Our Gorakhpur Centre

History

The Gorakhpur centre is operated under the patronage of the North Eastern Railways Women’s Welfare Organisation, which is part of the Ministry of Railways (Government of India), and was opened in 2004 as our second centre.  As you can see by the photo, the centre consists of one major building (former railway warehouse) on a disused railway platform.  Some of the railway tracks are still in place.  The buildings were in a very poor state of repair, and one of our first jobs was to replace the asbestos roof over the main dormitory building.

Features of Our Gorakhpur Centre

The centre provides accommodation for approximately 60 children and 7 supervising adults, and has:

• An extensive but very exposed lawn area
• A good playing area for cricket, soccer etc.
• A high wall and sturdy gates for good security
• Very good toilet facilities (donated by Rotary Club of Brentwood and Gorakhpur)
• Very good bathroom facilities (donated by Rotary Club of Brentwood and Gorakhpur)
• Average kitchen facilities
• Separate office building near main gate for visitors
• Dining area

       Playground

The land adjacent to the Gorakhpur centre has been donated to Children of Mother Earth by the Indian Railways so that the centre could be extended.

 The land is approximately 1 acre in size, and is triangular in shape. It had long been envisioned as a playground for the children. A short boundary wall had been built to mark the boundary, but the presence of undesirable elements for the children in the area calls for a much higher boundary wall.  The area has already been cleared of scrubby bushes and litter.  It now needs to be filled and leveled with soil in order to make it a suitable playground for the children. A small portion at the southern end of the area can be used as a much-needed garden for vegetables and lush fruit trees by adding more topsoil.

       New Dining Area

The dining area is the latest addition to the centre. A spacious and decent dining area was a long-awaited need of the children. It is still incomplete. Doors and windows have to be fixed. Children are already using the area.

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      New Bathrooms and Toilets!!

In 2010, the Rotary Club of Brentwood à Becket in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the local Gorakhpur Rotary Club, donated the funds for the complete rebuilding of our bathroom and toilet block at the rear of the Gorakhpur centre.

The old facilities were very rudimentary, and none of the children were sorry to see them go.  Now they have modern shower and toilet facilities, under-cover!!! You can imagine the excitement at the centre when the project was completed in 2011.

As a footnote, the building contractor was so impressed by the children at the centre that he gave a sizable discount at the end of the project, including the waiving of a cost-overrun to which he was due.

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Old Kitchen…

New Kitchen!!

Thanks to a large donation from a Melbourne-based company,
we now have a brand new kitchen at Gorakhpur.

Here are the before and after photos.

Improvements Needed at Gorakhpur

• A vegetable garden (approximate cost-1000 USD)
• Playground equipment (approximate cost including installation charge-1000 USD)
• Expanding kitchen (approximate cost- 1000 USD)
• windows for ventilation and light in the main dormitory rooms (approximate cost-4000 USD)
• complete the removal of asbestos roofing (approximate cost for 2142 Sq.ft.-1000 USD)
• higher security wall around extra land donated by Railways (approximate cost-3000 USD)
• renovating toilet/bathroom attached to visitor/meeting room (approximate cost-1000 USD)
• building a hall to be used for bridge schooling (approximate cost for 40×30 ft -6000 USD)

You can continue the tour of our centres by clicking this Next Centre link, or you can select a specific centre from the main menu on the LHS of this page.