A WARM welcome for paper Tigers and Dragons in India

When it rains in Attravadi village, south-east India, there are 54 children who are too scared to go outside to play in the puddles. The sound, smell and feel of water remind them too much of what happened to them, far away by the coast, when they lost their families in the Boxing Day Tsunami, 2004.

The children now live in an orphanage run by the Indian Welfare Association of the Rural Mass, or WARM. We visited them in early January and re-visited the Karunya Trust and Terre des Hommes orphanages, home to many children who have fled from abuse or subsistence on the streets. The purpose of our trip was to meet NGOs, showcase our workshops and form long-term partnerships with local organisations like Karunya, Terre des Hommes and WARM, so that Funforlife can reach more children for longer periods of time in future.

"The dragon flies with us to the water reservoir! We're going on holiday there! We are going to swim!" shout the children, elated, after our second day making a giant dragon puppet, in Attravadi school. They are making up a story about their enormous dragon, who seems, beyond all hopes, to be leading them to water. It is powerful and has become their protector. We parade it around the village in a crazy children's carnival and then tie it to the roof of the school bus to take it home.

Only the next day, a roaring tiger emerges from another group of children. They are full-time labourers, despite their young age, and have come a long way to take part in the workshops. They introduce themselves simply: I sell samosas, I am a mechanic, I work in a hotel, I am a shepherd. None of them will ever go to school, or have much time to play. But their tiger is extraordinary and wonderful and everyone wants to have a go at running with it: 'We made that! We MADE that!'

WARM invited several education ministers and governors of Tamil Nadu, to raise awareness of funforlife's work, and to celebrate the artwork (meet the tigers and dragons) created by the children. Emily, Funforlife's International Programme Director and Jig, Funforlife artist and Workshop Leader, spoke about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the importance of play and emotional education in children's lives. The story was reported in the local papers.

So, hopes have been raised, relationships formed and intentions declared. All we need to do now is raise the money to get back, and get on with it. Their childhood is so short, we don't want to keep the children waiting.

Written by Emily Johnsson
February 2007