January & February 2006

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

Thank you to everyone who has been visiting tHe Big ChariTy BoX and voting for us in the last month. 
tHe Big ChariTy BoX (http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/CharityBox.htm) is a friendly competition held between different UK registered charities and the rule is simple: the charity that receives the most votes by the end of the year gets the most money! We have managed to stay top for the whole of January - at one time we peaked at 9.8% of the total votes cast! We're currently on 7.5% (3.2% above the next closest) of the votes, it is getting more difficult to stay out in front so we need even more help from our supports to stay on top. If you have signed up to support us please remember to cast your vote each month to allow us to keep the top spot. Another way to help is to pass the link on to your friends and family to join in too. If you have more than one email address then please register and vote for us. It all helps. Please click here for more information

http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Mango-House.htm
Early last year Children Walking Tall found a beautiful old Portuguese house that would make an ideal base for the charity in Goa. It has been named 'The Mango House' due to the prominent Mango tree at the front of the garden. The house is just north of the town of Mapusa in North Goa and will run as a home and drop-in shelter for children. The first time Robert and Shermina saw the house was in May and it had been left in a terrible state and had not been properly lived in for 20 years. It has been a huge task to renovate it into a warm and welcoming space for the children. It's been a very hands-on project for the team - in fact, all of the work has literally been done by hand. The only electrical device that has been used in the building/maintaining work has been an electric drill! Most of the work has been done by Rob, Shermina and the volunteers that regularly come out to Goa to support the charity. We have added a page to the website to show everyone 'before' and 'after' shots of the house, as well as tell you a little bit about what was done. The work is now almost completed and we would like to thank everyone who has helped us to make this house into a home..

http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Volunteer-Experiences.htm
The experiences section of the website is designed to give you an insight into what it means to be a volunteer for Children Walking Tall. This month we've had a few people sign it, due to volunteers moving on either to continue the travels around India and Asia, or have returned home to continue their normal lives. If you would like to come over and volunteer for Children Walking Tall, then please get in touch with us. There are always lots for volunteers to do. 

For more information please click here (http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Volunteering.htm).

http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/AllSpice.htm
We are lucky to have support from locals in Goa too. Two of which are Vinny and Girsh who are doing a sponsored bike ride around India during the Monsoon season. They both work in our favourite restaurant 'All Spice' in Arpora, which we visit for when ever we want great food and of course great service by Vinny and Girish (as they are two of the waiters there). They are planning to travel 8,200 miles around India from 0ft (at the coast) up to the highest motor able road in the world (in the Himalayas at 18,380ft). Please click on the link to see the whole route and to read their story. The trip will be done on two Royal Enfield bikes and will take approximately 10 weeks. They are looking for sponsors to sponsor their trip so if you would like to help then please get in touch.

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures8.htm
We managed to take so many pictures during Christmas. Here are a second set of pictures that we took on Christmas Eve as we visited the slums giving out Christmas presents and fruit.

http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures9.htm
Yet more photographs, this time from Christmas day, we had to give out Christmas presents on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as there was so many to give. In the end we gave out about 600 presents in Goa and then later gave out 605 sets of clothes and toys in Mumbai - More about that later!

Remember all the latest changes can always be found on the Children Walking Tall Home Page. They are represented by small thumbnails of the updated pages. If you're not sure then please have a look now and click on one of the small pictures at the bottom of the home page (www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com).

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.

Have a look at the fundraising pack for ideas about how you can help. 

Thank you to everyone!
We have been so lucky the last two months to have had so many visitors. Many of which have brought clothes, shoes and toys for the children. Some have also helped for a few hours, by buying fruit for the children, or even putting their hand to a bit of DIY at the Mango House. We do not have the chance this month to thank everyone personally. We try our best to say thank you to everyone who helps, if not in this newsletter, then in person or by email. If we have forgotten to say thank you then please let us know. We are always happy to mention our supporters in the newsletter. 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!

Also thanks to:

Debbie and Colin
Thank you to Debbie and Colin who managed to have enough extra luggage to bring out a second hand sewing machine and laptop when they visited Goa. We received an email off them the day after actually buying a new sewing machine so we are lucky enough to have two sewing machines now. The sewing machines have already been put to good use as they have helped us make 11 large bean bags for the children.

Kodak Express
We would like to thank Gery's Digital Imaging Centre for kindly printing a whole set of photos of the children at Sinquerium slum for free. Alex and Holly went in to get the shots and give them out to the kids: the looks on their faces was priceless! So a huge thanks once again to Gery's. You made these kid's day! 

