Mata Amritanandamayi Math – Opens New Care Home for the Elderly
25 September 2003
The Mata Amritanandamayi Math’s second Care Home for the elderly was inaugurated during the Amritavarsham50 Celebration by Smt. K.R. Gouri, Kerala’s Honourable Minister of Agriculture.
Smt. K.R. Gouri, Kerala’s Minister of Agriculture, inaugurated the Care Home
Located in the beautiful village of Thalayolaparambu, near Vaikom in Kerala’s Kottayam District, the Care Home rests amid an expanse of paddy fields, a beautiful setting for senior citizens to spend their final years. As the residents have no family to look after them, an appointee of the Math will live with them, providing the care, love and respect they deserve. As in Ambu Illam (the Math’s other care home, located in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu), the residents will remain active, participating in spiritual practices and light jobs, such as gardening. Next to the Care Home is space for community gatherings and spiritual programmes.
Although it is India’s tradition that children take care of their aged parents, in modern times this is frequently not the case. Neglecting their duties to their mothers and fathers, more and more children are turning cold shoulders to the ones that once provided them with everything from food to clothes. Since in India only government employees receive state pensions, such seniors are most often left to suffer silently and alone, or treated like burdens in their own homes.
It was in Her childhood that Amma first began reaching out to such neglected ones. Amma would regularly bring food to them, give them baths and provide them with new sets of clothes. The care homes of Mata Amritanandamayi Math are simply an extension of that compassion.