What's Been Happening
Children Walking Tall is 2 Years Old!
September saw the 2nd anniversary of Children Walking Tall. When we started we never thought we would have such a fantastic building as "The Mango House" or as many supporters as we do. We are so grateful to everyone who has helped! The journey has had it's ups and downs, but with the help of volunteers and supporters we have already done so much. The children have come on in leaps and bounds. It would be great for all of our previous volunteers to come back and meet up with the children again to see the difference that has been made. Thank you to everyone who has helped and hope everyone will get to see us and the children in the future.
Hospital Visits
Quite a few children have needed to visit the hospital over the last two months, most of which have been due to accidents. Sunil, however, was attacked by his drunken father who slit his hand open with a knife. His finger was in a terrible state but Sunil remained very brave during the treatment and received multiple stitches.
There are many stray dogs in Goa and Sumita was unlucky to be bitten by one last week. The wound itself wasn’t too bad as it only just broke the skin but Rabies is common in Goa so to be cautious we took her to hospital for the start of her 5 Rabies injections. Most of the children (including Sumita) hate having injections and we don’t think the nurse will be on Sumita’s birthday card list this year….
One of the older girls, Shanti, had a seizure just before we arrived for a school session one day last week. This was her second seizure in a year. We took her to see Dr Digambar Naik at Vrundavan hospital and the doctor advised us to schedule an appointment for a CT scan hoping to identify what was causing the seizures. Like many of the chidlren, Shanti has rarely visited hospitals and the sight of the huge brain scanner was very intimidating. Throughout the whole procedure she needed a friendly hand to hold. The scan was clear, so more investigation is required to identify the source of the seizures.
One of the mothers had a terrifying moment when her 3 year old daughter fell into the river, while she was washing clothes. It was more of a shock than anything else but to make her feel better we had Kirsty our paramedic to check her over. Hopefully next month will be a little less eventful.
Helping Geeta
 Geeta is normally one of the liveliest children who we help - easily identified by her infectious laugh. However, on one recent visit to the slum we were shocked to find her with a badly swollen and sore eye. She had been sleeping under a tree and a caterpillar had fallen onto her eye. Many of the caterpillars in Goa have long course hairs that irritate the skin; one of these had fallen and left 21 hairs lodged under her eyelid. Geeta rubbed her eye so much that it caused serious damage to the top layer of the eye.
Shermina and Sue took Geeta to the Eye Specialist at Vrundavan Hospital who kindly treated her for free. The Doctor was very concerned as the eye was severly inflamed and sore. It took 3 people to hold her down while he cleaned the eye and applied medicine. Geeta continued to see the doctor each day to have the dressing changed but as there was only a slow improvement the doctor advised that Geeta should be admitted for an eye operation. The procedure was a success and 21 hairs were removed. She spent 4 days at the Goa Medical College recovering and has now returned home looking her normal self. Her mother and father were very supportive and we thank them for their help. We would also like to thank both hospitals for their efforts in helping Geeta.
A Leprosy case
We were shocked to have one of the children diagnosed with Leprosy: this is our first contact with the disease and hopefully our last. We’ve only heard stories about Leprosy and was not expecting to find it in Goa, especially with the children we help. Thankfully after the first diagnosis the doctor reassured us that it is not a contagious strain but she has taken a biopsy to clarify her first examination. The results will be back within the next week.
For more information about Leprosy http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/
New Wheels!
 We would like to thank Maggie who volunteered with us earlier in the year and joined us again during the summer. Maggie met up with Teco during her first visit to Children Walking Tall and wanted to help him and his mother by fundraising for a wheelchair. Teco is 14 years old and severely mentally disabled. He is able to walk, although has always been carried by his mother to prevent injury to his head from his frequent falls. We had planned to buy a head sheild for him, but instead Maggie purchased a brand new wheelchair! It was a joy to see him when he saw it for the first time. His mother told him about it and when he walked into the Mango house and saw it he nearly sprinted to it and sat down. We have rarely seen him out of the wheelchair since!
