Introduction
Another month in India has passed and the work is becoming more demanding. We have had many visitors who have come to see the Mango House and visit our schools, most of which have emailed us saying thank you. This means a lot to us as it drives us on to do more for the children of India. This month has had a lot of ups and downs, as you’ll find out. Due to the time it takes to write these newsletters Decembers issue is likely to be late or even missed due to the madness of Christmas and the New Year.

We hope you enjoy this instalment of the newsletter and if you have any queries or comments then please contact us at .

Website
We would like to apologise for the website being down for three days this month, the people who host the site had problems with their server, but all is up and running again. We would like to thank everyone who rang up the UK office to let us know about the problem. It’s a great help, we even have phone calls from abroad letting us know. We would also like to welcome many of our new readers to the website. Every day we get more people from all over the globe, Peru, Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Spain, Africa and more.

There have been a lot of changes to the website this month, including four new sets of pictures of the children.

http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Volunteer-Experiences.htm
We have had an influx of volunteers during the last two months; we try and get all of our volunteers to leave a brief comment about their experience to give volunteers of the future an idea of what to expect. This month five of our volunteers have left their comments and feedback. Please have a look to see what they say about the work we (and they) do.

http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Projects.htm
We have updated this page with an idea of prices for items that we buy for the slums. If you think you can help then please send a donation to our UK office or simply leave a donation via the Givenow website. Your money will be used to help buy fruit, for example. This week alone we have probably distributed fruit to over 400 children as well as many sets of clothes. Although we try and give out as much as we can, and our visitors continue to demonstrate great generosity and willingness to help with our efforts, we always need more money to continue this support in the slums and with the street children.

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures2.htm
The first set of photos from our new school is now up on the website. The school is now over a month old and is going really well. As you can see from the photos, the lessons are really popular and the teachers always welcomed with cheers and smiles.

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures3.htm
Diwali is celebrated in style in Goa with many groups building large monsters and parading them down the streets before burning them during the early hours of the morning. We celebrated Diwali at the slums by playing games, making masks and giving out fruit, balloons and sweets. Games including pass the parcel, and musical statues were undertaken, however musical bumps proved the firm favourite amongst the children!

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures4.htm
These photos are from two new slums that we have visited. Both slums are very small with around only 15 children in each, however regardless of size they need as much help as we can give. One of our volunteers goes to both of these slums every week and we have been giving out fruit and new sets of clothes for all the children.

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures5.htm
During the last week of October we visited two slums and gave out over 70 sets of clothes to all the children. These pictures show some of the youngsters in their new clothes. On our return to one of the slums a few days later, we were delighted to find over half the children proudly showing off their new attire – a genuinely wonderful sight!!!

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/NeedsList.htm
We have added a few items to the needslist and updated the items that have been either reserved or purchased this month. We would like to thank everyone who has helped purchase any of the items.

This months stats from our website :

The ‘Top 5’ most visited pages this month are :-

www.childrenwalkingtall.com
www.childrenwalkingtall.com/WhoWeAre.htm
www.childrenwalkingtall.com/WhatWeDo.htm
www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures.htm
www.childrenwalkingtall.com/NeedsList.htm

We would like to say hello to our visitors from all over the globe, it’s great to find even more people finding our website.

Fundraising
*How to Help* with fundraising
1. Please spread the word about Children Walking Tall. A simple way is to forward this newsletter to your friends and family asking them if they could find the time to read it and to visit our website.
2. If you work at a company that might sponsor any of our projects, please get in touch with us.
3. Be a member of our UK fundraising team by distributing leaflets or raising money. A good way is by finding something that you enjoy doing and have a fundraising event.
4. Have a look at the fundraising pack for ideas about how you can help.

