Shantidhara

Sania Trust

2007-05-03T04:21:00.000-07:00

Special preview for the blog readers, if any :)

Due to a problem with suicide in the local villages it has been decided to launch a program to help persuade those who are at risk of suicide that it is not...indeed is NEVER...the answer, and that there are supports which can be drawn upon and things that can be done to alleviate the problematic situations in which people find themselves. Joji is very committed to doing something about this and has already used the 'St. Patrick's Day' event to talk to the parents of the children at the hostel, facilitating them in dis cussing their problems and seeking a commitment from them that they will not pursue the course of suicide no matter what their problems.

I am going to propose to Joji that we name this program Sania Trust in memory of a little twelve year old Indian girl who herself committed suicide last year for want of a 1 Rupee (that's 2 Cents) school meal of rice cakes. I've built a new website called Sania Trust ( http://sania.cfsites.org ) which I will be launching shortly.

The picture above shows Joji addressing the parents last month (April 2007) and asking them to swear off suicide as an answer (all too often taken in these parts) to their problems.

St. Patrick's Day at Shantidhara

2007-04-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

My daughter Andrea (12) decided to offer €100 of her confirmation money to give the children at Shantidhara a St. Patrick's Day Party of all things! I put the idea to Joji and he was more than happy to organise it. In fact he made it into something much bigger than we thought, combining it with Easter Sunday and an anniversary party. There must have been something close to 100 people on Sunday 8th April from villages all around. He even bought small gifts for the kids, and also used the occasion to hold a meeting of all the local parents to discuss the issue of suicide which has been a problem in the area, and to ask them all to solemnly swear off that course of action as a solution to their problems. Joji posted about 195 photos of the event to a Yahoo album, but for today, I'll just post the two above: they show the children with their small gifts of BIG pencils, and a most thoughtful banner Joji made to thank sponsors and volunteers, and of course Andrea for her donation.

Rakesh

2007-01-30T13:23:00.000-08:00

Rakesh is recovering. It's only a few weeks since his father died. Rakesh has been very sad but now he is back at the hostel and everyone has been making a big effort to cheer him up and get him back into the swing of school and play. The hostel is in the background. It's smaller than it looks, only two bedrooms and the hallway to accommodate the 25 children. We're trying hard to get the money together to build a new boarding house and a school, but it is taking a long time. This year we will redouble our efforts.

Christmas at Shantidhara

2006-01-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

Joji made sure that the children at the hostel had a good Christmas. They had a celebration with some cake and wore the new clothes that Clara brought for them a year ago. They prayed at a small altar in the hostel. Clara will be visiting from Spain later this month. I'm looking forward to seeing the photos. It's 1st January 2006 today..... Happy New Year!

From India to the Sudan!

2005-12-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Ralf is now in the Sudan - wherever there is need...there is Ralf! He is from Germany. He's a paramedic and last year he spent some time at Shantidhara giving a first aid course to the local women. Here you can see him at the presentation of certificates to some of the ladies who completed his course. They dressed up so beautifully for the occasion. Recently Ralf sent this photo of himself standing by a United Nations helicopter in the Sudan. A small but very interesting group of people help Shantidhara.

Ever See a Palm Leaf Box?

2005-11-28T12:41:00.000-08:00

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!

2005-11-19T15:03:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

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.

2005-11-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-06T01:06:00.000-08:00

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

2005-11-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2005-11-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

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.

It's Been Raining

2005-10-31T11:34:00.000-08:00

Children at the Hostel!

For the past month or so, cyclonic rains have lashed the villages of Andhra Pradesh, flooding many villages and making life unpleasant and difficult. Mr. Jojayya and his staff have been busy trying to find food for the kids at the hostel and, after several steamy sunless days, washing their clothes which have begun to smell a bit. The rains have been so bad that they've damaged rail track and caused a train to derail killing many people not far away. It was all over the news internationally until the three bombs in New Delhi, another tragedy, took over the headlines.

Mr. Jojayya (let's just call him Joji like his friends do!) e-mailed me yesterday about the train wreck..."and my elder daughter Angelina was telling about the news of train accident and I did not believe and just now I have seen the news and it really shocked me because the accident has taken place very near (Nalgonda district) to our native district, Guntur. Majority of the victims hailing from one village Piduguralla. Very bad news, particularly at this time of rains."

Joji has just taken four new children into the hostel, making 14 in all. I'm waiting for a photograph for our new newsletter. I'll post it up here for you too when I get it.

If you want to see how the newsletter is coming along, click on the following link, http://www.enewslettersonline.com/enewsletter/10427/3023.html

Let me know if you'd like to receive it regularly (maybe 6 times a year or so!).

Check out Joji's site: www.shantidhara.org