Udayan Care

Udayan Care is the parent organization that this orphanage operates under. It is a trust that was set up in remembrance of Udayan Modi, an Indian who cared deeply about the state of his people and went to the United States to study economics in pursuit of helping disadvantaged children here in India. Tragically, he died in 1993 at the age of 21 and the Udayan Trust was set up in 1994 by his family and friends in his memory and as a commitment to the work that he so passionately cared about.

“Udayan” is a Sanskrit (an ancient Indian language heavily tied into current religious writings) word that means “eternal sunrise.” It is the hope of all who come through these doors, whether they be here to help or be helped will then leave these doors as part of that never ending sunrise on India and the world. In fact, since practically all of the children all come to the Udayan Homes without last names, they inherit Udayan as their legal and official last name. Pretty incredible :).

The Vision:
To Regenerate the Rhythm of Life of the Disadvantaged

The Mission:
For every child a home and education, for every adult the dignity of self-reliance and desire to give back to society

This Vision and Mission has led to the development of 6 Ghars (Homes) for children rescued in and around New Delhi as well as programs to assist underprivileged young women with money and mentoring as they seek higher education and learning and supporting underserved communities by assisting in vocational training and personality development programs so that these affected individuals can then enact change in their own environment.

I have the opportunity to participate in only a small part of the bigger picture here, but it is pretty incredible to realize the scope of how many ways the underseved and underprivileged of any society need assistance and chains to be broken. It is incredible how large Udayan Care has grown in the past 14 years and amazing that they have been able to tackle several different issues head on. Even more exciting is the fact that it is a completely native Indian organization and not a Western dependent program.

You can find out much, much more about Udayan Care as well as ways to get involved at their website: www.udayancare.org