Author: shuktara

Rest in peace Anna

shuktara homes for young people with disabilitiesThis is probably the most difficult post we've written. Anna Das passed away on Sunday 21st October at 4:00 pm. He was at home, surrounded by people who loved and cared for him.

Anna came to shuktara in 1999, a very frightened young man with serious emotional issues. He always struggled to feel at home in his environment and often it took a very long time for him to feel "at home".

Over the years he had his ups and downs. When the shuktara boys shifted to their home in Behala at first Anna had a difficult time accepting his new home. Over time he really found his place at shuktara and he often smiled. When Anna smiled it would light up the world. It was clear that Anna never forced a smile, his smile came from deep within and gave happiness to everyone who saw it.

Without the love and care given by David, Pappu and all the staff of shuktara Anna would have been a very different person. Shuktara gave Anna the very best life possible, and he had truly found his home.
Rest in peace Anna, we will never forget your smile and you will stay in our hearts forever.

shuktara homes for young people with disabilities

Anna

At shuktara we like to post about the wonderful events and people connected to the homes. We even have a hashtag #shuktarasmiles because shuktara is a comfortable, happy, safe place where everyone smiles a lot.

Since last weekend it hasn't been easy for us to smile because Anna was admitted to hospital. His condition is serious and he has been diagnosed with TB and pneumonia. This is scary for all of us and we are quite worried about Anna.

He has a very caring doctor who is doing everything he can to ensure that Anna can come back home to shuktara.

The best place to find out how Anna is doing is our Facebook page. We ask you to please keep Anna in your thoughts - we love Anna and truly believe that love is the best medicine.

shuktara homes for young people with disabilities

New clothes continued…

New clothes at Lula Bari continued...

The young women at Lula Bari had such fun dressing up and modeling their new outfits donated by Mustard Seeds that we couldn't resist posting a second batch of photos, of course) with a few more new-to-us clothes.

Thank you again Maura Hurley for picking out exactly the right outfits for everyone at Lula Bari!

New clothes at Lula Bari

Maura Hurley is a longtime friend of shuktara who runs Mustard Seeds, a wonderful Kolkata organisation dedicated to art, the environment and education. Every year they undertake a local used clothing drive and distribute the clothes to local organisations. This year shuktara was one of the fortunate beneficiaries!

Everyone loves new clothes and as you can see in the photos, our girls had a great time trying on and modelling their gifts. Thank you Maura Hurley for the fabulous new-to-us clothes, just in time for Pujas!

shuktara homes for young people with disabilities

Happy birthday to Subhash and Guria!

Seems to be a lot of shuktara birthdays lately - first Moni on 11th September and just last week Subhash (28th September) and Guria (29th September). Everyone loves celebrating birthdays so much at shuktara, be sure to watch the short videos below of the most recent celebrations!

shuktara homes for young people with disabilities

Gifts from London

Jewellrey gifts from friends in London arrived just in time for the beginning of the Puja season here in Kolkata. This season is similar to Christmas - everyone looks forward to getting new clothes and gifts.

As you can see the recipients of these wonderful gifts were thrilled to receive them.

Special thanks to Patricia Brady for thinking of shuktara and to Cecile Tiano for the wonderful jewellery and for your generosity in passing it along.

shuktara homes for young people with disabilities

Happy birthday Moni!

Although most actual birth dates of the young people at shuktara are unknown we think that birthdays are an important part of someone's identity. At some point after each new person arrives at shuktara they choose their own birthday. These birthdays are remembered and celebrated.

Moni's birthday was 11th September and a celebration complete with birthday cake was held at Lula Bari.

Looks like the girls dressed up in their best frocks for Moni's birthday - maybe because of that beautiful chocolate cake!

Shuktara Documentary Interview video - Belinda, Ashok and Lali

Belinda speaks about shuktara

Belinda Carlisle has been a longtime supporter of shuktara and she is a frequent visitor to both homes in Kolkata. While in Atlanta she kindly gave some of her time to Yep! Films International and talked about her experiences with shuktara.

To help support the new shuktara documentary click here:

www.gofundme.com/shuktarafilm