Unique Home for Homeless Girls

“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.”

- Diane Mariechild

The woman behind the Unique Home is Prakash Kaur, who was herself left on the streets as a baby 60 years ago. Since 1993, she has dedicated her life to the noble but onerous mission of rescuing unwanted and unclaimed newborn girls and giving them a secure home and future. Today, Unique Home for Girls has 60-odd residents who call Prakash Kaur ‘mother’. “They are my own children,” the lady says. “They are never made to feel like abandoned children.” Even as her ‘family’ expands and her responsibilities grow, her reservoir of maternal compassion shows no signs of drying up.

She has touched the lives of many who’ve been cruelly shunned by their own. Siya was only a few hours old when she was found in a drain, wrapped in a black polythene bag. Reva was a newborn when her parents decided to dump her near the highway off Kapurthala. Razia and Rabiya were just a few days old when they were discovered in the fields outside Jalandhar. These girls have all found shelter in Unique Home, where they now enjoy the real family experience that their pitiless parents chose to deprive them off simply because of their gender. The girls who live here range from the age of four days to 19 years.

Most of Unique Home’s inmates arrive here as hapless, barely alive foundlings. So, they have no recollections of how they are brought here. But those that have grown up in the life-affirming warmth of this home are proud that they belong here. Under Prakash Kaur’s care and tutelage, these girls are all well-adjusted individuals willing and able to take their rightful place in a society that still seems to harbour a strong aversion to children of their gender. She is obviously getting on in years but she still retains the strength to make chapatis for all the inmates of the home three times a day and seven days a week.

"Prakash Kaur continues to keep a watch over the girls even after they are married. She fights the in laws prove to be difficult"

The first thing that strikes one in Unique Home is a small hatched box near the entrance. It is called the ‘cradle’. Flip open the hatch and you see a shelf built into the wall. When a rescued child is placed on the shelf, it sets off an alarm that tells the staff that they have a new girl to take care of. When it comes to christening the new arrivals, names are drawn from all the religions of India. So, at Unique Home, girls have Hindu, Muslim and Christian and Sikh names and faith has no restrictions.

For a home that houses 60-odd girls, the place looks a bit too small. The rather cramped space has limited amenities for the girls, including three small rooms that serve as bedroom, dining area and playroom, in addition to a small kitchen and an office for visitors. The room that is meant for infants has three big cradles. Each has four to five babies sleeping in them. Unique Home has now acquired a new site and expansion plans are in place. But living space is the least of the home’s problems for the hearts here are big. This is like a huge family where the older girls take care of the younger ones. We are told by the founder that the girls go to good English medium schools like Saint Mary’s in Mussoorie. A few have since been married into suitable homes.

But Prakash Kaur’s responsibility does not end there. She continues to keep a watch over the girls even after they are married. She fights for their rights if the in-laws prove to be difficult. Take the case of former Unique Home inmate Alka. When her husband died prematurely, her in-laws grabbed all her property and threw her out of the house. Prakash Kaur intervened and fought tooth and nail. She eventually managed to secure for Alka her rightful share in the family property.

"The most essential part of this home is that the children are aware of the fact that their real parents have abandoned them because they are obsessed with boys"

Prakash Kaur with her girls at Unique Home

So far Prakash Kaur has organised the marriages of 17 of the Unique Home inmates. While a few of these girls graduated from college before they got married, the remaining tied the knot after passing out of high school. However, several of the older girls here have decided not to marry and instead dedicate themselves, like Prakash Kaur, to the service of Unique Home.

April 24 is a very special day at Unique Home. It is the day when the children here collectively celebrate their birthday. A huge 100-kg cake is cut and the day is marked by much merriment. That apart, once every year, during the summer holidays, the inmates of Unique Home go on a trip to Darjeeling.

“We don’t want to give our kids up for adoption. People come to us but we refuse,” says Prakash Kaur, because there are many cases in which adopted girls have been ill-treated. She herself has no idea who her parents were. She was found abandoned and grew up in a Nari Niketan. She describes the work she does today as, ‘the Lord’s work’. Asked if she ever faced any mistreatment in the Nari Niketan where she grew up, she smiles and says, ‘I will never allow my daughters to work as maids anywhere.’”

The most essential part of this home is that the children are aware of the fact that their real parents have abandoned them because they are obsessed with boys. But this poisonous truth has only strengthened their resolve to prove themselves. Sheeba, who studies in a convent school in Mussoorie, wants to be a successful neurosurgeon. “I want my real mother to know that the daughter she threw out of her life is well established. I want to be very famous. I want to prove to her that girls are not a burden,” she says. Sheeba has always stood first in her class with A-plus grades. She is determined to make it to a good medical college.