Charlie and all her customers at the Waffles Bar
Thank you to Charlie and everyone at the Waffles Bar for organising different raffles. Dave and Diane will be out again shortly with more gifts from them. Thank you so much for your continued support, and perhaps you can make it to Goa to see first hand what we're doing.

Harsha and Boker Direct
Harsha and her sister joined us briefly while she was on holiday. She came weighed down with toys and clothes for the children, one boy had donated his bionical Lego toys to give the children in Goa. If I remember rightly I think Harsha spent several hours making them before she came. :o) Since returning to England she has generated interest with her friends at work who might also be coming out to help in the future, she might be even getting the local Mayor to come and visit us, ok her father is the Mayor!. We would like to thank Harsha and her family and also Broker Direct for their kindness. 

Eileen Kelly
We received a bag for of items from Eileen a few months ago, which went down really well. She has been kind enough to send a second bag with her friends this month, and yet again, they went down so well. I believe that herself and friends knit woolly hats. The children end up fighting over them as they are so popular.

Richard and Andrea
Thanks very much for the toiletries, pens, pencils and Etchasketch board which the children will love.

Paulette and Friends.
Kim (our volunteer) also met up with Pauline and friends during their stay in Goa. Thanks for all the pens and pencils.

Joerg Stiller and Friends
A big thank you to Joerg for bringing over lots of toys and donations from his friends and family in Germany.

Online Donations
Once again our online donation facilitiy of the website has been doing very well. Thanks go out to Peter, Francesca, Teresa, Frank, Derrick, Paul, Lesley, Lisa, Jennifer, Dave, Fabien, Gareth, Catherine, Tomas, Laura, HTP Concept Berlin, Raymond, David, Ann, Emma, Jennifer, Bas, Carol, Brian, Elizabeth, Ian, Linda, Anna and Jaqueline. Many of these were towards the appeal for land, we would like to thank everyone for their immense generosity.

If you would like to donate money towards anything from our needslist (you can find this at the end of this section in the newsletter) 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.

Helping In The Slums
We have had several 'fruit runs' to the two slums we work in just recently, many of which have been funded directly by visitors who ask to visit the wholesale market before taking the trip to the morning schools run by Children Walking Tall. Fruit is an excellent way to help the children as it is filling and gives them much needed vitamins and minerals. We're sure some of the children would much prefer 'chocolate'! But as most of the children never see a dentist, we try to keep chocolate and sweets to a minimum. The last week has seen 3 buckets of fruit cut up and mixed into a lovely fruit salad, we will hopefully get a few pictures posted to the website shortly.

From the Needs List
Sewing Machine - Maureen came over 'on holiday' and was a little worried that there would be nothing to do. We soon cured that as she offered to make the bean bags that have been on the drawing board for the last few months. She went out with Shermina found a sewing machine and said she would raise money for it. She then spent a good part of her holiday sat at the sewing machine making the bean bags for the children. The Bean bags are great and you can often find tired volunteers collapsed on them and even the odd taxi driver who has brought visitors to the Mango House. They're very comfortable and we'll hopefully make some more in the future. Maureen was helped by Alison and the other volunteers and have been busy making the bean-bags, draw-string toy bags - as well as a hammock(for toys)!

Storage cupboards - Raymond was kind enough to donate some money towards storage cupboards, there are lots of things that need storing, clothes toys, games etc so we are hoping to design and have made some wodden cupboards to keep the items safe. We've already had a nice new bookshelf made for the play/school room. It really makes a difference. 

Donation Boxes - Laura has donated the money to buy some new donation boxes for the charity. There are a few restaurants/shops are very kind and allow us to have donation boxes and leaflet in their buildings. It's a good way to raise money and awareness of Children Walking Tall. Hopefully we will get these made and ready for the start of next season.

Water Cooler - As well as paying for the well cleaning, Shari Finch and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water managed to raise half the amount required for the water cooler. This is probably my favourite piece of equipment as it makes life so much easier, children can get clean cool safe water when ever they want, 24hrs a day, just like you would expect in England.

Pest Control - Thanks to HTP Concept Berlin and an anonymous donator, the Mango House should be free from termites for 5 years. We had the whole house sprayed from roof to floor to remove a range of insects including the destructive termites. Every three months a general spray is used to keep the house insect free. Which is reassuring as we have had, large spiders, scorpions etc hiding in the corners.

