Selva Kumar’s Heartbreaking Story of Abandonment

Selva Kumar’s Heartbreaking Story of Abandonment


Selva Kumar was three years old when his parents discovered he had a medical condition.  He suffers from partial paralysis.

After learning of his condition, his parents abandoned him when he was four years old.  They left him in the care of his 70-year-old grandmother.  He and his grandmother had no place to live, and so, knowing their plight, the local villagers gave them a small thatched-roof house to stay in. His grandmother performs labor work, but earns nowhere near enough to support both herself and Selva Kumar.  She is old and doesn’t have much to offer him — they are given food by caring neighbors to help see them through.

Selva Kumar has recently been attending his local Hope Center and our Hope teachers have been helping him with his studies. When he first arrived, he neither recognized what was spoken to him nor replied when questioned. Though he is a 7th grader he barely knew the alphabet before attending our Center. Our teachers have been making special efforts to teach him the alphabet and he has been making slow progress.

He had not been able to concentrate on his studies because of his medical problem, and his mind always seemed to wander toward playing rather than studying.  Practicing Tripura Foundation’s Phonemic Intelligence techniques has helped him improve his studies and concentrate better.  Practicing yoga and Phonemic Intelligence has been helping him calm his mind.

The younger children who attend our Tripura Foundation Hope Center spend time playing with him to help cheer him up.  He generally doesn’t talk with the children he plays with, but lately he has been conversing with his teachers and friends. It’s slow but steady progress.

His parents visit him once or twice yearly, usually during festivals, and leave him some money.  They have no intention of taking him back with them or assuring him of a better future. It is truly heartbreaking that he has been forsaken in this way, and that he has grown up without any medical assistance to help him live a better, more hopeful life.

Tripura Foundation is a budding lifeline to this young man and many others like him, but we can only continue doing so with YOUR help.  Please click here to make a recurring donation of as little as $10 a month.  Your regular contribution helps us ensure a brighter future for children in greatest need.  Thank you.