Social Responsibility in Language Services

Applied Language Indian staff help out at a local orphanage

Helping Hands - The orphanage houses about 20 children, ranging from 5 months old to late teens, many given up by parents too poor to feed them. There are also 15 blind women, most of them were thrown in the streets by their parents as they can't give a helping hand to them. Yet, to these children and the blind women, the orphanage is their home, the orphans their siblings, Mr Antony and Ms Ananthiammal (the organisers) their parents.

The kids are amazingly obedient and independent, yet they possess an innocence that is absent in the kids of the other side of society. We saw a 2 year old feeding himself with no special treatment. Back home, kids that age are spoon fed, with food cut into minute pieces. Over there, the kids use regular spoons, clean up their food without supervision and return the emptied plates in a neat pile. And they don't forget to help their elder sisters who can't see.

Applied Language Solutions India office spent half a day with these children and helpless sisters to give a feeling that we do care for them.

We collected food from one of the leading food suppliers in Chennai and distributed it among the orphans we also gave them dresses, dress material and bed linen. All the Indian Team interacted helped, played with the kids and told stories to make them happy. We have decided to help the orphanage get clean water with the help of the government and the local authorities. We have already contacted the local authorities with the help of an NGO.

In our throw-away culture of waste and consumerism, by living among these people for a while will make us realise that food and water are precious, not something to be wasted in wanton extravagance, gluttony and greed.