Thank you to everyone!
It has been a VERY busy month, with lots of people visiting us here in Goa, and as such we might have forgotten to say thank you properly. Although we thank everyone we see, it is always nice to say a special thank you in the newsletter. If we have failed to do so then please let us know! Our supporters are the ones who really do the magic, as without their continued help and support then none of what CWT does would be possible. If we have neglected to mention your name this month and you think we’ve forgotten you then please accept our apologies, we are so grateful for all that you do. The best course of action is to send us an email and say “Hey! Can you put my name in the newsletter for ……..” Either that or just have a look at the smiles on the faces of the children in our photos, you’ll see they think the world of you! Thanks

Cargo from Brussels
Vanessa originally contacted us about volunteering for a couple of weeks but one thing led to another and she is now a fundraiser for us in Brussels. Luckily for CWT. she was also working with Alitalia, an airline that transports cargo all over the world – very handy!!! She managed to convince them to donate 120Kgs of luggage space free of charge from Brussels to Mumbai. Her next task, in her own words was ‘”Where am I going to get all this stuff!?!” This turned out to be easier than she thought as friends, family and work colleagues showered her with clothes, toys, games and shoes. Robert went up to Mumbai to collect the items and with help from Sunil (one of our Indian volunteers) organised the transport of the goods from Mumbai to Goa. Robert and Sunil spent about 6 hours in customs trying to convince them that the items were for charity, the final problem was how they were going to manage to get 19 Boxes (120Kg) of things from Mumbai to Goa. A Taxi from Customs dropped them off at a bus stop in the middle of Mumbai at 4.30pm. It was then a mad rush to unpack the boxes and move them into large bags for transportation. The two booked a place on a bus for 6.30pm but then were told there was no available room - it then became a matter of waiting for a bus with a spare seat and enough space for the luggage - simple surely?! At 9.30 Rob still hadn’t secured a seat however the arrival of the last bus saw their luck change when they claimed the last space - unfortunately the only seat that didn’t recline!! After a long 12 hours journey Robert and the luggage arrived in Goa.

Collection Boxes
We have a few collection boxes in Goa and the UK, we would like to thank everybody who displays them for your help. Binnigs are the stars again by collecting a pretty sum for us. We would also like to thank all the hotels and restaurants in Goa who display our cards and leaflets. Thank you.

The House Painters
We would like to thank everyone who has picked up a brush and helped us paint the myriad of pictures on the walls of the Mango House. We’ve had volunteers, visitors, friends, their children and even taxi drivers helping us to paint. Everyone has been a great help and the pictures look wonderful! It has taken a huge number of man hours to get the walls just right and I’m sure everyone who has helped will remember the bits they did and if they leave us and then return they’ll be overjoyed when they see their work again. They really are magnificent. Thank you to everyone who helped.

Volunteers
We have been so lucky to have had so many volunteers in the last two months. The volunteers have been doing everything from running our schools, organising, sorting and giving out clothes, wrapping presents, giving out fruit, painting and even gardening. Luckily our volunteers will try their hands at everything and it makes such a difference. Unfortunately this week we have had to say goodbye to a couple.

Stuart was the first to leave, and has only been with us for a week. He contacted us while he was in England and said I’m coming to Goa for a two week holiday and I’d like to help out for a few days. Half of his ‘holiday’ has been painting, teaching and playing football and cricket at the slums. Stuart came with no less than three police checks as he is a full time football coach in England. He also brought a bag full of goodies that had been given to him by his friends, family and some local companies. We’ll hopefully see him again as he’s hoping to return in the future.

We would also like to say goodbye to Kimberley who left us this week. She was originally travelling round India and heard about us on the internet. She dropped in and gave about a month of her time before continuing on her travels. Thank you for all your help.

Everything that is given to us
In the last month we have had a huge number of things given to us, mostly clothes, shoes and school materials. The majority of it is only with us for a few days or a week as we have been continually sending items out to many of the slums in the area and some as far as Mumbai. We had a lovely email off a Jane saying that her daughter was ‘bowled over to see a little girl wearing her new Chinese outfit’ (her words). Jane and daughter, Jess, saw the outfit on one of the recent sets of photos we had updated on the website. If you’ve given clothes then perhaps you might see the ones you’ve given too.