Kitchen Shelves - Carol Deen has donated the money to buy shelves for our kitchen. These have to be designed and specially made so may take a while to get finished but I am sure they will be worth the wait. Our kitchen currently has no real storage, some basic shelves were installed last month, but we require more to house the plates, cups and pans. 

Water Heater - Dave Bowyer has given us the money to pay for the kitchen water heater. We had hoped to get solar panels to heat the water but these are currently out of our budget. For the mean time we have installed a small electric water heater for the kitchen. This is used to help with washing the pots and the floors.

School's
We are still getting fantastic support from different school's around the UK. 

White's House, Nottingham High School - Paul Morris's tutor group raised a stunning £1000 from doing various fundraising events throughout the last term. Denise, from our UK office, was invited to collect the cheque from the school and was able to meet some of the people involved in the fundraising events. Thank you to everyone who helped raise so much interest and support.

Hasland Hall - Year 8 were in charge of the fundraising efforts last term and managed to raise over £700 by doing different events including a Non-uniform day, a collection from the carol service, a raffle at the Senior Citizen's Xmas Party, Tutor challenges and Chocolate Bingo. Each tutor group also raised money seperatley by their own fundraising ideas, the following activities were organised by the year 8s

Chocolate Bingo
8IL - Robot Wars and selling cakes.
8FS - Chocolate Raffle
8MGL - Hacky sack 'Keepy uppy' competition
8GN - Raffle
8SR - lads made up with make up
8JC - Sale of Spanish Omelettes and sale of Christmas cards.

Congratulations to 8JC who managed to raise the most amount of money with their particularly enterprising - teachers were asked if they wanted an omelette, they paid and got a Christmas card from 8JC. Thank you to everyone at Hasland Hall that donated money and participated in all of the events.

Glowstars
We were not sure what Glowstars were when we first had an email from them wanting to make a donation. We had a look at their website (http://www.glowstar.net/) and found out they produced solar lanterns. Basically, it's an emergency light that can be powered by the sun during the day and then can shine for most of the night (up to 6hrs of light). This is ideal in Goa for the areas without electricity or even for 'The Mango House' to use in emergencies when the power goes out (which does happen). They were kind enough to donate five of these fantastic lights to us. We are still to receive them (In Goa) but hopefully they will be with us shortly. Currently they're safe and sound at the UK office. Thank you to everyone at Sollatek for their most generous donation. 

Christmas Presents
We were lucky enough to receive around 150 extra Christmas presents the week following Christmas. These were put into gift bags and divided between children in the slums in Goa who didn't receive presents during Christmas, and children in slums in Mumbai (you can read more on this below). Thank you to Ingo and friends for giving these gifts.

Football Kits
Thanks to Dean who came down from Mumbai on the 6th of January and brought Children Walking Tall two bags full of football gear. The tops are amazing and are going to make some lucky children very happy! 

Bassett's are good for the children
Bassett's have definitely been one of my favourites over the years, but it was quite a surprise to find out they made Vitamins. A couple (Angie and John) was kind enough to contact Bassett's on our behalf before they came on holiday and asked Bassett's if they would donate some of the Soft & Chewy Vitamins to take over to Children Walking Tall. Bertie and the guys from Bassett's were very kind and sent a large box of the vitamins which was kindly brought over by Angie and John. Thank you all, the vitamins will go down a 'treat' at the slums. Oh it takes 'Allsorts'. ;o)

More Thanks
More thanks go to Julie, Eileen, Emily's Dad, Heather & Dave, Manzoor, Jo, Vicot & Marleen, Monica, Jim & Martin, Andy, Jenny & Family, Rajesh, Michael & Jodie, Joerg, Harsha, Jennifer, Jayne, Melanie, Paride, Christian & Corrinne, Kym, Maeve, Lynne, Kevan, Trevor, Michael, Clare, Theresa, Pirkko, Mark & Sarah, Alison, Paul & Annelous, Ernesto, David, Kiera, Lisa's Mum, Massimo, Ian, Sandra, Ann & John, Marion, Avril & Max and Val & Glenis who have all visited the Mango House in the last two months and have kindly left donations.

What's Been Happening?

