Taking Items over for the Children

Toiletries

The toiletries listed below are required by Children Walking Tall in Goa on a daily basis.

 

Shampoo

To help with hygiene, it is important that the children wash their hair well, keeping it clean gives them pride in their appearance and promotes their own personal hygiene.

Hair Conditioner

Lots of the girls have long hair so conditioner is a huge bonus to tackle often wild hair

Toothpaste

Tooth paste is always needed, spare toothpaste and toothbrushes are often given out out in the local slum communities where it is always welcome. If they do not have toothpaste available they often use charcoal as a substitute.

Talcum Powder (Small Bottles)

Due to the hot weather and humidity talcum powder is used to keep the skin dry and helps protect against fungal and related infections.  Extra powders are also included in baby packs that are given to newly delivered mothers.

Nail Brushes

Nail brushes are given to all the house children and spares given out in the slums. The children often pick at scabs from small cuts and burns which introduces secondary infections - nail brushes help by keeping their nails clean.

Head Lice combs and treatment /Tea tree Products

Head lice are permanently entrenched in the slums and the children are continually having outbreaks as they sleep close together. The combs allow them to control the lice at home, the treatment is used at the house each week where required to help keep the problem under control

Soap / Shower Gel

Soap is used every day and the children are encouraged to keep clean all day. Any extra soap received is also often given to the children in the local slums to give them a hygiene boost which they often require.

Toys and Games

Toys and Games in good condition are always needed to give out in the slums, for birthdays and for Christmas. In addition items such as tennis balls, footballs, cricket and beach equipment are also used for group activities.

Toys to give out in the slums

Size

Size is important. Small toys that can be used as either presents for birthdays, Christmas or other celebrations are preferred.  These are much easier to even out so that each child gets a similar sized gif

Batteries NOT Included

Generally speaking toys that require batteries are unsuitable. These cannot really be given as presents as the children's families would be unlikely to buy new batteries.

Strong Toys

Toys tend not to last very long in the hands of the children. Skipping ropes, cars etc are quickly broken so larger toys are best if they are solid, well made and don't have small items on them which can break. With smaller toys it is not such a problem although we would hate for a child to receive a present which is in pieces 5 minutes later.

Simplicity

Some of the best toys are the simple ones, spinning tops, balls, skipping ropes, footballs, frisbees, balloons etc. Games that can be played outside are also good. Board games, especially those with small pieces aren't as good as most of the children can' t read english and find instructions difficult to follow. Christmas/Celebration presents - small presents that can be shared out are always needed - over the last two years on average 900 wrapped Christmas presents per year have been given out. Good things to bring for presents are small toy cars, dolls, balls (Football, Tennis Balls etc), skipping ropes, Balloons (best ones are punch balloons that you bounce against your hand), bangles, pretty hair bobbles/clips for the girls and 'make yourself' aeroplanes. In many of the slums that are visited there are from 20 - 60 children, so a collection of similar items are great as each child can be given the same toy.

Arts and Crafts

The daily programme at Mango House almost always incorporates arts and crafts so any of the following items would be appreciated. Please note, however, that much of what is described below can be purchased locally in Goa - this will generally be cheaper and will save you carrying heavy items.

Paint

Many of the activities the volunteers do with the children use paint, so large containers of paint would be ideal (like the ones that are used in schools).

A4 Card, A4 Plain Paper, Coloured Card

These are always appreciated. As there are around 50 children that's 50 pieces of paper or card for every  project so it quickly gets used up. Card is probably the most useful as this can be hard to find in India... Laminating sheets are also great as it is often desirable to laminate posters and badges for the children. Reams of paper are preferred to smaller books.

Good quality metal scissors

Many pairs of plastic scissors have been donated, but these do not last long in the children's hands so good quality scissors that can be used again and again are preferred

Sellotape

Sellotape is always welcome - a lot is used in wrapping presents for pass the parcel, birthday presents, craft work and especially in December when on average 1000 presents are wrapped and given out to the children.

Small Packs of Felts, Pens, Pencils, Crayons

A lot of these items are received - as such please do not buy these especially, although if you do, then small packets rather than large bulk ones of lower quality are preferred as , especially with felt tips they dry up over night due to the hot weather. Packs of 12 or 15 Crayons, felts, colouring pencils are ideal as these can be given out as gifts or help fill the students pencil cases at the start of the school term. Additionally, other charities and schools can benefit as any excess resources are donated to them to them so nothing is ever wasted.

Artistic Materials

Beads, felt, coloured paper/card, cellotape, art straws, pva glue, prit sticks, glitter, paint (like you get in schools) would be great to encourage the children to be creative. The children love getting messy and someone will always clean up after them so anything like this would be great.

IDEAS !

The volunteers are GREAT, but sometimes they need a little bit of inspiration on what projects would be good to do. Projects that are simple and can be used in groups of 10 to 15 children are best, If you have any ideas (with good instructions) then please email us, the more the merrier so please send them into our email address

Rainy day books (with ideas of fun things to do)

Games ideas, Songs books etc would be wonderful. Many of the volunteers that come to help have the heart for volunteer work but have no experience of working in this type of environment. So any resources that give us ideas of things to do would be great

Art Teachers

OK, they might not fit in your luggage but people who can come and spend a day doing an art project would be welcomed.

