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. Vote for Children Walking Tall on ' tHe Big ChariTy BoX', it's free, quick and easy, all you need is an email address and a few minutes of your time.
3. If you work at a company that might sponsor any of our projects or items from our needslist then, please get in touch with us.
4. 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.
5. Have a look at the fundraising pack for ideas about how you can help.

Thank you to everyone!
Although the tourist season is now coming to an end, we are still very lucky and have continued to receive lots of visitors, many of whom have brought clothes, shoes and toys for the children. Some have also helped-out for a few hours, by buying fruit for the children, putting their hand to a bit of DIY at the Mango House or have spent time playing with the children in the day care centre.

Now that we are fully open as a day care centre for the slum and street children we are finding it increasingly difficult to find the time to do the other tasks associated with the charity, for example emails, website, and the newsletter are taking more of a back seat for now. Hopefully once we have been running for a few months this will become easier. Due to the increase in the workload we will have less time to thank everyone individually in this newsletter, if you need a specific thank you, then please let us know by email and we can thank you but we will have to resort to a general thank you in most cases. If we have forgotten to say thank you then please let us know. We are so grateful for all the help and support we receive so please understand why we can not put everyone in the newsletter for the time being, hopefully seeing the smiles on the children's faces is enough. We will always write thank you letters on request so if one is required then please let us know.

Zebra Pens
We were lucky to have Raj from Zebra pens visit us last month as he visited Goa on holiday. He brought a donation from Zebra pens which consisted of 2000 assorted pens. We now have a pen for every occasion. Unfortunately some of the children decided that the walls needed a few touches of their own, but thankfully they didn't use the permanent markers! :os

If that wasn't enough Raj spent a few hours with us and helped around the house. He then continued to help during most of his second week's holiday by assisting the teachers, helped supervising the children and also helped make sure the children returned safely home after school. On the last day some of the money he had raised was put towards a beach trip that Zebra pens sponsored. (See Below for the beach trip).

Thank you to everyone at Argos , Widnes
We were lucky to have Therese and Stephen visit us in Goa during their recent visit to Goa . They brought out a cheque that they were kind enough to donate to Children Walking Tall. The money was originally raised by Stephen due to him having his head shaved for the Tsunami appeal; unfortunately after the money was collected the appeal had stopped receiving donations, as Stephen was coming to India he thought the money would be best used for a children's charity in India . We would like to thank everybody from the Argos centre in Widnes and his friends and family who supported him.

Colin and June from Edinburgh
A huge thank you goes to Colin and June who bought us a tumble dryer during their recent visit. We were all getting worried about how the children's clothes would be dried this year during the monsoon. The drier will be a life saver, they also helped buy weighing scales, pans, worming medicine, nappies for one special boy and they have generally helped out lots during their recent trip to Goa .

The Ladies from Hepburn's Insurance
Thank you to all the ladies (not sure what happened to the men ;o) from Hepburn's insurance who donated money and also lots of goodies including girls hair clips, ties, CD's, DVD's and reading books. It's great when people club together to help, it's amazing how many things soon pile up.

Denise and Ash
Thank you to Denise and Ash for helping during their 'holiday' in Goa . Denise, for those who don't know is in charge of our UK Office. She does this as a volunteer so we are even more grateful. After getting back to the UK she has now started a full time job, so she will have less time to spend doing the UK side of Children Walking Tall.

Olga and Peter
We would like to thank Olga and Peter Brand and Grandma Frances for their donation during Olga and Peter's recent visit. We were saddened to find Peter has been taken ill. We wish Olga and Peter all the best and hope we will see them again. It means a lot to us that you still brought items for us.

Last minute Thanks
It has been a busy month but I had to just mention these last few people before sending out this month's newsletter. But thank you to everyone who has helped, we really appreciate all the support we receive.

