The Hummingbird Home
100 children live at the school’s residential campus, many of them orphaned, abandoned, or escaping difficult homes. This page is about how we live alongside them.
Who lives here
The Hummingbird Home is the residential side of the school in Kulamua. The children who live here have one thing in common: they cannot live at home, or do not have a home of the kind a child should have.
Some have lost both parents. Some have been abandoned. Some are escaping homes where the violence had become impossible to live with. Some come from families so financially fragile that a single illness would have ended their schooling.
We don’t list these stories one by one, they belong to the children, not to a fundraising page. What we will say is this: the Home exists for the children who would not otherwise be in school at all.
100
Children living in the Home
24/7
Adults on site, the Home does not close
What the Home is built around
Residential care for children who have lived through real loss is not a programme. It’s a way of organising adult life around theirs. Four principles guide how we do it.
Family form, not institution
Staff don't clock out at 6pm. The adults who run the Home eat with the children, sleep on campus, take them to the doctor when they're sick. The structure is communal, not custodial.
Belonging before achievement
A child who has just lost a parent, or just left a violent home, cannot start learning fractions the next day. The first six months are about settling, eating well, sleeping safely, making one good friend. Academics begin when the ground feels steady.
Their pace, not ours
We do not push children to 'recover' on any timeline. Some open up in a month, some take three years. We make the time available, and we wait without making them feel late.
Holding the difficult conversations
The Home has counsellors and senior staff trained to talk with children about the things adults often look away from, loss, fear, the family that isn't there, the family that hurt them. The conversations happen quietly, in their time, in their words.
How it’s funded
Day-school covers tuition, books, lunch. Residential covers all of that plus a bed, three meals, clothes, medical care, and around-the-clock adult presence. The economics are straightforward.
Per child, per year
Support a child for an entire year by contributing ₹1,26,000, covering both tuition and residential care. Alternatively, you may choose to support residential care alone by contributing ₹78,000 per child, per year.
A closing word
A safe and loving home for children from extremely vulnerable circumstances, built around belonging, not rescue.
If you would like to support the children at the Home, through a monthly Adopt-a-Child contribution, a one-time gift, or a Legacy in someone’s name, every form of support is welcome. Or write to us. We’ll tell you whatever you want to know about a child you may choose to support.
