Kohima, Jan. 17: She has been mother, friend, philosopher and guide to no less than 600 children over a span of nearly 30 years. And all she wants is a special day when the world will remember these orphans.
Munna is one of those boys who have found the milk of human kindness at a home away from home. He is among the 604 children who have grown up in the lap of 76-year-old Zaputou Angami in the 30 years of the Kohima Orphanage and Destitute Home. For the children ? most of whom were orphaned in the deadly factional clashes that have marked the over 50-year-old history of the Naga movement ? Angami has been their guardian angel in the middle of all the bloodletting.
As the crucial peace talks between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) leaders progress in Delhi, Angami is hoping that the fratricidal killings will end forever and ?I will not be pained by the sight of another orphan?.
But Zaputou Angami has another fervent wish: to somehow send a request to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to declare a day in the year as ?orphans? day?.
?There are days for almost all events ... hornbill hain, kya kya din hain,? she said in a reference to the day marked for Nagaland?s bird, the hornbill. She said if there could be days earmarked for practically everything, how can the country ? or for that matter, the world ? forget orphans?
?The government should officially declare four hours on that day for playing, enjoyment and relaxation by those who have lost their parents,? she said.
Angami had always wanted to bring up children. Her dreams came true years after her marriage, when she adopted seven children, all orphans. She started the orphanage in 1973 and now takes care of 86 inmates, all below 20 years of age.
A large number of the children are of parents killed in factional clashes. Some are children of unmarried couples. ?Hum mana karne se bhi rakh deta hain (They leave the babies even when we forbid them),? she said. So she moves around, enquires with pastors and village elders for such children in villages.
Her children hail from Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and even Nepal.
?I just want the world to set aside a day for the orphans when they can pray and remember their parents,? said the unassuming septuagenarian.
The state government does help her a bit. She said her home receives Rs 1.5 lakh annually but added that the real work is carried on through donations from social institutions and the community.
Recently, the orphanage got Rs 500 per head for the physically challenged inmates over a period of three years. ?We don?t need the money. Let them (the government) give it to their servants for buying sweets,? she laughed.