A huge thank you goes out to Lord Inchcape and his trustees, Murray Beith Murray WS solicitors & asset managers of Edinburgh for their generous donation.. Derrick Hargreaves after meeting us at the Mango House, and sending us a cheque from himself and his colleagues of the TGWU-8-9/30 Branch Members. Cathy & Jim Griffett from their last concert by the Bradford Grammar School Choral Scholars and their continued support after hearing about us and last but not least to Maggie & Fred Elliot for donating towards the new kitchen.

Belated thanks to:
We were a little busy last month so forgot to mention a few people. We are really sorry for this, but we have been rushed off our feet since Christmas. Below are the few we forgot..

Sabs and Amos
We would like to thank Sabs and Amos for coming over to help us (just after Christmas) with the children's vaccination program. They also helped give basic first aid to many of the children. Lots of problems were seen to by Dr Amos, he came during a bad stint of Scabies and helped us and the children so much.. They also raised a lot of money for the trip, some of which has been put towards other projects in India funding medical supplies and helping under privileged children within the communities in Mumbai and Gujarat .

Thanks to the Creative Craft Group (Houghton-le-Spring)
We would like to thank the Creative Craft Group for giving money to Children Walking Tall instead of sending Christmas cards during Christmas.

Lorna and Chris
Due to everything being so busy last month I forgot to mention the lovely ladies that have been supporting us for some time now, Lorna and Chris. They came out last month and was kind enough to bring 20Kg's of items including some fantastic colouring pages. Thank you both and I apologise for not getting you in last month. They also got their first glimpse at the Mango house and visited the children with us.

Hartshill School - Nuneaton
Thank you to Hartshill school in Nuneaton . They had a non uniform day in December and raised £240 for the charity. Thank you to all the children and teachers who took part. We hope some of them might get a chance to see what we do in the future. Many Thanks

What's Been Happening?

The Mango House
The day finally arrived when we were able to open 'The Mango House'. It seems to have been an eternity since we started work on the shell of the house, in fact it was only 10 months ago! The difference in the house has been amazing, it is unbelievable to think what has been achieved, much of it has been down to the generosity of our supporters and the amazing work from our volunteers. I often think what Catherine, Emma, Joanne and Ruby would say if they saw it now. They were the first volunteers who started the work on the house with us during the monsoon last year.

Three weeks at the house have come and gone, and the improvement has been amazing. The house was immediately full of eager children wanting to learn and use the resources including the wash rooms, toys and games. The first day alone we had 45 children, it was great to find the children eager to come. Every day we worry that we'll get down to the slum and there won't be any children to come, but I think this is very unlikely as we have been full to the brim ever since day one. If anything it looks like we are too popular as more and more children want to join the lessons.

We are now taking new children in only every two weeks as it takes a week for them to settle down and adapt to the new structured way of life.

The Mango House has started so well and has exceeded our wildest dreams. We are averaging around 50 children every day. A typical day kicks off with an hour and a half of schooling. The children are split into 3 or 4 age groups and each group is led by one of our volunteers. The children are taught basic English and Maths many use the alphabet and numbers that have been painted on the walls to help them.

After school they sit down for a morning snack which normally consists of milk and fruit, oranges seem to be their favourites. The break is then followed by creative time - drawing, colouring, painting, dancing and acting are a few of the children's favourite things to do. This week we have had an art therapist who has had everyone drawing around themselves on large pieces of paper and made chain people out of cut paper. The children have loved it and have been able to take their pictures home with them to show their parents.

At one o'clock it's time for lunch, we have a mixed diet although as most of the children are Hindi we cannot serve the children beef or pork. We have a mixture of fish, chicken, egg and vegetable dishes throughout the week accompanied with rice. The first day was a learning curve for the food but ever since it has been a hit with some children coming back for seconds and thirds! After lunch we try and get the children to have a rest so that their lunch has time to settle, it also give the volunteers and staff a chance to have a bite to eat. The ones who don't sleep then have chance to watch a little bit of TV before going outside to play games in the garden or at the local playing field. After sports they come back in for an afternoon snack and drink and vitamins. It is then time to sit down in the groups and talk about the day.

