SCOMI supports Karm Marg,
a children’s home in India

Thank you so much for visiting the SCOMI website! SCOMI is the acronym for the foundation Stepchildren of Mother India. We are happy to give you background information about how it started, what it stands for and how you can help.

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SCOMI

Paul Bakker founded SCOMI in 2001 for the purpose of raising funds for the Indian children’s home Karm Marg.

Beginning in the 1980s Paul Bakker (1933-2022) was a regular traveller to India. The many poor and neglected children that he encountered during his travels touched him. In 1996 Paul met Veena Lal, who through her foundation Karm Marg, provided a safe haven for street children in Delhi. He decided to help her in her endeavour.

In 2001 Karm Marg was able to buy a piece of land in Faridabad just south of Delhi. Veena needed structural help in order to build and maintain a house and provide schooling for the sixty children already under her care. SCOMI was founded to provide this help. A beautiful house was built surrounded by a garden and playgrounds.

Deborah and Steve Pepper, who travelled regularly to India to source for their Amsterdam shop Capsicum, were involved from the very beginning. Presently the members of the board are Viviane Bakker, Deborah Pepper, Fons Diepenmaat, and Romy Boesveldt.

The board of SCOMI is committed to raising funds for Karm Marg. 98% of the donations go directly to Karm Marg. The basic premise of SCOMI is that Veena, founder and matriarch of Karm Marg, knows the priorities and should decide how the funds can most effectively be used for the development and welfare of the children. Once a year a board member, at her/his own expense, tries to visit Karm Marg to keep the contact with Veena and the children alive and warm. Between visits Veena keeps in touch, mostly with Deborah, via WhatsApp and email.

SCOMI structurally donates about € 20,000= per year to Karm Marg. Furthermore SCOMI maintains a contingency fund to be used for major improvements or in case of calamities: such as the purchase of a generator so that there is enough light in the evening for the children to do their homework or the replacement of a collapsed boundary wall due to heavy monsoon rains.

Karm Marg covers 50% of their costs through the sale of their handmade products. For the other 50% they rely on donors and your donation will truly be appreciated. Here you can read about some of the yearly visits.

SCOMI is registered at the Chamber of Commerce, number 27243778 and is a recognized ANBI foundation in the Netherlands. RSIN number: 816328080.

IBAN: NL 61 ABNA 057 377 1340

About Karm Marg

In India there are innumerable vulnerable and destitute children from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds who are physically, mentally and sexually exploited and abused and often end up in a hopeless life of poverty and crime. The objective of Karm Marg (path of action) is to provide these children with a long term, secure environment where they can realize their full potential with a sense of confidence.

Karm Marg also offers trainings to marginalized youth with an emphasis on enabling young adults to become self reliant. And Karm Marg helps rural women to generate income improving the standard of living for the entire family and community as a whole.

A major project is training young adults to make and sell innovative, environment friendly products out of discarded materials: newspaper, waste/recycled cloth rags, waste wood and scrap metal. Karm Marg produces very popular carry bags, greeting cards, pouches, picture frames, stationery, and many other products marketed under the brand Jugaad. The income from these products is used to run the home and provide seed capital for the young adults.

An innovative feature of the organisation is that it is democratic with little hierarchy or bureaucracy. Although the board members develop the main strategies, everyone, including staff and children, have a say in most of the decisions. There is open communication and strategies are changed as and when needed. The home, Karm Gaon (Action Village), is truly of the children, for the children and by the children – with adult staff as friends and guides.

Veena Lal is the founder of Karm Marg and still the driving power behind the home. Veena is not alone and has a wonderful team around her.

Would you like to contribute to this beautiful home?