Help from the Least of Us..

This week, we had a visit from Babu Briton (Grandfather of Briton). He is the grandfather of two of our students, Briton (6 years old) and Vavai (4 years old). He has recently become unemployed and with is extra time he stopped by to see if he could help teach the children about flowers!


This is extraordinary that he would come to us to offer help rather than the other way around....

Babu Briton, Briton and Vavai (both in stripes)

Briton and Vavai come from a very poor family. They were abandoned by their father shortly after their mother, who was born with correctable but un-addressed birth defects, began to exhibit mental problems. She soon began to neglect her boys and her father Babu Briton, stepped in to help in their care. At that time, Babu Briton earned a living by clearing up brush from construction sites. However, recently, a thorn from a local bush damaged his eye. He couldn't afford immediate medical treatment so he lost the use of the eye and was no longer useful to his employers.




Babu Briton came to us this week because he really loves our school. He offered to share his knowledge of local plants and flowers in exchange for the tuition for his grandsons who have now been left in his sole care.


The boys were part of the first group of children that enrolled in our school 2 years ago. They both exhibited severe symptoms of neglect. At first Briton (then 4 years old), especially, had terrible behavioral problems, did not listen to his teachers and often fought with his classmates.


Since they started attending MDFT, they are both well fed, exhibit great hygiene practices and love to learn. Briton is now more himself and has become very reliable, responsible and a leader among his peers. In fact, Briton and Vavai received the first exercise books that were purchased with the profits of our first Flood Garden harvest.


Preventable and/or correctable health issues are left unchecked in most of our community. The children suffer a double tragedy, one is to not have access to needed resources and another is to lose their loved ones to such preventable issues.