In addition to this, all the children are showered and given clean clothes twice a week (girls and boys on alternate days). They are also given basic health and medical care such as having their nails cut, any cuts treated, and given necessary medicine such as worming tablets.

It's a challenging time for the volunteers as most of these children have never been inside a classroom before so they're having to learn about group discipline for the first time. But we're glad to report that they're coming on leaps and bounds. The lunchtime noise volume has already dropped dramatically! (Which is a relief!)

Once the day is over we return them back to the slum, most are walked back with staff and volunteers. They live nearly 2 kilometres away so the walk takes 20 - 30 minutes. The locals look with surpise as many of the children end up singing on the return. Their songs include chanting 'Children Walking Tall' and another favourite is the water melon song (as it has actions too!).

There has been a few moments in the last few weeks which have made the volunteers and staff smile with pride and joy.

.  Spontaneous chanting of 'Children Walking Tall' during the walks to and from 'The Mango House' is a lovely thing to hear as it really makes you think that the children love coming to the drop in centre.

.  Flowers being brought in to give to 'teacher'. Ahhh.. :o)

.  One of the youngest ones to come was 'dropped' when he was young and has never been able to walk properly, he also rarely smiled. With the help of a baby walker we have been working with him over the last few weeks and he is now taking a few steps on his own. He has managed to walk (unaided) for 2 meters. The joy on his face and ours makes it all worth while.

.  Many of the older children also have a chance at a break, Sangeeta (7), Premi (9) and Manju (10) normally have to look after their siblings all day instead of playing themselves. We have now taken much of the responsibility away from them for at least part of the day so they have a chance of a child hood themselves.

Thank you to Everyone who has helped us get 'The Mango House' open and given us the chance to help so many children. Hopefully everyone will be able to see what an impact it has had on the children.

Holi
We celebrated Holi in style this year. The festival of colour was great fun for all the children and also the volunteers. It all started the evening before when we filled up around 200 water balloons with coloured water.

On the way to the slum the next morning we met a few people who had already been 'painted' (powder paint thrown or rubbed into them) which gave us a taste of what was to come.

The children were already dancing and shouting when we arrived so we quickly handed out equal amounts of water balloons and powder paint of various colours to the children. The mayhem started shortly after as the first balloon was thrown. It then turned into everyone for themselves and many of the children were covering their 'favourite' volunteers with paint from head to toe. Most of the adults joined in and there was lots of singing and dancing.

After about 40 minutes of covering each other the kids had calmed down enough to play for a few games : musical statues, musical bumps and of course pass the parcel. Unfortunately, the parents of many of the children had been enjoying the celebrations a little too much and many of them were fairly drunk by lunchtime, so we invited all the children to come to Mango House to get away from the hassle and to play.

The children all got washed and then spent the whole afternoon playing with all the toys that had been donated. It was a great day and the children were all tired but happy as we walked them home at around five. We would like to thank all the volunteers for their help, many of which had purple, pink and green hair for the next few days.

Beach Trip
Raj from Zebra Pens sponsored a day out to the beach for the children who had been coming to the Mango House every day. We hired a bus, bought drinks and food, and set off to the Beach. We had around 40 children and 10 volunteers looking after them.  We got to the beach and nearly managed to have all the children in matching suits as one of our recent visitors brought a huge amount of similar t-shirts and girls tops. The girl's tops were a little big so one of our Indian volunteers, Tina, spent a whole night transforming them into bathing suits. Tina designs and makes clothes in Goa and has been helping us out for the last few months. She also came to the beach with us which helped as she speaks Hindi.

The children had a fantastic time playing in the water, making sand castles and running around after the balls. The best part of the day that they all enjoyed the most was playing tug of war. We had the children split into two teams and they pulled so hard they ended up breaking the rope. Both teams collapsed in a pile - all caught on camera by one of the volunteers who just managed to catch the bit where both teams collapsed.

