Kuki-Meitei couple runs orphanage

PTI

Keithelmanbi (Manipur), May 4

A year after ethnic clashes polarised the state and its people, a Kuki-Meitei couple running an orphanage fostering children from both communities are testimony to the harmony that once was and hope that it will be so again one day soon.

Donjalal Haokip and Rebati Devi, who have no biological children of their own, operate the Ema Foundation Home in Keithelmanbi, the sensitive zone between the Imphal valley and Kangpokpi, the former dominated by Meiteis and the latter by Kukis.

Is it an easy task considering the tense situation in the state?

“No. But love is the only counter for violence and the way to peace,” 52-year-old Haokip said from the home located in the foothills of West Imphal and Kangpokpi.

The couple, who have been running the orphanage since 2015, fosters 17 children, including Meitis, Kukis, Nagas and even Nepalis.

They remember vividly the events of May 3, 2023, when ethnic clashes broke out over a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

“When the violence began on May 3 last year, we thought the situation will get normal by morning. But it didn’t stop. I sent an SOS to Assam Rifles. They assured us support and made some deployment outside the orphanage,” Haokip, a Kuki, said. The months that followed were tough and the couple was constantly fearful of what lay next for them and the children.

“The first threat was that we are a Meitei-Kuki couple and then we had children from the communities.... Our families feared that we will be a very easy target. But we decided to stay put and despite difficulties we have managed to survive, “ he said.

The couple got married in 2012 and children at the home call them “mummy” and “papa”. The kids attend a nearby school run by the Assam Rifles. The eldest among them studies in Class 10 while the youngest is four years old.

“When my mother passed away in 2008, my wife and I were planning to erect a memorial stone. But we thought again that instead of spending money on a stone erection we can start this and hence named it Ema, which means ‘mother’ in Manipuri,” Haokip added.

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