Thiruvananthapuram: Two Thiruvananthapuram-based children, aged 11 and 6.5 years, can now look forward to a better life and better living conditions, thanks to the ‘Karuthalode’ project initiated by leading digital transformation solutions company UST’s corporate social responsibility wing.  Efforts put in motion by the CSR team, functioning under the Thiruvananthapuram centre of the company, have succeeded in building new homes for 11-year-old Sarang and 6.5-year-old Arjun (names changed*) children from Vellanad and Perumkadavila blocks respectively, in Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala.

UST officials, led by Chief Values Officer Sunil Balakrishnan, CSR Ambassador Sofi Janet, Vineeth Mohanan, Lekshmi Saralakumari, and Susheer Ramachandran, handed over the new house to 11-year-old child Sarang and his grandmother on the International Day of Happiness, March 20, 2024. Meanwhile, 6.5-year-old Arjun received the keys to his new home on the day of Vishu, April 14, 2024. 
Sarang lives with his grandmother, whose only source of income is the government’s Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGP). UST CSR team’s Karuthalode project, which aims at ensuring better education, and living conditions for children who need care and protection, collaborated with The Dale View, the implementation partner, to complete the construction of the house. Arjun, who had been living in a shelter home after his mother passed away due to cancer when he was 28 days old, is now brought up by his grandmother. The new home for Arjun, which has also been built through the efforts of the UST CSR team’s Karuthalode project, has now brought a ray of hope to the little child and his grandmother. 

“The CSR wing at UST has been effectively intervening in transforming the lives of marginalised people in society. The Karuthalode project, which aims specifically at providing better educational facilities, and comfortable living conditions for children who need care and protection, stepped in to build new homes for 11-year-old Sarang and 6.5-year-old Arjun, much to the relief of the two little children and their grandmothers who have been looking after them.  The intervention by the UST CSR team has come as major aid to the two children who have been facing problems due to the lack of proper living spaces,” said Sofi Janet, CSR Ambassador, UST Thiruvananthapuram. 

Besides these two projects, the CSR team of UST has also constructed a washroom for Sneha and her sibling of Trivandrum district at their home. UST has also handed over study materials to 28 children from rural areas around Thiruvananthapuram, as part of its Make-a-Wish programme.

[*The real names of the children are removed, and pseudonyms are given to protect their identity and privacy.]