It was a really fun day and we'll try to get some pictures up on the website soon. We are also happy to say that Zebra pens who supply many of the UK 's top stationeries and superstores will be having Children Walking Tall as their 'supported charity'. Zebra pens supply shops including Asda, Tesco, John Lewis, Rymans, Partners, Staples, Costco, Wilkinson, Makro and WHSmith . Thank you to everyone at Zebra for their support. Please visit them at http://www.zebrapen.co.uk/

Visiting Government Homes
We have also been helping out at several governmental institutes that look after children aged from as little as a week old to children aged up to 18. Due to the generosity of our supporters we have had a fantastic compliment of clothes, stationary and other items. As the government homes do not normally get much support we have been giving some of the clothes that we get to children on the street, from the slums and also to these children in the government homes.

As we get lots of baby clothes, we sent over 200 items to a centre which looks after new born babies that get abandoned or just given away by their parents.

The most recent 'aid trip' has been to help a girls home brighten up their walls. Shermina and Rob took their laptop, a collection of pictures and a projector and helped draw pictures of flowers, fruit and vegetables on the walls of the dining room. The room has no natural light and originally had dark burgundy and brown walls. They now have been transformed into a much lighter airier room by changing the colours to white and light pink with the new pictures painted on top. The girls were left to 'colour' in the pictures. We will see them next time we go to do more pictures in their other rooms.

Mango Season
The large mango tree that gives 'The Mango House' it's name (As many of the neighbours used to come and collect the Mangoes as the house was empty for many years) has been shedding fruit for the last month, much of it has been collected to make Mango Pickle. The Mangoes that have fallen so far are hard and quite tart and ideal for making the pickle. We will have to wait till the middle to End of April to have the real sweet fruit to eat. The Mango tree is quite large and we have already had 250+ Mangoes. It will continue to fruit and give the children a source of free food. As well as Mangoes the large garden also has Jackfruit (Large green spiky fruit (a similar size to a LARGE water melon), Cashew Nuts and fruit, Custard Apple, Curry Leaf and Chicku. Unfortunately the local Monkey population managed to eat all the chicku fruit and has eaten many of the Cashew fruit. There is a group of 20 - 30 monkeys that come and steel the fruit from the trees, they are lovely to watch but as you can imagine they are pests. Bangers (Fireworks) are used to scare them away without hurting them. I'm sure they will be back shortly to plunder the Mango tree. Hopefully the noise from the children will keep them at bay.

Giving clothes out in Mumbai isn't always easy. (written by Claudia)
After our successful trip to Mumbai at the beginning of this year where we managed to give out more than 600 sets of clothes to the children in a big slum area, we were all sure that we like to do another trip to Mumbai as soon as possible.

So when my mum came out to Goa for a holiday at the beginning of February, myself and my boyfriend, Sunil, planned to drop her back to Mumbai airport after 4 weeks we thought of taking again clothes for children with us to give them out.

The day before we left Goa Shermina and I sorted out the clothes and filled two big bags which we took with us the next day. First we were thinking about going to the same place as we visited last time because we already knew the area and we thought it would be easier than going to a slum we hadn't been before. But after talking about it we decided to go to a new area because we thought it would be also nice to give things out to children who normally do not get anything and it will also give us the chance to get more places to know in Mumbai for our next visits.

My boyfriend who is Indian and did the trip both times was a little worried because he said it can be really hard sometimes in Mumbai slum areas when people want to give out gifts. He said that the people who live there can get easily out of control because they are not used to getting gifts from visitors. But I was VERY optimistic and I was sure that everything would be ok. Unfortunately I have to say I was wrong. As soon as we got back from the airport we got the bags from the guest house and put them into a taxi, we asked the taxi driver if he knew any place with a lot of children living there and he agreed to take us to one. It was like many other slums in Mumbai, directly located next to a large highway.

