Ever See a Palm Leaf Box?

Joji e-mailed me today to tell me that the long awaited palm leaf boxes had arrived to enable the children to keep their clothes packed tidily. Here is the text of his e-mail:

After long waiting finally the palm leaf boxes arrived to the hostel for the use of children. Clara, during her stay in hostel she prepared boxes for the children with thick sheets, pasted colored cloth and made attractive boxes for the children to keep their clothes in. After using them for one year, those boxes were torn and the need for new boxes arose, hence this time we opted for another type of boxes made with palm leaves. They are very cheap ( Five boxes for One Euro)with lids on the top to cover and these boxes were made by rural artisans from the areas where the hostel children hail from. Though they are very light weight with flexibility, they occupy lot of place, needed to spend the money (more than the cost of boxes) fortransportation and hence one of the father of our hostel children (Uma) who is a laborer in sand and stone transportation truck, brought the boxes at free of cost. In order to avoid disputes among children the numbers were given through lottery and the boxes were given to them accordingly. The children, after drying all their clothes for a day on Sunday, they arranged all their clothes in their new palm leaf boxes. Now the hall also looks very tidy and neat and children are very happy.

Chicken Feed!

Maybe the kid goat didn't last but at least the chickens bring a smile to the children's faces! It's feeding time and the kids are loving it. Here's something you might not know. There are about 6.5 billion people in the world and some 4.5 billion of them are very poor - defined as living on less than $2 per day. Poverty is the world's greatest and most intractable problem. We get tired of hearing about it and tired of being asked for donations. So now donor fatigue is becoming a very big problem. After the huge outpouring of generosity in the wake of the Asian tsunami, followed by another mighty effort for Hurricane Katrina.....there was just nothing much left for the Kashmir earthquake...only a fraction of what was needed has been promised, and only a fraction of what was promised has been delivered. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, injured or left destitute by these natural disasters and they deserve every cent of help that we can give them....BUT remember that 4, 500,000,000 people are destitute all the time...in a million small corners of the world.



I am finding that being part of something like this is vastly more personal and rewarding than was ever the case all through the years when I pledged my few bucks to the various appeals and telethons that came around. Here you can see real results for your efforts, deal directly with the people doing the work on the ground and interact with those benefiting from it, get constant feedback on progress, and enjoy the challenge of trying to get this new hostel and school built!

New KId Goat Dies

The children at the hostel were very excited a few days ago when Joji bought them a kid goat to raise as a pet. This morning they fed him just before going to school but - and we don't know why - the little goat died at 10.30am. A small, inconsequential piece of news from a faraway place....but it's big, important and sad news for these children. Ultimately, everything is local.

The children are learning some dancing, practicing for Clara's return visit in January 2006. Clara Gari, from Spain, helped to establish the hostel last year and the children are eagerly looking forward to the return of Clara Aunty!

Deepavali

The children at the hostel celebrated Deepavali a few days ago. Joji tells me "It is a hindu feast where the people take head bath, wear good clothes and lit lights around the houses and celebrate the feast with fireworks. We bought many crackers and children enjoyed very much. These are the photos shot in the evening at 7 -00. They also ate the raw sugar cane which is our tradition."

This picture shows the hostel children with a collection of firecrackers. If you'd like to see what they got up to, check out some more photos which Joji has posted HERE

Check in here again and keep up to date with the wonderful, life affirming work of Shantidhara!

Mahila Mandal Meeting

The Mahila Mandals are the Womens Associations. In the tribal, marginal farming communities of Andhra Pradesh, women often play a key role as educators, community leaders, managers of the family finances as well as playing a full role as workers to supplement the family income. But they are often illiterate, vulnerable to ill treatment and in need of empowerment. The Shantidhara Social Service Society provides this empowerment, organising Mahila Mandals in its ten target villages, giving adult education, literacy and home and budget management skills to the ladies of the villages. Get more information at www.shantidhara.org

I don't know about you, but I think these school uniforms are just great! When you think of their backgrounds and the work being done by Joji and the staff at Shantidhara to provide shelter, education, dignity AND a school uniform to be proud of, with very few resources, well it's just amazing. These people can make a dollar do the work of ten! These kids have a FUTURE!

The hostel is rented and what little comes in through donations goes largely to pay the rent. So a bit of land will have to be bought and a new hostel and school built! The cost will be very little by western standards but immense in terms of the resources available to Shantidhara. I am proud to be one of just a few people internationally who are aware of and trying to help this small, local, struggle against the odds in a far away place.

Basketball!

The parents have been clearing the bushes on a piece of land outside the hostel for a basketball court. Joji mailed me the pictures. It's so good to see the community getting out and helping itself. In the environment of poverty and lack of education that pervades places such as this, the people often tend to become resigned, lethargic, and prefer to leave it to others to take initiatives. One of the important aspects of Shantidhara's work is that it re-empowers people, helping them materially and with education of course, but also encouraging them to self-sufficiency and helping themselves.