Poverty alleviation and child sponsorship in India

News of POOR, May 2011

A big Hi to Everyone!

First of all, a big thank you too to all those of you who have helped us in so many ways over the last few months. Our programmes have really been developing and our projects growing with all your kind support. But of course we are always in need more help. If any of you out there would like to do something to make a difference, but don’t know how, read on...

With warmest wishes to all

Gift Catalogue

With the help of Shane we have completely revamped our Gifts that Give catalogue. The new one is really beautiful. Thanks so much, Shane! It is now up on the gift page of our website. Have a look. If you would like to give a gift to an orphan or poor child in India to celebrate your birthday or any other occasion, our new catalogue offers you a unique chance to do just that. And if you have some free time and would like to help us promote the catalogue, a downloadable version is also available.

Greetings Cards Sellers needed

Last year our sellers still had quite a lot of greetings cards left from the year before due to their late arrival by an inefficient postal system. So we didn’t print any new ones. However, this year we would like to and would like to ask for volunteers to help sell them. If you think you could help us with this, please do get in touch. It’s amazing how many funds can be raised from selling cards!!! And it all goes directly to those who need it the most. We don’t keep even a single penny.

Bhadrak School

Last year a kind donor helped us to put a roof on our new Bhadrak school building. Now she’s helping us to complete the building. Thanks so much for your ongoing support, and so sorry I don’t yet have a recent photo of the school. The local village children will be sooooo happy when it’s finished!

Sponsorship Programme

The child sponsorship programme is coming on in leaps and bounds! A good number of people have joined up in the last year. Now that we have set up an online datebase of names etc. we are able to give the donors more efficient feedback than before. This is very important for retaining their confidence in us and ensuring that they will not suddenly drop out.

As a result of all this we now have arranged sponsors for over 140 children in India and Bangladesh. Many thanks to all those of you who are helping us! Together we are making a huge difference to the lives of all these children. It is a really great way to help a child in need. So if you, or anyone you know, would like to sponsor a child, but haven’t already done it yet, please do send me a mail. We have almost 30 children on our waiting list! It’s only Rs. 600 per month. Remember, even a little help from you can make a big difference to a child’s life in India!

Virgin Giving Registration complete!

Yes, we did it! We have finally managed to register our UK charity, Neo Humanist Foundation with Virgin Giving in the UK. I want to say a particularly big thank you to Peter for all the hard work he did to get it done. So now, if anyone living in the UK wants to donate to our projects, you can do it through Virgin Giving, and the government will add 27% onto your donation as Gift Aid. To find our page, you simply go to the Virgin Money Giving homepage and run a search for the Neo Humanist Foundation. The webpage will pop up. It is not perfect yet, but it’s there! If you do decide to do this, please remember to mark your gift “Poor Schools in India”. If anyone wants to use this facility to fundraise for a particular project, please contact Peter on 07980657906.

Funds Raised for Jaipur by Marathon Runner

A page was already set up on Virgin Giving by Clem Stoss who recently ran in a marathon to support the Jaipur orphanage. Have a look at it to see what Clem has done! Well done, Clem, and thanks so much for your help.

Volunteer programme

Since September last year we have had 22 volunteers at four projects and Jessica who volunteered at Vellore, which is not on our volunteering project list, as this small orphanage only has 2 children. However, Jessica had such a great time that she now wants us to advertise the orphanage on the website to inspire other volunteers to go there too. If anyone is interested, her blog about her trip is available.

Can Anyone Help?

Would anyone like to help with our volunteering programme? We urgently need a volunteer to help with registering volunteers on the Kidsworldwide website and also with collecting feedback letters and photos from them when they leave the project, so we can update our webpages.

News of Projects receiving Volunteers

Trivandrum

We have had 6 volunteers so far since September: Aylin, Rohit, Suzanne, Marsha, Kate and Doris. With their help we set up an internet connection at Mutathara and systematized our volunteer programme by keeping a record of the lesson plans of all the volunteers to avoid duplication of work.