As soon as we got out of the Taxi with the two big bags people started looking us, they were obviously thinking what do these people want to do here, but their expressions were friendly and after some time children came towards us looking at the bags and asking 'Clothes?' in Hindi. So Sunil went to one of the men standing outside his hut and explained to him why we came and that we wanted to get all the children in a line so that we can give out the clothes to them. He agreed to help us and started to call the children over. If I think about it again now I'm sure that only with the children it would have been fine, because they tried immediately to get inline looking forward to getting a few new clothes. But unfortunately their parents came to 'help' and got completely out of control as soon as we opened the first bag. In seconds the line crumbled and situation turned into chaos. Some of the men were already drunk although it was early in the morning and they shouted and pushed everybody who came in their way. The women we grabbing my shirt, pulling my hair and pushing me, in effort to get something out of the bags for their own children. Sunil tried to calm them down in their own language but there was no chance. We couldn't understand each others words because of the screaming and shouting around us.

I felt like these people would do nearly everything just to get these bags of clothes from us, and this feeling was quite scary. We closed the bags three times to calm the people down and tried again to give the things out, but the situation got worse each time, so we realised that it was better to just leave. At the end we left them one of the bags because they had already taken it and were fighting over it.

We crossed the highway as fast as possible but people from the slum followed us still shouting and asking for more clothes and also money.

They followed us until we reached the house of Sunil's sister which is not far away. People of her husbands family came out to help us with the bag that we still had and they nearly got into a big fight with the men that had followed us. One of the men that was very drunk didn't stop grabbing at the bag and shouting at me demanding money. Luckily with our helpers we managed to get safely into their house after some minutes. We were exhausted and disappointed but above all we felt sorry for all the children who tried to get into a line and were pushed out of the way by the adults.

In the end after a cold coke we said that it can't get worse next time, so we are already looking forward to our next trip to Mumbai. We do it for the children and it wasn't their fault so we defiantly won't give up because of one bad experience.

Basic Necessities
Over two hundred jumpers were distributed to children living and working on the streets in Goa during March. Robert, Shermina and Tina borrowed a Jeep and travelled round the streets looking for the children of road workers, builders and slum children. It was a great day and we would like to thank Alan for his generosity in allowing us to borrow his jeep. It was the first time Tina had come on a trip and she was amazed with some of the responses we got from the families. Many were just so grateful, other were suspicious as they thought they would have to pay for them, others were a bit more of a handful as they just tried to get as much as possible. The most memorable place was a group of small huts with maybe 2 or 3 families living in them. There were around 10 children and they were so grateful that they did a little dance for us to say thank you. We will definitely be back to give them a few more items, hopefully during the next trip.

Medical Care at the slum - Injections
We have been following up on the injections that we initiated over the Christmas period. Many of the items need two or three injections so the children are properly covered against the diseases. We have had a couple of doctors, a few nurses and a paramedic helping us with the injections. We now have a contact with the local health centres so we will also be able to provide other injections and help even more families in the slums. Thank you to everyone who has helped with this program. It will be on going as we meet more children and give them the option to be protected, something that most children in the UK take for granted.

Volunteers
Even though we are coming to the end of the season we are still having a good compliment of volunteers. Although it will be a test for the volunteer team shortly as both Robert and Shermina return to the UK for a holiday (at separate times). If this isn't enough another long term volunteer, Claudia, will also be returning home which will be a huge loss. We are hoping she will be back very early next season as we know she can't bare to be away. Thankfully we are expecting between 5 and 10 new volunteers to arrive soon, most of which will be here for one or two months as we approach the Monsoon period.