Many charities sell the items that people bring over. EVERYTHING we get that is suitable for the children in India we give to the children in India. Some items that are too big for the children or just not suitable are given to parents at the slums or used by volunteers and staff to work in. We would like to thank all the visitors and volunteers who have brought things over for us in the last month, hopefully you might see your clothes or toys in a picture, if not, and perhaps the smiles on the faces are thank you enough.

T-Shirts
The Children Walking Tall T-Shirts are still available in Goa, they are hand made and look great. One of our supporters (Kurian) is also trying to organise a new batch of T-Shirts, these will just be printed versions so will cost the charity less, so we are hoping to be able to raise more funds through the T-Shirts. We are getting a sample through in the next couple of weeks, and if it’s up to the same high standard we will hopefully get them in the next month or two. Thank you to Katheleen, Lynne, Stuart, Adda and Merv for donating money for T-Shirts this month.

Wedding Bells
We would like to wish Lin and Davy all the best as they were married on the beach in Candolim on Saturday. They were kind enough to do a collection for Children Walking Tall at their evening party and even had an auction where the proceeds went to the children. They have also been given a few items like toiletries and a few toys by their guests. Thank you so much and best wishes for the future.

Online Donations
We have just had the one online donation this month; Reinhard was kind enough to donate via the Givenow website. We sent an email to thank Reinhard for his donation and found out he was actually in Goa so he found the time before leaving to come and see us at ‘The Mango House’. Thank you for your help

If you would like to donate money towards anything from our needslist or would like to just give money for the general running of the charity then please let us know. We are always in need of donations, if you would like to make a standing order (monthly donation) then please visit our donation page or contact our UK office for more information.

What's Been Happening?

TB and impetigo
We unfortunately have to report that one of the slums we visit each day has had a diagnosed case of TB. This is a serious problem as TB is very infectious and can be serious. What makes things worse is that as one has it then it’s likely that more have it. We will keep you informed of progress, we hope to get everyone in the slum screened for TB, although this is more difficult as the simple test does not work well if the patients have a poor diet.

If that wasn’t enough, we organised a dermatologist to visit the second slum we teach at and although most of the kids have healing wounds a couple have scabies and also impetigo. We are hoping to tackle this by introducing a better level of cleanliness at the slum, hopefully buying in a container of water and giving all the children a good wash and clean up. If you would like to help by sponsoring health checks then please get in touch with us. You can give a one off donation via the Givenow website or you can start a standing order by printing out and filling in the donation form on our website. If you have problems with either of these ways then please contact us and we send you the information.

Information on TB
http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/Tuberculosis.html

Information on Impetigo
http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/articles/impetigo.html

Visitors
Now that the tourist season is in full swing we have had lots of visitors come to see The Mango House, many have brought with them goodies for the children, including clothes, shoes, toiletries, balloons, sweets and much more.

As a result of our visitors generosity we have been able to do even more ‘clothes runs’ to the slums, therefore making sure that all the children have something clean to wear. We have been able to give out around 200 sets of clothes to children in the last month alone. As with everything we do it is all down to our supporters who bring an extra suitcase of clothes with them when they come on holiday.

Some other charities sell the items that their supporters bring over rather than give it to the children. At Children Walking Tall this will NEVER happen, all the clothes that we receive that are suitable for the children are given to the children! The best moments are those when you visit a few days after a ‘clothes run’ and see all the children wearing the clothes that you gave out.

This month we have been introduced to four new slums with around 250 children in them. When we have enough clothes, they too will have a ‘clothes run’. If anyone can help in bringing clothes over we are in need of children’s clothes between the ages of 6 and 14 especially. If you have girls clothes then short skirts aren’t really appropriate for the older girls due to the culture in India.

If you would like to know in more detail then please contact us.

