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| Valsamma, Assistant Director, SOS village at Mulayam, Olloor, Thrissur |
Being a widow at 24, Valsamma agonized how she would bring up her 2½ year old daughter Sumi and marry her off. But by the age of 56 she has now organized the marriage of not only Sumi but another 115 girls as well.
It was to tide over her personal grief that Valsamma joined SOS village at Mulayam, Olloor, Thrissur as a counselor. This is a place where forsaken children grow under the care of a ‘mother’. In each of the many homes in the village, 10 children live as per their religious upbringing. They grow up, get jobs or get married and go away.
Perhaps only a grieving heart can empathise effectively with abandoned children. And Valsamma was soon involved in the umpteen tasks that make a mother worry and scurry.
Selection of grooms for the girls in the village is based on matrimonial ads. Their ‘mother’ too visits the prospective groom’s place to assess the proposal. The other activities in connection with marriage repose a lot of responsibility on her. The organization provides Rs.25000 for the marriage, the balance somehow comes by. And Valsamma has so far conducted the marriage of 115 girls. 4 more are in the enquiry stage.
With the marriage, the ‘mother’s’ responsibility does not cease. Like in regular homes, here too the girls come back to the parents ’home’ for child delivery. Here they are taken care of by the other siblings.
In the middle of these busy activities, by the Grace of the Unseen Provider, her daughter Sumi’s wedding too went of without any hitch.
Valsamma is to retire from service in another year. But she doubts whether her children, spread across many countries, would allow that.
Courtesy:
Santhosh John Thooval, Malayala Manorama, May 9, 2010
Contributed by: Administrator