A big thank you goes out to Ineke, Lisa, Jenny, Raj, Alia, Fraiser, Linda, Natalie, Alison, Janneke, Lilly, Lynne and Paride all of which have helped us in the last two months. If you would like to add your name to the list of volunteers to help out at 'The Mango House' then please get in touch as we are always looking for like minded people who want to give the children a childhood worth remembering. The monsoon is nearly upon us and is always a quiet time, so if you think you have the time then do get in

Future Plans

Jeep
As we are now open as a drop in centre the need for a vehicle has become apparent so that we can safely transport the children to and from 'The Mango House', many of the children are under 5 years of age. Currently they walk to and from the house everyday, this would be normally OK but they have to walk down the side of a main road which has no footpath. We are desperately in need of a small vehicle which can be used to transport the children and also help ferry food, gas cylinders and materials to and from The Mango House. If you think you can help then please email us or donate online through the Givenow website.

http://www.cafonline.org/apps/Charities/CharityProfileLink.aspx?MainId=658399&SubId=638145&Source=CAF

Help Needed in the UK !
We are looking out for people who can help in the UK . Various jobs are available: arranging Excess Luggage, telephone enquires, sorting C.R.B. Checks etc. If you think you can help then please email us. Many items need to be looked at to see which can be easily done from a second location. Our office is in Mansfield , so it would be an added bonus to have someone local, although we try to keep most communication computer based so you can be anywhere.

Monthly Sponsorship
Now that we have opened 'The Mango House' we really need a solid base so that we can be sure we can continue the support we give to the children. We are looking for people to sponsor Children Walking Tall on a monthly basis. This can be as little as £5 per month. Although the more money that you can comfortably spare the better. The money would help fund the basics of what we do. It would help feed the children everyday as we currently provide a morning snack, a main meal for lunch, and a second snack in the afternoon, it would also help to provide vitamins and basic health care and allow us to keep money set aside to pay the rent, electric and water every month. We know that many of the people who want to help can not do this financially, if you can't help financially then please just spread the word which is just as good.

If you would like to know more about monthly donations then click below

Information : http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Donations.htm

Donation Form : http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Forms/donation.pdf

Adventure Playground Challenge
Mango House is surrounded by a large garden, half of which has been turned over to vegetable patches to be used both to supply food and as an educational tool.

In October this year I hope to organise a team of volunteers to transform an area of the garden to the right and back of the house into an adventure playground for the children of Mango House.

This area (picture left) will need to be levelled, preferably some small walls built and then play equipment made or assembled..!

Play is an excellent therapeutic tool for children who have been through traumatic experiences, such as many of the children at Mango House will have experienced and continue to experience.

It gives children the chance to interact in an environment that is purely for fun and enables them to be with other children and the staff of Children Walking Tall in a relaxed atmosphere.

Do you have what it takes to join the volunteer group for this project??

This project is planned to take place around mid October 2006. We think it will take up to three weeks with a team of 6/8 people ... Obviously the more people the less time it will take!

I am looking for people who are enthusiastic, not scared of some hard work (which, believe me it will be!!) and who preferably have some skills that would benefit such a project (e.g. building skills, DIY skills, design etc ) .. ...

My hope is to involve the older children of the slums in the planning of and building of the play ground. This way it will help them to integrate and feel at home in Mango House and it will also enable them to learn new skills from the volunteers ... Not to mention what I am sure we will learn from them!!

Cost : A flight to Goa will cost around £500 based on economy flight ... if you want to shop around you may find cheaper, but this is a good figure to base your spending on! Accommodation is cheap in Goa , you are looking at around £5 a night self catering at a reasonable standard, this will be more if you want to stay at a hotel with all mod cons! Eating out is also reasonably cheap - set aside around £5 per day for an evening meal and a few beverages (!!).

Please contact me if you think you may be able to help - no commitment needed at this time, just trying to get an idea of how many people would be interested!

jlsind@hotmail.com

07908 796676

Raffle Prizes needed
Melanie has prompted us into organizing a raffle to raise money this summer. Melanie was lucky enough to get a David Beckham England shirt at the stores and thought it would be a good item for a raffle, so she has kindly donated it to us. We are now on the look out for other great prizes for a raffle that will probably be held in May this year. If you have anything to donate to the raffle or would like to have a raffle book to sell tickets then please get in touch with us via email.

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, 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.