Our Story
“Jeevaratchanai” means “Saves Lives” in Tamil, which is one of the languages native to the southern part of India. This social service organization was founded in 1996 by Dr Pauline Prabhakaran driven by her genuine desire to serve individuals & communities, and supporting them with the means and tools to access various resources. During her enduring service for the past 25 years, she was approached by individuals and communities, especially women requesting a safe home for girl children without both parents or with single parents who are striving to overcome difficult environments where they will be loved, nurtured, supported, educated and above all, feel protected.
After witnessing children going through such crises and lacking support, we decided to open the doors to our home. All are welcome here. All find security here. We are committed to providing resources and support for children to overcome unfavourable environments and achieve their dreams.
Our hope for the future is that families and communities will evolve, learn and get the right support to take care of their children so that there wouldn’t be a need for such a safe place. Until that future, we are devoted to being a home that bridges this transition, and provide holistic care and strategies to serve our children and make their dreams come true. It is our duty, our purpose and privilege to represent them, collaborate with you, and work towards a better future.
Our Core Values
Board of Trustees
Pauline Prabhakaran
Phebe Bowas
Rosalind Agnetha Naja
Our Advisory Team
Driven by passion, optimism, and determination, we are a collective group of people committed towards building equity without stigma for our children.
We are women, living in both India and the diaspora, and friends of Jeevaratchanai who believe that together we can create awareness, educate and reform the misrepresentation of our children and community.
Unified and driven by our belief in India’s strengths, the first step towards our vision is to promote the representation of India’s children by their aspirations and contributions instead of defining them by the challenges they face which stigmatizes them.
Our History
Dr. Pauline Prabhakaran created and constituted this not for profit, non- governmental charitable trust organization motivated by her genuine desire to serve individuals and communities that are systematically disadvantaged and undersupported by society. She started by supporting them by finding and directing them towards the resources they need and is available for them through the government. With her vast experience as a social worker and years of involvement within the local community she developed excellent rapport with various local government departments. Pauline, empathetic by nature, acquires a great deal of professional, social, emotional and cognitive skills in dealing with the entire community including government and non-governmental. She values human relationships highly and works collaboratively with people from all walks of life and serves them. Pauline advocates for individuals and communities with a real sense of mission on identified problems. She is well versed with human rights, child welfare issues and is also extremely resourceful and innovative to not only execute various programs but also to guide and mentor her volunteers accordingly. She is incredibly determined and filled with both tenacity and faith.
The various resources she helped provide and guide individuals and communities towards, along with the Tamil Nadu government just show how highly respected and well connected she is within the city of Chennai.
Some of her services for individuals and communities from children to adults include the following:
- conducting awareness programs regarding legal aid, traffic law, health, anti-ragging, child labor, child safety, and child sexual abuse
- providing career, premarital, and family counselling at Madras High Court
- organizing free medical camps including eye camps for elderly
- educating and establishing self help groups for women
- coordinating and providing skilled based education for young boys through boys club
- supporting and providing medical aid and shelter for the elderly
- coordinate and provide temporary, intermediate, and permanent shelter for the homeless
- coordinating and providing aids and relief during natural disasters and pandemics
During her services, most of the requests from many in the community were and are for a safe and nurturing home for girl children without both parents and/or with a single parent, where they are loved, valued, supported, and above all protected through quality care and education. So The Hope House Chennai was established to provide safety, support, and care currently housing our girl children.
What was once a single person’s vision and mission has now developed into a collective vision and mission of friends who have partnered with Jeevaratchanai Social Service Organization as an Advisory Team.