Giving Out Gifts in Mumbai - By Shermina
One Thursday morning in January myself and 5 volunteers headed to Mumbai to hand out gifts to children in the slums. The journey took 39 hours and what great fun we had! It all started at 6pm on Thursday evening when Saku and Sitaly (the first two children living at the house) helped fill the taxi's with 9 very large bags, 3 rucksacks and 4 people. Everyone looked on in surprise as it looked like we were moving out: we had so many bags!! At 7.45am we caught the (now late) bus from Mapusa, but not after arguments with the bus driver as to where all our extra luggage was going to go! Eventually, with the help of our volunteer, Sunil, the driver managed to tie all the luggage to the roof of the bus and we were off.

11 am Friday morning we finally reached our destination of Dadar in Mumbai. The journey hadn't been too bad as it was a sleeper bus - but I don't think that any of us got much sleep. After organising ourselves at the side of the road, some of us set off to buy our tickets for our return journey whilst the others waited with our luggage. At 1 pm we all arrived at the slum in Dadar.

It was a sight that most of us weren't expecting. The slum is situated on both sides of a highway and is literally on the road. The children just play and run on the roads, without a care for the traffic! Nobody seems to worry that they could get run over at any time.. to them this is just normal life. On our arrival at the slum, people soon realised why we were there and suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds of children and adults. After a lot of pushing and fighting, with people trying to get into line, we realised that we needed a new plan. Some of the men from the area helped us carry the luggage and moved it into a safe area until we were ready. We finally talked everybody into moving back into their homes and said that we would bring the clothes to each house in turn. 

The plan worked at first but got harder and harder to control as we went along. Walking down one side of the road we visited each house in turn and gave each child a set of clothes and a toy. To see the smiles on their faces was great, they didn't care that it was just a small gift, it was just something and they were happy with that. After spending approximately 2 hours on one side of the road we crossed over and did the same on the opposite side. The kids put the clothes on straight away! It was great to be able to see their enthusiasm.

By 4.30pm all our volunteers were shattered and needed a break. All the children had received gifts, but we still had some left, so we decided to visit another area to give out the last few. By 6pm, six very tired and weary - but happy - people were sat on the pavement at the side of the road in Mumbai waiting for the bus again. It had been a long day but to see the happy and smiling children made it such a rewarding experience. Eventually at 9am Saturday morning, after the craziest bus journey home ever, we arrived back in Mapusa.

Even thought we can't help these children every day, to make them happy once or twice a year when we go to visit is better than nothing.

A big thank you goes out to Marlene, Victor and Melanie who helped us on the trip, and a special thank you to Claudia and Sunil who organised the trip and got us to all the right places. Without the help of these volunteers and everyone else who organised the clothes before we set off, we wouldn't have been able to give out the 605 sets of clothes and toys - thank you!

The Garden
The Mango House gardens are beginning to take shape thanks to the generosity of Newton Hill J&L School, Class 5H and also Melanie and Pip. The last few weeks has seen the garden go from strength to strength as the weeds have been cut down and about 40 trees planted - 30 of which now decorate our front garden. The varieties include chicko, lime, sweet lime, orange, mango, passion fruit, pomegranate and more. Other non fruit trees and plants have also been put in. They're all baby saplings at the moment, but we're really looking forward to watching them grow. We're also developing a vegetable and spice garden, this includes potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans and curry leaves. As well as helping to make Mango House look pretty the gardens will be a great educational tool for the children! Most of the work in the garden has been done by Kym (our gardening volunteer), unfortunately she returned home last month so Rob and Shermina have been left in charge. Thankfully she'll be returning in March to continue her good work. 

Basic Necessities
Over two hundred sets of clothes were distributed to children in 3 slums in Goa during January. Each child got a top, trousers or skirt and underwear - items that most western children can take for granted. Robert along with Emily handed the clothes out, it was quite hectic at times, as children and parents were really excited about the possibility of new clothes! Robert also took Alison on a clothes run at the start of February. She was amazed about how desperate some of the children and women were, Robert had to convince her to return a second and third time. Thankfully the last run was much easier and calmer. We would like to thank Emily and Alison for their help and look forward to seeing you both again in the future.

Medical Care at the slum
An important part of our work at Children Walking Tall is to help keep children healthy by providing basic medical care. This month we've given all the children a second round of Hepatitis B injections. We've also had several visits to the hospital as many of the children have had conjunctivitis and many are still trying to overcome scabies and flu. In addition, one girl was knocked down by a motor cycle. She broke her leg and had a few more minor injuries to her head, but is recovering well now.