Doctor Uma
We have known Doctor Uma through Vrundavan Hospital for quite a while and she has been a great help to us and the chidlren. She was kind enough to join us at the slum to do a checkup of the chidlren in October. Many of the chidlren have recuring skin infections such as impetigo, scabies and prickly heat which are very hard to iradicate. Uma specializes in dermatology so was able to diagnose their symptons and provide us with a list of medicines to buy.
Juned
Juned was born with a twisted leg and foot and has always walked on the edge of his right foot. Therefore we thought it would be best to try and straighten the leg as much as possible. He saw a doctor and we were put in touch with a specialist who designed a foot and leg brace. The brace needs to be worn as much as possible to train him to walk straight and to slowly bend his bones back into the correct position. It will be a slow process but it seems to be making a difference already.
Sad News
 We were saddened to find out that two babies had died in one of the slums. Both of the children were with their families in Karnataka when it happened. One of the babies (Jessica) was very close to us as we knew the family well and were involved throughout the pregnancy and birth. Our supporters also helped buy baby kits and clothes for Jessica when she was born. After the birth we helped her mother set up a small business to help provide for the family. Unfortunately Jessica took ill while at home in Karnataka and her family are of course devastated. We wish both families well during this hard time.
School
We are happy to say that most of the children are still attending and enjoying school. It has been a big adjustment for most as they were not used to the structure that’s required in the school environment. They are still so proud of their school uniforms and are very vocal in the morning and afternoon as they pass the Mango house shouting hello to everyone. Some of the children are now involved in their first exams and their results should be available soon. Next year we hope to get even more children admited into local schools. We would like to thank everyone involved, especially the schools who teach the children each day.
As well as supporting ‘our’ children we have been helping others by distributing donated equipment like pens, pencils, felts and crayons to the local schools. Hopefully this will help all of them to be more interested in education and the future.
Out reach Schools
As we now have a full compliment of volunteers we have restarted the non-formal schools in the slum. We currently have 2 non-formal schools and a play group: The play group is for the children who haven’t been admitted into school. This is normally those under 5 years. This is a small group of up to 15 children. In the afternoons, after the school going children return home , we run a school session in two different slums. These total around 60+ children who we help with their homework, improve their English skills, as well as providing extra activities like arts and crafts, drama and of course a time for the children to play games including football, skipping, dancing and singing. We hope to have our licence shortly which will enable us to start the lessons at "The Mango house". This will give them a more structured environment which will hopefully provide them and the volunteers with a more rewarding experience.
Helping the Parents To help the children
We have become very close with all the families who live in the slums and are getting the opportunity to help some of the parents as well as the children. One night at the beginning of September we received a call from the slum from the children asking for help as one of the mothers was in a really bad state. The mother had drank so much alcohol that she was hallucinating and paranoid : she thought that there were people after her and her children. The children were all crying and worried : it was very emotional. It was terrifying to see what the local brands of alcohol can do… We took her to the hospital and the doctor prescribed her some drugs that made her sleep the whole night which gave piece of mind to her family. In the morning we took her to the Alcohol addiction center. Unfortunately the centre only admits men so she was given a weeks medicine and then became an out patient.
The difference in the lady after just two weeks has been amazing. She is a completely different person: her skin is much healthier; she's smiling; her eyes are brighter. Her improvement has also reflected on her children. Her daughter especially who had the weight of the world on her shoulders is now so much happier and she looks 10 years younger. She is only 10 as it is, but due to the stress looked much older.
Since then we have taken two fathers to the alcohol addiction centre at their request. One is still on the wagon but unfortunately the second has returned to alcohol.
Giving out Clothes
Darian who volunteered with us earlier in the year is now helping a project near the Himalayas. She visited "The Mango House" last month and we were able to provide her with many items including, heavier shoes, boots and coats to take for the children. Another two of our volunteers (Louise and Sue) recently took the 50 hour trip to the Himalayas with another 3 suitcases full of goodies for the children. They both loved the scenery but might not be willing to take the train next time as it was a very long and hard trip.
Slum Parties
 The last month has seen a multitude of invitations to join the families at the slums celebrating various special nights in their calendars; we were also included to a coming of age party for one of the older girls. We would like to thank all the families who treat us as part of their exended family.
Eid (Muslim)
We have a handful of families at one of the local slums that are Muslim. They have been fasting for Ramadam but as a treat for Eid we gave those families with children a sack of rice, bags of sugar, spices, tea, noodles, soap toothbrushes, toothpaste and fruit to celebrate this special period.
