This is a presentation about Poonjolai- Tamil name for Garden of Flowers (about the orphaned children of incarcerated parents in India)

1. CHILDREN at
POONJOLAI
(Garden of Flowers)
Trichirappalli, INDIA

2. Poonjolai is an Orphanage
run by New Life
There are 11 children living at
Poonjolai: 7 girls and 4 boys.
They are from 3 to 10 years old.
The children share one room,
where they eat, play and sleep
on small rugs on the floor.
During the week they go to
school or to kindergarden.
The children in their room
having fresh fruit.

3. Poonjolai is an Orphanage run
by
New Life
All these children have a mother.
The mothers are either too poor or
too sick to keep the child with them.
When it becomes necessary to make a
choice, it is sadly common to decide
to put the girl children in the
orphanage and keep the son/s at
home. Many of these children have
brothers or sisters, too, TWO of them
living together at Poonjolai.

4. Poonjolai is an Orphanage run
by
New Life
These children’s fathers
have either eloped their
families, are in prison or
have deceased, or are just
too poor to support the
child.
Poonjolai from outside:
the window to the
children’s room is on
top right

5. Poonjolai is an Orphanage run
by
New Life
Still, these children are luckier than many others.
They have a place to stay, food to eat, they go to school or
kindergarden and they are looked after. And, they have each other.
There are
over 10
million
street
children in
India

6. New Life
http://newlifemfi.org/
New Life (a registered non-profit in India)
came into existence in the year 1993 with
the mission to improve the socio-economic
status of women and their children
in the Tamil Nadu region in the Southern
India.
New Life carries out initiatives such as
special (non-formal) schooling for child
labourers, empowerment
programmes for women (practical skills
training), and has a long tradition of working
with women prisoners: rehabilitation
programmes and maintenance of
kindergardens for women prisoners’ children.
Furthermore, New Life has set up 6 other
Early Learning Centres with 150 Children (0-
4 year old) beyond Poonjolai.

7. Long Distance Support through New
Life
New Life has now launched a new initiative to help the
children staying at Poonjolai orphanage: private
individuals can support these children at distance.
New Life
Headquart
ers
(orphanage
and its
kitchen is
behind the
white wall)
We were
welcomed
very
warmly
when we
visited
Poonjolai

8. Long Distance Support through New
Life
You can help these children
to have a better life than their parents’.
By contributing to their daily maintenance and educational fees.