Diwali at Karaswada
For a special treat to celebrate Diwali we decided to do a party instead of the normal scheduled lessons at the school in the slums. The first visited Karaswada, our group of volunteers came up with games to play and things to do. We had 3 pass the parcel games, musical statues and musical bumps (which was the preferred option), balloons, sweets, fruit and dancing……lots of dancing. The children also designed face masks out of paper plates, coloured wool, glitter, felt tips, glue and tissue paper. All the children enjoyed the games and made excellent masks. Some of our favourites were the ones that had ‘goatees’ (beards) made from the wool. The whole lesson had many of the parents sitting around watching their children having fun. Pass the parcel was great although some of the smaller children didn’t always like to pass the parcel along. There were more than 50 children playing and therefore trying to keep to keep track of the parcels was quite hard. Small treats were in some of the layers, small games, sweets, while the prize at the centre was a soft toy. The games lasted for 3 hours, we had planned to do henna tattoo but by that point our time had run out.

Rob, Shermina and the volunteers then went back to ‘Mango house’ for a break before heading out to the next slum.

Diwali at Sinquerium
After Karaswada we drove to Sinquerium to our other school and met up with even more of our volunteers and some visitors. We then proceeded with the same games and activities. The children here also preferred musical bumps but still enjoyed all the other games, balloons and fruit. We would like to thank everyone who helped us during the day, especially the volunteers who kept the children entertained.

After spending most of the afternoon at Sinquerium, Rob and Shermina were then invited back to join in with the festivities going on that night. They quickly drove back to Mango House, showered, put on their ‘glad rags’ and headed back to the slum. This was the first time that they had celebrated Diwali at the slums during the evening and got invited into each of the houses to see the shrines for their Gods which were made up from offerings such as money, fruit, coconuts etc… Most had Sari material draped over burning incense sticks. Once inside they were offered chapattis with a sweet dal filling which had been made earlier by crushing the dal seeds with large stone grinders. The first one was really good and they both finished them off, probably a mistake as they were then invited into all the other houses to eat as well! One chapatti was enough, 5 or 6 was just too much! Each home was so proud to be showing us their shrines and offerings. The third or fourth home had a tape player on playing Hindi music and they were both asked to dance. Rob as always didn’t mind making a fool of himself and joined in, after 15 minutes the heat and the fact that they were in a small hut became too much and he finally had to stop.

The night continued with everyone dancing around a kerosene lamp with small candles lighting the way (they have no electricity supply) at around 10 all the girls vanished off and started to go round each house with candles to sing a song. Not really sure of the meaning of the songs, but after 10-15 minutes of singing the parents from each hut gave the girls some rupees each. For some reason some of the girls seemed to have made more money than the others…...not sure why?

Unfortunately later on in the evening some of the men who had been enjoying the Diwali spirit too much had a scuffle. As there was no electric lights (and no electricity full stop) it was quite hard to see who was arguing with whom. Shermina took care of some of the children while Rob tried to help and make sure that no other children were in them middle of the men. Two of the children whose father was fighting had got stuck right in the middle so Rob picked them up, the elder one was shaking so much. After that they wouldn’t leave Robs side, so much so, that the younger of the two fell asleep in his arms. The night then calmed down a little and finally ended when they left at 1:30 in the morning!

Problems at the slums
We are upset to report that there have been continued alcohol related problems at the slum. Alcohol is widely abused by the parents of the children we are helping. Alcohol is so cheap in Goa 1 litre bottles of spirits starts at around 30 pence. It is a quick and easy solution to the day’s problems and is another way to take the hunger pains away. The same family was still having problems 2 days after Diwali, with the further beating of the mother and throwing one of the children and cutting his head. We were desperate to help, but we are STILL waiting for permission from the authorities. The only thing we could do is speak to the family; we hope they might try to solve their problems without having to take it further. Involving the police or other NGO’s has other problems in itself. We also want to try and remain on good terms with the family to help stop the abuse that is taking place.

Karaswada School
The school is going really well with 40 or more children turning up everyday. The volunteers are saying that the children are remembering the things that they have been taught and continue to greet us each morning with big smiles and hand shakes. We were also honoured by the children and their families as they had been approached by another charity offering to place them in schools, their reply was ‘No thanks, we like C.W.T.’. This was all translated through one of our visitors who were pleased to let us know. Thank you to everyone who supports us and allows us to continue the work that we are doing. Also thank you to Anita and Mathew whose actions always seem to help us! All the children can’t wait to visit the Mango House.

