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A mother like no other

DEEPTHI NAIR meets Alice Thomas who is mother to 28 children

PHOTO: S. MAHINSHA

MOTHER CARE Alice Thomas with her children outside the Divine Children's Home

When you enter House No.189, Kesavadev Road, Mudavanmughal, a bunch of smiling faces welcome you. A big board which says `Divine Children's Home' attracts your attention. The children's smiles brighten up the atmosphere and also the face of their `Amma.'

This is Alice Thomas, mother to 28 children. She is mother, father and guide to all these children who might have otherwise spent their lives in the streets. Her contented smile hides the story of a very difficult past.

Alice was barely 27 when her husband, Franklin met with a car accident in Nainital, which resulted in his mental illness. With two young children, Sumesh and Neethi to support, she also had to deal with the subsequent disappearance of her husband.

Penniless, jobless and lonely, Alice says that she contemplated suicide. "I tried to kill myself three times, maybe I was saved because there was something that I had to do. I may have been destined to look after these children," says this commerce graduate.

Uphill struggle

After a struggle of nearly four years, Alice found a job as a crafts teacher. She had to teach the inmates in Central Jail, Poojapura. During the course of her work at the Central Jail she came in touch with women convicts and their children.

Interaction with inmates

"I interacted with some of the most unfortunate people during the course of my work. Life is very harsh, and for the children of women inmates more so. After all they are exposed to so many unpleasant things," Alice says.

While she was teaching at the Central Jail she came across two-year-old Anup, who was handed over to her by his mother, a prison inmate. "I thought that since I had two hungry children to look after, one more child would not make a difference. So I took the child home."

That was how the first child came to what was to become Divine Children's Home (DCH) almost six years ago. DCH is now home to 28 children.

Alice Thomas took it upon herself to give the children a new life. Earlier, the children and their `Amma' were living in a two-room cellar-like house near Vazhuthacaud.

Now, DCH is a spacious, rented house at Mudavanmughal, thanks to Envest Net Asset Management (ENAT), an IT company. The employees of the company have taken it upon themselves to pay the rent until DCH builds a home of its own. Alice is grateful to the good Samaritan instrumental for this move, Varghese P.C., who also sponsors a child.

Ties of love

According to Alice, DCH is not just an institution that looks after children from broken homes, poor families or the streets. It is more of a family.

Parents are allowed to visit their children once a month, if they wish. Children of school-going age attend the various schools in the city such as Cotton Hill, Poojappura School, St. Mary's and Carmel School.

The home thrives with the help of its well wishers. The main source of income is the income that Alice gets from making handicrafts.

However all is not hunky dory, DCH faces several problems. Alice says accommodation is the main problem, as rented accommodation has its own limitations.

Apart from adequate transportation facilities to send the children to school, it would require external help for the smooth conduct of the home. Moreover, the home needs at least Rs. 35,000 per month for its proper functioning.

Despite all the difficulties, Alice Thomas is determined to create a better future for each of these children.

"What keeps me going is my faith that God is with me," says Alice on a more philosophical note.

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