Manan Chaturvedi the founder of Surman Sansthan – home to an orphan and destitute children coming from varied challenging backgrounds. Manan Chaturvedi wanted to give a planned direction to her movement. There are some who lost their parents and were handed over to Manan by the hospitals, others who were abandoned, and many whose guardians are not in a condition to look after them. Thus came into existence Surman Sansthan which might look like any other orphanage but has a motherly love imbibed within that none of these kids are given for adoption, and Mrs Manan takes care of their health, food and schooling needs on her own.
The turning point in her life came when she saw a 7-year-old girl lying naked next to a municipality dustbin of Jaipur. The child was not wearing any clothes and the sight just shocked Manan. Looking at her, Manan was terrified. She quickly wrapped the girl in her dupatta and brought her home. She had nowhere to go and therefore, Manan and her husband decided to keep her with us. What was the point of designing garments for a few people when so many others barely have any clothes, she thought. She felt designing clothes a worthless job if she cannot afford to give food and clothing to the destitute kids. And since that day, she has been working for orphans. Very next day she started visiting various slums in her vicinity and started distributing food and clothes. In the beginning, many of them opposed saying ‘street kids’ weren’t allowed in the society. Thankfully, today, my children are a part of the gatherings and get to play with neighbourhood kids. I guess it is the compassion of these little ones that have melted everyone’s heart.
All these children live with her three biological kids in a home called Surman Sansthan. It could be considered to be one of the biggest families in Jaipur and Manan ensures that they celebrate all the festivals together, irrespective of the different religions that the children belong to. She does not allow the adoption of any of these children. Thus she has earned the title ‘Mother of 98 children’. She even rejected a lucrative job offer from the USA. But never turns down any international support that she obtains for running her organization and has devoted her life to raising funds for this orphanage from various sections of society.
Mrs.Manan’s relentless service to uplift the abandoned kids have been recognized by the Rajasthan Govt. and she has been appointed as chairperson of Child rights commission of the state. With new responsibilities on her shoulder, she has chalked out plans for building a home for 2500 children who are neglected by this society for various reasons.
