BAKUABARI HOME
Jalpaiguri, north of West Bengal – India
DESCRIPTION
BAKUABARI HOME – HOWRAH SOUTH POINT
Founded by Father Laborde, the inspiration for the book and movie « The City of Joy », Howrah South Point (HSP) has been working for 45 years for the underprivileged children of West Bengal. HSP promotes human development irrespective of caste, creed or religion.
Spread over 9 different sites and offices, HSP pursues the same objective in each region: to help the youngest children living in the slums of Calcutta who have no chance of accessing education or healthcare.
Bakuabari Home is one of these shelters and welcomes all year round 50 girls from very poor families. More than half of these girls have disabilities (cerebral palsy, physical deformity, mental disabilities).
But Bakuabari is more than a centre for children. This home is a place of life, a haven of peace. There is a large vegetable garden, a farm and tea plantations. The children go to school and participate in the daily tasks of the home: gardening, maintenance of the vegetable garden and the farm animals, cooking, maintenance of the premises. At the medical level, the girls receive physiotherapy and psychotherapy. All the necessary care and medication for their disabilities are provided.
With this centre, HSP wants to give these girls a chance to be integrated into society, where the status of women is complex and disabled children are sometimes rejected.
The Comgest Foundation has decided to support the Bakuabari Home by co-financing its maintenance and operation.
IMPACT / MAIN INDICATORS
• Long term improvement in quality of life for the girls in the project
• Improved health and capacity building for girls to enable them to find their place in their communities as adults.
From September 2023 to March 2026:
• 62 young girls with disabilities living in the Bakuabari homes
• 108 children attending the Manus Domini special school
• 33 children have undergone at least one corrective surgical procedure
• 9 adults with severe disabilities living at Jeevan Path
• As of 31 March 2026, the homes are caring for 39 young girls and the school for 60 children.
LOCAL
PARTNER
Howrah South Point
www.howrahsouthpoint.org
Selection
Duration
Project selected in September 2022
Duration: 4 years
Financed
by
The Comgest Foundation
COMMENT FROM THE AMBASSADOR
Frédéric Bustin
Over the past three years, support from The Comgest Foundation has directly contributed to the care of 62 girls with disabilities at the two Bakuabari homes (Nirmala Nivas and Ananda Dhara), the education of 108 children at the Manus Domini special school (including special needs education, physiotherapy, speech therapy and behavioural therapy), and corrective surgery followed by post-operative care for 33 children at the homes.
Each of these figures represents a life transformed, and none of these transformations would have been possible without the skill and dedication of 14 didis (caregivers), who work tirelessly with the residents every day.
This year, the association is celebrating the golden jubilee of Howrah Service to the Poor. The celebrations began on 17 January 2026 in Howrah and Jalpaiguri. Fifty years after Father Laborde’s pioneering work, the organisation enters this new decade with a consolidated team, a leadership structure prepared for the next generation and an unchanged mission: “Reaching the Unreached”.