Sangie, the girl we wrote about last month who had her arm put into boiling curry by her drunken father, has made a full recovery although, sadly, we had to get the police involved after we found out that her father had been beating her again. Sangie is a reminder to us all of why Children Walking Tall exists. Many days she is left at home to look after her two younger brothers, although she is only 5 or 6 years old herself. She does a great job though, but it's a harsh reminder that, in Europe a girl of 5 or 6 would be playing 'house' with her dolls, but in Goa, this little girl is doing it for real. We can only hope that we make her life a little bit easier and a little more colourful through the help we are able to give.

Cleaning Up at the slums
The volunteers have been carrying on their cleaning up programme at the slums. This month, Shermina, Claudia and a few other volunteers washed all the children, cleaned their nails, brushed their hair and gave everyone a set of new clothes. They took all the old clothes with them and returned to 'The Mango House'. All the clothes were put through the washing machine to try and kill off the parasites and to give them a good clean before giving them back to the children.

Evictions
The police have visited one of the slums several times since Christmas and have informed the slum that they will be coming to break down their homes if they don't move off the land. When we first heard, we were absolutely horrified as we had been working closely with the children at the slum and running our school on the very plot they were being evicted from. The police still haven't come to evict the families, although some of the families have now moved on and lots of their possessions have been packed away. 

When we found out about the eviction we wondered if there was anything we could do to help, although considering the short time (when we heard the news we were told the families were to be evicted in 2 day's time) and the large number of people we were afraid there would be nothing we could do. Firstly, we went down to the slums to give them moral support. Then we sent out an email letting our supporters know about the situation. The response we got back was amazing! Within 12 hours we had raised about £1000 and within 24 we had been promised nearly £3000. Thank you to everyone who has promised us money

We had lots of emails in reply to our plea, we had found a plot of land not too far away from the one they are staying on now, but unfortunately the land is for agricultural purposes only and would require converting into building land, all of which would take time, money and hassle. We're currently looking for a suitable plot to build on although the prices in Goa have risen so much that it is going to cost around £20 per square meter, we will keep you posted if we find anything suitable.

Circus
On 30th February Rob, Shermina and five volunteers took 26 children from the slums of Sinquerim to the circus in Mapusa. This was only possible thanks to the kindness of Mr and Mrs Trevor Oliver from England who paid for the tickets, drinks and transport. The children were very excited when we arrived to pick them up and they were all washed and dressed in their finery and raring to go. Being India the bus arrived 40 minutes late! But we managed to make the opening performance by the skin of our teeth and the children settled down to enjoy the show. We'd never seen them so well behaved for a whole 3 hours!! 

First they saw elephants, followed by performing dogs and a donkey! Various other acts followed: motor bikes zooming round a huge metal enclosure; wire walkers and trapeze artistes. But the children saved their biggest smiles and laughs for the clowns. All the children, from the youngest to the oldest, were captivated and just laughed and laughed! For most of the time the children just sat with their mouths wide open in awe at the acts, especially at the fire eater. At half-time they enjoyed ice lollies, and there were lollipops, samosas and cold drinks for the ride back home. All the kids were in 'festival mood' on the way home, with much chatting and cheering. Although some of the small ones were dosing off. We left the children tired but happy and waving to us as we pulled away to shouts of 'bye' and 'thank you'. 

Volunteers
It has a very busy couple of months for volunteers. Unfortunately we have had to say goodbye to several volunteers over the past month, many of which have returned to their home countries to try and raise enough money to come back over to India. We would like to make a special thank you to everyone who has helped us since we began, it would not have been possible to get as far as we have without the help of the volunteers who come and visit us to help in the schools, house or garden. Most of the volunteers sign the Experiences pages of the website before they leave, Monica, Kym, Emily, Maryam, Kate and Lisa, Melanie, Lynne, Mark and Susan, Holly, Victor and Marleen, Mary, Maureen and finally Maeve have written comments for everyone to read. If you think you can give Children Walking Tall a hand in the future by volunteering then please get in touch. 

It's definitely not a holiday as working with the children and at the home is hard work but it does give you a chance to meet like minded people, make lots of new friends and the weather isn't too bad either. We're currently looking out for volunteers who will come to help during the monsoon. Most of the people who help come during the tourist season, but for us to keep giving the children the full attention we will need help the whole year round. If you can help for one month or more between April and October then please contact us. 

Future Plans

Fundraising in May
Shermina will be returning to the UK for a 'holiday' in May and is hoping to fundraise during this time. If anyone wants to help suggesting places to fundraise or organising events then please get in contact with us as soon as possible. Shermina is prepared to do talks and presentations to help raise awareness of Children Walking Tall. 

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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