Spring News 2013
April 24, 2013
Winter – Time – Vacation
Soniya, our Brazilian volunteer, took all the children to Prem Baba. The children had the opportunity to perform for a big group of foreigners. This was a new and good experience to increase their self confidence.
Maria from Holland organized many activities for the children. She bought badminton rackets, footballs, cricket bat, pump, cycle so that the kids could learn different sports. The kids loved spending time with her. Old volunteers see improvement in the kids their language and social skills.
I really appreciate her for spending her time playing games, taking them for swim and so on daily ! Children are always waiting for Maria after school.
The kids were also so fortunate to go on a rafting trip and camping. They were looking so much forward for this event. They had of course a great time! Thanks a lot Maria.
Griet from Belgium, looked after the small boys during this activity. All of them made healthy energy balls. They packed them in bags, made little notes with the written ingredients and put them for sale in the shop.
Jitender received a bansuri flute lesson from the flute teacher the weekly classes are being payed by Maria. He is very proud of his advancing new skill!
All the children passed the final exam and so they move to the secondary school. Those who succeeded Secondary School will start in a higher level.
Vipashana and Santosh received piono lessons from Mr. Guido every day for two weeks. They thoroughly enjoyed learning how to use the different functions and practising their technique. Both children improved a lot. Before he left he introduced new piano teacher from Taiwan, so that these children can continue their lesson. We are looking forward to see Mr Guido next year. We thank Mr. Guido for giving his time to teach the children.
Holy-Fest
Maria came to celebrate with us. The kids enjoyed throwing colors and water. After this feast Rachel had a joint-arthritis attack. She was not able to move and suffered during days from great pain.
Griet brought her to Tom, a Japanese acupuncturist who removed 30% of her pain. This was a big relieve since school was starting the next day. This is busiest time of the school year.
Tom recommended Rachel to drink a lot of cranberry juice. Slowly slowly Rachel`s pain decreased. Now she is still on a strict, mainly fruit diet. Griet is giving her suggestions what she can do.
Thanks to our visitors and donors:
Martha Delamere and Beverly Todd helped us out with donations. We were able to buy an electric stove and suitable pressure cooker. The children use this daily to make dal. Many thanks for both of you!
Sonia, the Brazilian volunteer, she donated 7000 rs for Sahib. With this money he was able to set himself up for school (books, uniform, school bag and clothing and shoes for the whole year). Thank you Sonia, I `m sure he will have a great start this year!
Elisabeth Veit (200 euro), Altedschule (100 euro) and Paulien from Holland (50 euro), gave us enough to buy for nine children (Santosh, Assis, Ganesh, Rajan, Rajiv, Vishal, Jitender, Serwan and Sankar) school materials such as school bags, uniform, shoes, socks, sandals, … Thank you very much!
Eva Doerpinghaus gave us 100 euro and Nicole from the US, donate 90 US dollar. Thanks to this contribution it was great help during the Off-Season. Thank you Nicole and Eva!
Talasi from Spain and Andrea who have been supporting Serwan and Rajiv continuously for a couple of year now, We appreciate this still tremendously!
Joy King from the USA, donated us games, color pencils and Frisbee, the kids enjoyed this already a lot.
Upcoming needs
- All the big children, who are going to the Secondary School now, could use extra classes in English and Math. In India the quality/level of the schools is not so high compared to the Western schools. That is why Rachel wants to provide extra tutoring in the Ganga Valley School otherwise they will not improve.
So the school needs money for a teacher who can give these extra classes. Teachers charge 3000rs/month. - Maintenance of the building. We need to paint the whole school inside and outside. Repair the walls because there is everywhere moisture from the monsoon. Estimated price for this is about 60,000rs.
- Although through shop business we are able to provide meals and essential items for the home stay children, it is difficult during off seasons (May, June July, August, December and January) to find extra money to support their wider needs.
For these home stay children in particular it is important to raise extra money and appeal for additional donations.
We ask that kind donors give to a fund to be shared amongst all homestay pupils to accommodate their general needs and perhaps provide occasional treats.
We also have a vision that individuals could agree to sponsor a particular area of need for all homestay children, for example provide new shoes or uniform for all homestay pupils and not just one.
Our particular areas of need are:
- Clothing, shoes and schoolbags: We understand that in foreign countries these items are often used for a short time and discarded whilst still in good condition, but they would be most useful for our children. Donations of money to buy these items new would also be gratefully received.
- Vitamin supplements and medicines: We aim to keep our pupils as healthy as possible. These items are vital in caring for the children.
- Games and toys: The pupils enjoy their free time and are always so happy to have new toys to share.
- Outings/Holidays and Festivals: With little extra money it is hard to provide these extra treats for our homestay pupils. The pupils are happy, content and hard working. We would love to have enough money to show how much they are appreciated by giving them special experiences, for example camping, days out and treats at festival times.
- Computer technology: We want to offer our pupils the best opportunities in line with other countries, however computer equipment such as laptops, digital cameras, scanners, printers and internet connection are expensive costs for our school. Currently we have one desktop computer and four laptops for all pupils to share. Help towards these costs would mean we could buy additional equipment and our children can advance their ICT skills.
- School materials: We are always in need of additional school materials such as pencils, pens, exercise books, reading and course books, colouring pencils, geometry sets, practical materials to support early maths and literacy skills, plain paper… the list goes on!
Future Plan
The kids are growing older and we should start thinking about a plan what they can do in life. How they can make a living. In the West not finishing high school is a rare thing. In India however there is a big family pressure to make money to support the family especially in the poor families (which Binod is already doing from the day he came to live with Rachel. Basically he was 7 years when his family sent him away from his home village in Bihar to work. Until now he is still sending all his money to the family.) Now already we notice that some children who are very capable and talented find it very difficult to refuse the family`s pressure to give up their dreams and instead start making money.
The idea behind this restaurant is that they would work few hours a day, so they make the money that the family expects. The working hours would not only be few but also flexible so they can continue their studies and at least finish high school. In the restaurant they also learn to deal with people from all over the world, they learn the hospitality business; basically their social and business skills will increase. Having good skills is in India more important than degrees.
Rachel however would skill run the school. This means she doen`t have the time to build the restaurant and to train the children. We not only need financial help we also need help from foreigners to start setting this up. Please let us know if you are interested to engage yourself for a longer time to build up this business.
If you feel you can support our appeals in any way, or would like to find out more information, please do not hesitate to contact the school. We will be most grateful to hear from you.