Turning Nirasha to Asha

Turning Nirasha to Asha

November 2022
Turning Nirasha to Asha

By Jamuna Rangachari

Many of us just look at abandoned  children but often do not know where  to provide them shelter and security.  However, some like Sunil Arora, the executive  director of Bal Asha, take it up as a mission. In  his case, the welfare of abandoned and destitute  children was never on his mind when he was  young. He wanted to do an MBA and get a job  like many others, but since his mother, Meera  Arora, often fostered orphaned children, it gave  him the opportunity to know the social issues  faced by them. But the biggest shift happened  on his 18th birthday when he volunteered at  Bal Asha, an NGO which works for abandoned  children. Sometimes, he took care of them, and  other times, he took them to foster homes or  adoptive families.  

The late Mrs. Madhavi Karandikar, who headed  Bal Asha, also inspired him and gave him the  freedom to make decisions in the ‘real world.’  She supported Sunil in all the things he wanted  to do for vulnerable children and involved him  in every stage of child development.  

He observed the work of Bal Asha very closely:  the love and effort put in by the team and its  founders, for children who have nobody. The  organisation also educates children on their  rights, which include the right to education as  well as the right to protect themselves against  abuse of any kind. In the next few years, along  with Mrs. Madhavi of Bal Asha, he conducted a  lot of workshops in Maharashtra. His favourite  was the workshop to change mindsets as he  wanted to make people accept all children  unconditionally.  

As of now, he is working to support thousands  of children across orphanages in India through  the network of legal adoption. Seeing adoptive  parents and abandoned children coming  together—a union which they have long  awaited—gives him immense satisfaction.  When children come back to see Bal Asha as  adults and thank him for changing their lives  for the better, Sunil feels that the decision to  work for Bal Asha was indeed the right one.