Didi has bought a slide for the school and done extensive repair work on the roof that was starting to fall down. The leaking roof of Palkulangra School has also been repaired, the computer fixed, and an electric connection put in to light the classrooms during dark, rainy days.

Jaipur

Jaipur has had 10 volunteers since September. It really seems to be a hot spot for volunteers. Thank you all so much for your help tutoring the children. You have really made difference. Both Anjali and Samiksha scored very highly in their school exams and Samiksha is now going to be admitted in a very good school, where, it is hoped that her talents will get chance to shine. Roshni, Visakha, Nidhi and Nivedita are also doing great. These kids are really serious about their studies! With the help of Ruth we have finished painting the whole house with plastic paint and it looks lovely. The advantage of plastic paint is that when it gets dirty from sticky fingers, we can clean it again. That is wonderful! Thank you so much for that!

And the biggest news is that our orphan, Radhika is getting married on the 22nd June. We all wish her a very happy life with her new husband.

Now that our orphanage has all its doors and windows etc. we are saving up to build the second floor, so we can keep hostel girls who pay and make the orphanage self-sufficient. After that we want to make a boys’ orphanage too!!! It is so much needed. When the boys reach puberty, it is very important to separate them from the girls. Our culture requires it.

Uma Nivas

Uma Nivas High School has had 4 volunteers since September, Nuria and Anna, Carly and Kaviya. Several former volunteers have also returned to see the children they so love. The high school has by now developed its gardens and is growing fantastic sweet papayas and vegetables for the residents. (Those papayas are sooooo good! You really need to taste them!!) We are also in the process of building up the walls of the orphanage and Rarh Hostel to prevent thieving goats from entering. We are also planning to change the top soil in the gardens of both buildings and buying them each a water tank to help them to start their own kitchen gardens. Further plans include buying the part of the nearby pond which we do not yet own, (we already own part of it), deepening it and buying a rice field. All this is part of an effort to secure our water sources at a time when the water table is sinking and our wells are drying up, and, very important, try to become self-sufficient for food. The high school is also in the process of constructing several more rooms on the roof so it can increase the numbers of poor hostel girls it can accommodate. Already around 50 girls are residing there and with the new rooms, we will be able to provide a much greater service to the villages in the area. Well done, Didi!!!

Shillong

Shillong has by now bought the half of the school land that we formerly rented, but is still waiting for permission from the village headman before starting the construction of a new school building. Our two recent volunteers, Lauren and Stephie bought them a fridge, constructed several shelves and did repairs to the bathroom. The children loved them so much that when they left, everyone, including Didi, cried. Lauren and Stephie want to help fundraise for the new building. We wish them luck in their efforts!!!

Other projects POOR has supported

The well at Jasidih School was drying up for large parts of the year and with 50 children in the school and a resident principal, there was a desperate need for water. Two kind donors helped us to arrange a water connection. The teachers and children were so grateful! Thanks you so much, both of you!!!

We also arranged a water supply for Midnapore school. With around 70 schoolchildren and 24 hostel children, carrying water into the building every day was no joke.

The ceiling of Ranaghat School toilet was falling in and was in a very dangerous condition, so we helped the school to repair it. The principal was extremely relieved as she was worried that parts of the roof could fall on a child’s head. We also helped two social workers with teeth problems and another two with broken arms. But still problems remain...

Dimapur school and orphanage needs to build a wall behind the building to keep out drunks at night. It also needs its own water supply as the children have to walk so far every day to bring water.

Karandighi School with 150 children needs to concrete the floor of the school building; Burdwan School needs more classrooms and so does Jasidih; Vellore needs repairs, and so on and so on.

Sometimes for only a few dollars the problems of many of these schools and orphanages can be solved. With very little effort we CAN do something to make a difference. Together we can create deep and meaningful changes in people’s lives; we can give them hope!