Birthdays of all children at this ‘Home’ celebrated on Rakhi festival

Dhenkanal: Have you heard of all children in a family celebrating their birthdays on the same day? But this happens at Adruta Children Home in Dhenkanal, where birthdays of all the children are celebrated on the occasion of Rakhi festival. The children, who are orphans and of different ages and studying in different classes, celebrated their birthdays on Raksha Bandhan day with the support of communities in Adruta Children Home at Borapda in Dhenkanal Municipality. People from all walks of life, politicians, bureaucrats, civil society organisations and even former Union minister K P Singh Deo, participated in the birthdays of the all children at Adruta Children Home on occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

Even Dhenkanal MP Mahesh Sahoo, Municipality chairperson Jayanti Patra and MLA Sudhir Kumar Samal cut birthday cake and blessed the children. People also shared sweets and gifts. The children, in turn, greeted them with flowers and performed classical dance.

Though the children’s home is located at an isolated place with no good road, it turned into a centre of attraction on the Raksha Bandhan day with hundreds of people thronging the area from morning till evening.

This is the only children’s home functioning under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 without government support, the organisers said. This children’s home is running with community support for years.

Locals and well wishers have urged the district administration to construct a motorable road from Borapada to the children’s home.