As you enter the building of Good Life Centre you are greeted by the warm welcome note with a hand-drawn poster of the compassion personified Mother Teresa caring for a child. And that poster was drawn by one of the in-house residents of this home for orphans and mentally challenged.

About Them

Good Life Centre as mentioned above is a home for orphans, differently-abled children, homeless women – to put it in a phrase, they care for all those who have been neglected by the society. The centre was established in the year 1996 as a rehabilitation centre. Right now, they house 135 inmates which is inclusive of 36 mentally challenged children.

The Children

The Home is rightly called so, as the people residing in it, be it the staff or children, exude such a homely ambiance. In my two visits there, the one thing that stuck me specially was that, the children were very well behaved. From a simple praying-before-eating, to greeting their visitors, each girl / boy does what is expected of her / him.

Services offered

Apart from the centre in Tambaram, they run Thai – Children’s Home that house and educate  54 children; Dr. Kalam Boy’s Village with 45 inmates in a rented premise; Blue Rose that cater to the needs of 36 mentally challenged people.

They require and accept all basic necessities, viz., clothing, medicines, furniture, books, etc., They also require a vehicle to transport the children to school / hospital in case of need.

The Bitter Truth

I asked, “How do they get these children here?” And the answer came back as a blow of reality to my face. I saw all the news article snippets they have preserved that marks the start of each kid’s life at the centre. I should add that I tried to see all the articles but flipping a few pages made me dizzy already.

“Baby girl found abandoned near Tambaram bus stand”

“Just born child with umbilical cord found abandoned in a sack, rescued”

A special mention about a lady who was molested and thus lost her memory a year ago, was nurtured back to health by the Good Life Centre and returned to their parents.

The cheerful side of the coin is that some of the children grow up and take up to servicing themselves. The mentally challenged are being specially educated and their medical needs taken care of.

When we sit in air-conditioned rooms and talk about movies releasing this weekend, let us also take a minute to think about what we have done to help those who are not as privileged as we are. Well, I think I just did my bit. Will you?

For contact:

Good Life Centre,

7B, Loganathan Street, Tambaram West, Chennai – 45.

email: goodlife1996@gmail.com

Phone: 044 2226 4151

– Until next,

Vid 🙂