Medical Items

A great deal of time and money is spent on the children's health. Due to the conditions of their home life it is common place for the children to come along with burns, cuts and skin conditions. Burns and cuts especially are common place as the children are often around open fires and broken glass. Some useful items that are continually in use are listed below.

Betadine Solution

(Dry Spray or powder is ideal to cover open wounds which are very common)

Children's Vitamins

Ideally, children receive every day. While vitamins are available locally, these are not designed for children child friendly 'chewable sweet type' vitamins are always needed and great things to bring over. Giving out vitamins every day needs about 500 vitamins a week, Bassetts Multivitamins are ideal.

Head Lice shampoo

Strong but friendly head lice shampoo/treatment is always needed, the children are constantly picking up 'little hair friends' and they are passed around so quickly. Good quality metal nit combs are also very useful for the house where as cheaper plastic combs are great to give out in the slums.

Small Sterile bandages (2 or 3 inch)

There are often severe burns / skin infections & cuts to be tended to, to keep them protected from the dust and dirt that would otherwise infect the wounds. Dry betadine sprays (that create a barrier) or powder are also great as they act as a protective barrier. Please no triangular bandages.

Sterile Gauze Swabs (2 or 3 inch)

A lot of gauze swabs are used for cleaning wounds, attending to around 30 to 40 children a day.

Non-Adherent Burns Dressings (eg Melolin)

The Non-Adherent dressings are ideal as they allow infected wounds (inc burns) to be covered preventing tissue damage. Various sizes are preferable.

Large Fabric Plasters

Cheaper smaller plasters do not stick in the conditions in the slum. Fabric plasters are stronger and have more sticking power. Additionally many burns/cuts get infected and the larger fabric plasters can be used to keep them clean.

Boxes of Disposable powdered gloves (Medium/Large)

The volunteers and staff use many pairs of gloves while they tend to the children during medical time, the gloves are good for infection control.

Micropore Tape (rolls)

This is ideal for keeping dressings in place as the children are energetic and anything that helps keep their wounds clean is ideal.

Alcohol Hand Sanatiser

This is great when treating the children's cuts and burns, as it kills a good selection of germs. The volunteers and staff always give our hands a rub before and after treating the children.

Make Up remover Pads

Make-up remover pads are used to clean around wounds as the children's limbs tend not to be sufficently clean.

Clothes

Clothes are great to bring, but please think about sizes and style before you pack. It would be a great help if you could separate items out by packing in separate plastic bags (for example girls tops, boys tops, boys trousers, girls trousers etc all in separate bags so they're easier to sort here.

Here's a list of things to think about...

Girls

Girls are very modest in India and as such only feel comfortable in longer skirts/dresses. Many of the clothes that are received are very short mini skirts which really are not suitable and make the girls feel very self conscious. If you are bringing skirts, please make sure they are longer than the knee, even better if they are full length. This isn't such a problem for the younger girls, but please remember that a 6 year old skirt in the UK might fit a 12 year old girl in India. Longer Dresses are Ideal!

Size

The children are small, the maximum size should really be to fit an English Boy/Girl of 12 to 13 years of age. This is likely to be ample for all the children that are helped.

No Adult Clothes (Please)

Quite a lot of adult clothes are donated. These are not really useful as they tend to be far too large for the children and also too big for their parents. Anything not suitable is set aside to be given out to the rag pickers or for volunteers to wear in the garden etc. Sorting clothes is a huge job and would be made much easier if adult clothes were not sent over.

Underwear

Underwear is a great thing to bring, but size is important. Most of the children wear underwear that is deigned for much younger children. The UK age for underwear should really be between 1 year and 6 years of age.

No Socks

Socks are not really worn out in Goa - the children do not wear them as they either spend most of their time barefoot or with sandals on. So these are not really required.

Bras

The should only be small cup sizes or training bras - again all the children and mothers generally have very small frames so larger cup sizes are not required. Slim thin vests for girls are a great idea as they are often worn in India. under their tops.

Sandals

Footwear, simple sandals and flip flops are mostly used in India, any sizes below size 5 would be best.

Babies Clothes

Size is important!. Baby clothes for very small babies ( 0 to 3 months) or 3 - 6 months maximum are best. Tiny suits are good as these can be given out in the government hospitals to the newly born babies. Items designed for older babies, then separate tops and bottoms are best, as all in one suits are just too big.

What Not to Bring : Chocolates / Sweets

The children probably would love sweets but please do not bring sweets and chocolate especially as many of the children suffer from poor dental hygiene and sweets speed up the decay process. However, as a special treat sweets are generally given out during Christmas and Birthday parties (held at the end of each month). Instead of sweets, fruit is an ideal substitute - grapes can be bought at the wholesale market for 250 - 350 Rs for 10 Kg in season, oranges, apples, mangoes & bananas are also a great substitute for sweets. Another option instead of sweets are 'sweet type' chewy vitamins or non-sugar sweets.