The Boy Who Wouldn't Sit Still
A Visit by an NGO in LucknowLakshya does not stand in lines. That was the first thing anyone noticed about him.
When our volunteers arrived at the orphanage that afternoon, most of the children hung back a little, watching from a distance the way kids do when they're curious but not yet sure. Not Lakshya and Vikas. They were already at the gate. Lakshya was craning his neck to see what was in the bags. Vikas had his eyes on the sports bag specifically, tracking it like it owed him something.
They both spotted the football at the same time.
He didn't say anything. He just looked at it, then looked up, and grinned so wide it was almost ridiculous. One of our volunteers, still trying to figure out where to put things down, laughed without meaning to. That's how the afternoon began.
Summer Break, and No One to Play With
Before this visit, Dr. Heena Khan and the DUA Child & Social Welfare Trust team had come to this place twice just to talk. No activities, no distribution. Just to sit with the children and ask them what they actually needed.
The answers were simple. A football. Some games to fill the summer break. Something to do while school was closed and the days felt long. Two boys in particular, Lakshya and Vikas, kept coming back to the football. Not once. Multiple times. That kind of repetition is not random in a child. It means something.
That kind of honesty from children is easy to overlook. It doesn't come with a press release. But it's important. Because when you skip the listening part, you end up bringing things people don't really need, and going home feeling good about yourself without having helped very much.
They didn't ask for much. Just something to do. That tells you everything about what's missing.
Across India, there are an estimated 20 million orphaned and abandoned children according to UNICEF data. In Uttar Pradesh, a significant number of them are in institutional care, and many of these homes run on thin resources. Summers are particularly hard. School provides structure; without it, the days stretch out with little to fill them. For the elderly residents at the old age home next door, the equation is different but the feeling is similar. Empty hours. Quiet rooms. The occasional visitor.
DUA Child & Social Welfare Trust, which operates as an NGO in Lucknow, has been working to bridge exactly this kind of gap, not with grand gestures but with sustained, direct engagement.
Why We Came Twice
The ground visit before the main event is something Dr. Heena insists on. It changes how you plan. When Lakshya and Vikas tell you they want a football, you bring a football. You don't guess. You don't bring what looks impressive in a photograph.
The children at this orphanage are between roughly 2 to 21 years old. They have a routine. Meals, chores, studies when school is on. But in summer, that structure loosens and there's a restlessness that sets in. A few of the older boys said as much when asked. They wanted to run around. They wanted games. They wanted something that didn't feel like sitting and waiting.
The caretakers confirmed it too. Engagement is the hardest thing to provide consistently, especially when resources are limited and staff are stretched.
So that's what the team planned for. Not a ceremony. An afternoon.
The Afternoon Itself
When the team arrived for the actual visit, the energy shifted almost immediately. Footballs came out, badminton rackets were set up in the courtyard, Ludo sets were laid out on the floor inside. Frooti and Oreo biscuits were distributed, and yes, that mattered. There's something about a cold drink on a summer afternoon that is hard to explain to someone who has never had to wait for one.
But what stood out wasn't the things. It was the noise. The orphanage got loud. Kids argued about teams, someone kept losing at Ludo and demanding a rematch, and all 40-plus children had been given drawing books, watercolors, paint brushes, and a blank canvas to do whatever they wanted with. Most went wild with color. A few sat very quietly and got serious about it.
Shalini and Priya deserve a separate mention.
Both of them painted with watercolors, and the way they handled the brushes was something else entirely. Not tentative, not random. They used the brush the way someone does when they have been doing this a while, controlling the water, layering the color, letting things bleed where they should. Shalini painted a beach with waves that curved in a way that felt genuinely observed. Priya went bigger, a landscape with trees and flowers in the foreground and a sky that shifted from blue to pale orange at the edges. Large canvases, both of them. The kind of paintings you would stop in front of on a wall. Dr. Heena stood there for a while, just looking at them. Nobody had to say anything.
Meanwhile, the old age home residents had joined in for the calmer games. A few of them played Ludo with the younger children. One elderly man was explaining the rules to a seven-year-old with complete seriousness, as if the stakes were very high. They were, probably, for both of them.
The orphanage got loud. That's not a complaint. That's the whole point.
Lakshya, Vikas, and the Football
Lakshya and Vikas claimed the football within minutes of it coming out of the bag. Lakshya is fast and he knows it, darting between the other kids with a kind of focused joy that is specific to children who are completely in their element. Vikas played differently. Quieter, more deliberate, the kind of player who does not chase the ball but waits for it to come to him. Between the two of them they had the whole courtyard moving.
At some point, one of the volunteers sat down next to them when they both took a breather. Just asked how they were doing, if they were having fun. Vikas shrugged and smiled, which said everything. Lakshya looked at the football in his hands for a second.
Then he said: next time, can we play a proper match?
That was it. No speech, no moment of cinematic revelation. Just a kid who wanted to play a proper match.
That's what you hold on to. Not the grand narrative, but the specific small ask that tells you the child is already thinking about next time.
What Actually Changed
In terms of what was tangible: games and activity materials were distributed, including footballs, badminton sets, Drawing botebooks, Paint, brushes and Ludo sets. Snacks were provided. The visit covered both the orphanage and the adjoining old age home, and the team spent several hours across both spaces.
The children who paint now have an audience who noticed their work and said so. The elderly residents had real conversation with people who came specifically to spend time with them, not as part of a checklist. Lakshya and Vikas have a football.
What's harder to quantify is what happens to a child when someone shows up, asks what they need, and then actually comes back with it. That's not a small thing. It takes time to build trust in an institutional setting, and this visit was one step in a longer process that DUA Child & Social Welfare Trust is committed to.
These children are sharp, funny, talented, and full of ideas. They don't need to be rescued. They need consistent support, steady engagement, and adults who treat their wishes as worth listening to. There's a difference, and it matters.
The Larger Picture
India has one of the youngest populations in the world, and simultaneously, one of the fastest-growing elderly populations. Both ends of that spectrum are, far too often, left without enough attention or resources.
In a city like Lucknow, organizations working on child welfare and elder care tend to operate with very little. Donations are inconsistent. Volunteer engagement is high around festivals and low the rest of the year. The children's needs don't follow a seasonal calendar, but the support often does.
DUA Child & Social Welfare Trust, as an NGO in Lucknow focused on child and social welfare, is trying to shift that dynamic. The approach is not complicated: show up, listen, come back, repeat. But it requires sustained resources and people who are willing to stay engaged beyond a single visit.
If you've read this far, you're probably one of those people.
If You Want to Support Children in India, Here's Where to Start
There are two ways to be part of this work.
Donate to DUA Child & Social Welfare Trust
Rs. 500 funds activity supplies for 10 children.
Rs. 1,000 sponsors a full game set.
Rs. 2,500 covers snacks and materials for one complete outreach visit.
Volunteer With Us in Lucknow
Come for a visit. Help organize activities. Spend an afternoon. We welcome individuals, student groups, and corporate teams looking for meaningful CSR engagement.
To get in touch with DUA Child & Social Welfare Trust and donate for child welfare or inquire about volunteer opportunities, reach out directly through our channels. We'll tell you exactly where your support goes.
Lakshya and Vikas want a proper match next time. That next time depends on people like you.
Written by Vishal Kumar - Content Strategist and Field Documentation Lead
Dua Child and Social Welfare Trust
Dua Child and Social Welfare Trust is a Lucknow based NGO founded by Dr. Heena Khan, working across child welfare, women's health, food security and community care in underserved communities across Uttar Pradesh.
