Latha says, “I joined RTU in 1986 to do clerical work. Then, Theni was famous for female infanticide. Thatha, few others and I rescued many female babies from dustbins, bushes and bus stands. Due to penury, some parents gave up their babies to our homes. Many kids were adopted by childless parents from RTU.”
Similarly, Father Paulsamy is all pepped up when talking about Kimpton. “I joined RTU at 10 in 1975. Later, I volunteered services in another place, and in 2008, I received a call from Bro. James to take charge as his second-in-command. After his demise, I have been looking after his responsibilities.” The ‘Best Institution for Women’s Welfare Award’ presented to RTU in 2005 by former chief minister J Jayalalithaa is just one of the many laurels that have come the home’s way.