About the Anna Crossman Trust for Kids in Kerala
The charity was inspired by Anna’s stay in Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala, when she was 18 and on her gap year. Anna worked as a teaching assistant at the Auxilium School and Prathyasha Bhavan Orphanage in February and March 2011.
The 650 children at the school are aged 5-16, and are from poor families, with parents typically working as fishermen, tailors or rickshaw drivers. The orphanage is home to around 50 girls aged 4-18 from desperately traumatic backgrounds; they have suffered bereavement, abuse, exploitation and mental and physical cruelty.
How are the funds being spent?
Our hundreds of wonderful donors are funding:
- Annual school fees for 25 children at Auxilium School whose parents can’t afford to keep them there. (Many schools in India charge fees; at Auxilium the average cost is £75 per child per year.)
- A generator to avoid the disruption of frequent power cuts.
- Scholarships for five girls at the Orphanage, funding their education from age 5-18, including a year at a technical college.
- Refurbishment of the top floor of the Orphanage – currently just an empty concrete space – to provide an assembly hall and small library.
- A medical and counselling fund for the girls.
Beyond Auxilium
We have also identified other schools and communities in the Kochi area that are in great need of our help. They are:
- SDPY Central School
- Cottolengo Special School
- Santhom community
- St Louis School