FRONT PAGE: Assi and Swati

Front page of Tasmanian local newspaper

MEANDER VALLEY NEWS, September 2010

shows a picture of two 10 year olds at the Malighat School and Orphanage Project in the city of Muzaffarpur, state of Bihar, India.

,

Assi and Swati 

 

A group of girls welcome some Australian volunteer visitors.

The following text is from the September, 2010 issue of Meander Valley News:

Giovi DiMatteo of Longford, Tasmania, was inspired to visit the Malighat School and Orphanage in March, 2010, after meeting Angela May and hearing the story of how it all began.  Giovi lived at the orphanage for three weeks, working with the teachers on learning programs, using her own teaching background.

Giovi said the children work together peacefully and helped out where they could.

"They are extremely well organised, with each child washing their own clothes and their plate - even the three and four year olds - by hand," she said.

"Every morning they wash under a cold water tap outside, even on chilly mornings and everyone helped with the cleaning.

Mr and Mrs DiMatteo donated a significant amount of money which Jyoti, the house mother, supervisor, teacher and manager, put towards building a third storey.

"You don't need to get council approval," said Giovi.  "If you've got the money, you just build."

Mrs DiMatteo's daughter also raised $500 at her school and another $200 was raised by a school in Hobart.

The funds will be used to buy a computer for the orphanage.

Malighat has one laptop which it uses to communicate via webcam with Tasmanian schools, and Mrs DiMatteo said another computer would allow for further communication and education opportunities for the children.

Mrs DiMatteo said that Didi Jyoti is like a mother to all of the children - pupils and home children alike.  

"Women are not heard or seen (in India)," Jyoti said, adding that if she was not a nun, she would not be working at the orphanage.  She said, "I would like to marry and I would like to have children but that would be the end of being a useful, independent woman."  Giovi noted that Jyoti has sacrificed her own personal life to improve the lives of the children in her care.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally - here is Monalisa, whose name was given to the original project, and who has grown up in the home and the school and under Jyoti's excellent love and supervision.