The Mango House
Work is continuing at The Mango House, a HUGE thank you must go out to the ‘Goan Dentist’ who has donated the men and the paint needed for the outside of the house. It was originally white and yellow and hadn’t had a new coat of paint for quite a while. The new Blue/ White paintwork is striking and makes the house look so much better. But it does not finish with the walls, he has also done the window frames and rain sheets for above the windows. It is amazing to see the difference that it has made. Work is also continuing on the inside, with many Disney characters being painted on the walls.

The play / school room looks especially inviting with Tarzan, The Lion King, The Jungle Book, Lila and Stitch and finally some fun pictures from Madagascar. While in the office, which is the grown ups room, giant 8ft Monsters Inc characters guard one of the door ways. The walls of the dining room have even more wonderful images including alphabet characters and a number train.

Thank you to all the volunteers and their friends for colouring in the characters and helping bring them to life. The playroom and dining room are nearly complete and our next job is the reception area. A special thank you goes to Vinod’s children and also a holiday maker who gave up an afternoon helping us paint.

Mumbai Street Children
While Robert and Sunil were in Mumbai collecting the cargo they were able to have a look around, and meet some families that live on the road side. There was an abundance of children, many of whom were under the age of 8, playing and living next to the busy roads. All the families seemed happy and invited us for food and chai (tea). Rob managed to keep them entertained by speaking terrible Hindi, playing a few tricks, made paper aeroplanes and models. Unfortunately they had to leave, but managed to return later that afternoon with a large rucksack full of oranges to give out. Thankfully there were just enough for every child. This was just a small section of the miles of small huts that line the sides of the roads in Mumbai. Many of the children had sore eyes, colds, and sores. On our next visit we will bring more fruit and vitamin tablets to help boost their immune system. Sunil went back later in the month and gave out pens, pencils, felts and crayons to some of the local schools near the slums.

Welcome to all of our volunteers and helpers
We would like to give a warm welcome to Volker, Kym, Mary, Lynn, Stuart, Nick, Rebecca, Emily and Kirsty. It is great that so many people want to come and help at a new charity like ours. Many volunteers are here from 1 to 3 months, but we do have some that stay the whole season to help. How ever they help we are so grateful, We just wouldn’t be able to run without them. Thanks, and see you all for the volunteers meeting today.

Future Projects

Christmas
Christmas is less than a month away! We have been wrapping more presents and have now wrapped approximately 200. The hope is to distribute at least 500 presents this. The presents will be given out in Goa on Christmas day and then any remaining presents will be taken up to Mumbai in early January. Last year we managed to give out over 150 presents and pieces of fruit which was a great success. If you’re coming to Goa in the next month and would like to donate a few small presents for us to distribute for Christmas then please get in touch via email. If you’re already in Goa then please give us a call on 9822 124 802.

Paintball Tickets
Delta Force World Class Paintball Entertainment have donated 10 books of Paintball tickets to the charity to be sold or used for raffle prizes. Each book contains 8 tickets and cost £49.95. For more information please visit our website http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Paintball.htm or contact our UK office.

What you can do to HELP!!!
Perhaps you could make a difference in the lives of the children. Make a donation to Children Walking Tall. If you have a preference on how the money should be spent then please tell us, and we will try and make the money work the way you want it to.

Other ways to help are to donate clothes, books, pens and toys. This can be especially helpful if you’re planning a trip to Goa and can bring them with you. The easiest thing that you can do is tell others about what we do. The more people who know, the greater the chance we have of supporting children like these.

Do you have any comments about the newsletter? Would you prefer a shorter version? Would you like to see pictures in the newsletter (Email will be larger if pictures are added)? Please let us know what you would like, as we always want to improve what we do.

And Finally
If you would like to receive these monthly newsletters by email please contact us at . Please put the subject “Join Newsletter” so that we can add your address to the mailing list. Send us the email address you wish the newsletter to go to. If you have received this email by mistake, or wish to cancel your monthly newsletter then please let us know by email at with the subject “Cancel Newsletter” Many Thanks from everyone at Children Walking Tall.

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