Thus the chain began. Abandoned children were brought by her from thickly wooded areas in Kohima and from cemeteries.Or parents themselves came and dumped their children with her either due to poverty or due to the child being born out of wedlock. By the end of the first year, the strength of such children rose to five. By 1982, Mrs Zaputuo had 72 children in her house. She then decided to make it a corporate body by getting the 'Home' registered under the title "Kohima Orphanage and Destitute Home".
A request was also made to the Govt for allotment of a site for establishment of the orphanage.This request was acceded to and a site near the Kohima Science College , Jotsoma was allotted. However, people in the neighbourhood felt that the children in the orphanage were a bad omen and hence forced them to quit the place soon. But as they say " If God closes one door, He opens another" ,and Mrs Zaputuo managed to shift the Orphanage to a new site belonging to her son-in-law, where it exists today. Liberal assistance from churches and various dignitaries including the assistance from His Excellency the Governor of Nagaland has brought the home to its present level.
Today, the home has more than 100 children amongst whom 5 are between 1-5 yrs, 20 between 5-10 years and more than 50 between 15 to 20 yrs of age. Presently, there are 87 inmates in the centre and 22 are in the boardings of Don Bosco, Christ King, LFS, etc because of space problems or educational reasons. Unfortunately, the home does not have any monthly income and funds are also declining. Earlier the Social Welfare Deptt used to give some funds but this has also declined over time because of the shortage of funds in the Govt of Nagaland . The 'Home' now survives on meals and clothes donated by people, hard work put in by the children in the gardens and paddy fields and the work done by them during vacations in the form of handicrafts, weaving of Naga shawls and Mekhlas, dry flower arrangements, etc. These are taught to them in the Home so as to make these children stand on their own feet.
The Home has established a Govt primary school upto class IV. Three teachers are also employed who fulfil their duties sincerely.
The inmates'daily routine starts from 5 o'clock in the morning, which includes prayer, lunch, dinner and study. Unfortunately,there is no structured playtime in the routine as there are no playgrounds or play items. The home has three boys' rooms, one room for girls and children below five yrs. One barrack with plastic sheet partitions for classes from one to four wherein 17 students are in class I, 08 in class II, 06 in class III and 09 students in class IV. 25 students are in class A & B, which are for children below 06 years.
Because of the endeavors of Ms Zaputuo, 50 children have been adopted from the home, since the time of its establishment, some children have got enrolled in the Assam Rifles and the Assam Regt of the Indian Army,some have got jobs in the Police services or Home Guards. But there are still so many of these children who are looking at us all with tears in their eyes and a look on their face, which says -