In Vatsalyadham, which is being run by the Gajera Group in Surat city of Gujarat, more than 800 orphan students are studying and living today. In Vatsalyadham, these orphans are provided free of cost all the facilities of living, eating and learning. Here the children do all the work on their own, covering many activities such as farming, cooking, sewing, decorating at different functions, photography, etc.
Vatsalyadham was created by the noble idea of Vasant Gajera and Champaban Vasantbhai Gajera to help the homeless and needy children who could not even meet their basic needs.
On the Birth Day of Vasant Gajera on 25th May, 2005, this thinking took a real shape and in Vatsalya Dham, which was started with 56 children, today more than 800 children are learning the lessons of life along with the required education.
The hard work of the management can be seen in the work of the students. Along with handling of large businesses of Laxmi Diamond and Laxmi Developers, Vasantbhai Gajera is taking active interest in the development of the children at Vatsalyadham.
The following is the daily routine of the children at Vatsalyadham. At 5.30am, every child wakes up and finishes his or her daily activities in one hour. The child is then taught exercise and yoga. Milk and snacks are served to the child followed by educational work. Which lasts up to 12.30. After this, the children are served a meal.
After one hour of rest, children get training in different life-oriented subjects, including training in farming, nursery and music. In Vatsalyadham, vegetables grown by the children are used in their daily meal. The cooking here is also done by children.
Children are allowed to play the game of their choice for an hour and a half in the evening. Children play games like cricket, squirrel pots, hollows, kabaddi, volleyball, carom, etc. Many indoor and outdoor game facilities are available here.
A special program called ‘Sunitas MakerSpace’ has been launched for the children of Vatsalyadham which is also running in all the schools of the Gajera Trust. Under this program, the child is given systematic training in the area of his/ her passion. Training received in the field of choice at a young age helps a child to develop a career in the field of their choice.
There are numerous success stories of many children who have studied at Vatsalyadham. Someone in sports, some in the arts and some in the music have enlightened their name. If well-to-do people of the society decides and start taking active interest like Gajera family, lot of concrete good work can be done to support the orphans. Vatsalyadham’s initiative is expected to be an inspiration to the society.