Diwali (Hindu)
Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Light, which is celebrated all over India with fireworks, papier-mâché monsters and lots of singing and shouting. Most schools have at least 2 weeks holiday during this time so we have spent more time down at the slums playing games, having parties, and a very funny sports day where some of the parents joined in. We also took the children for a trip to the beach which the children (and volunteers) loved. Each chidlren’s family was also given a big bag with rice, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap and fruit in as a small present for Diwali.
Diwali Sports Day
We held a small but important sports day at Karaswada during Diwali. There were around 60 children and 8 or 9 parents who joined in to make it a very special and fun day. One of the funniest moments was when young Sachin kept interrupting the events by walking onto the course and stealing the hula hoops, skittles, and anything that were not tied down. He did it with style and a huge smile on his face so how could we be mad…. :o)
We had the usual events, with most of the volunteers helping out. The day started with the egg and spoon race, relay races which included the three armed race, fancy dress race and finally bobbing for apples which was just fantastic fun and we even had the parents joining in. We would like to thank (as always) all the volunteers for all their help and assistance on the day making sure the children had fun.
Mumbai
 Shermina, Rob and three volunteers (Sue, Maggie and Pat) took a trip up to Mumbai to give out fruit to some of the children in the slums. For all three of the volunteers it was their first time in Mumbai. Generally the conditions are a lot poorer in Mumbai, so it can always be a shock for volunteers who haven’t been before but we all had a great couple of days giving out fruit. At the end of the second day we still had a box of apples left, so we asked the taxi driver if there were any good charities we could give the last box of apples to. We drove for about 30 minutes and found The Vatsalya Foundation, where we gave out our last box of apples.
The Mango House
Unfortunately we are still waiting for our license to be granted, but that hasn’t stopped the volunteers from improving the appearance and feel of "The Mango House". A special thank you to all the volunteers who helped with the improvements.
We now have new mosquito nets at most of the windows, a lovely mosaic in the shower area of the kitchen and a new Children Walking Tall sign board and table made.
As well as indoor work we have had several local laborers to help clear the garden now that the monsoon has finally finished. Many of the laborers have been parents from the slums we help at and they have done an amazing job on the garden. Anyone who has visited the Mango House will know how big the garden is, much of it was full of weeds, but the workers have made it into a lovely play area again. Hopefully each year this task will become easier as we remove more and more weeds.
The outside of the Mango house was also badly effected by the monsoon with the majority of the paint work being damaged. Volunteers and Ali have worked hard to clean most of the old paint off and we will soon get some workers in to complete the cleaning and put on a brand new coat of paint. Hopefully if we prepare the wall well the paint work will last for a few years this time.
Volunteers
We are so lucky to have been joined by 13 new volunteers during the last couple of months and many more are scheduled to come over in the next month. The volunteers have a wide range of backgrounds, from paramedics to builders, social workers and teachers. All of them come with one thing in mind : to give their time to make the lives of the children better. We would like to thank all our new volunteers for their care and support.
New Volunteers
| Alice |
Youth Worker from Wales |
| Frida |
Training Coordinator from Sweden |
| Jon |
Teacher from the UK |
| Justine |
Gallery Manager and Children’s Art Teacher from Ireland |
| Justine (G) |
Student Social and Healthcare Economy from Germany |
| Lilly |
Project Coordinator, originally from New Zealand |
| Louise |
Registered Social Worker from the UK |
| Maria |
Mother of two who now lives in India |
| Mike |
Builder from the UK |
| Olivia |
Drama/Dance Student from UK |
| Rachael |
Nanny and wannabe Bollywood star, originally from New Zealand |
| Sapna |
Social worker from the UK |
| Sujata |
Teacher from the UK |
As well as new volunteers we have a few hardened volunteers who have made Children Walking Tall their second home. We are so grateful to everyone who gives their time to help.
Volunteer Goodbyes…
Many volunteers feel overwhelmed and emotional when they first arrive and meet the children for the first time. It’s not always an easy challenge and can be a shock to the system at times, especially when the volunteers haven’t been further abroad than Europe. The stark reality of the children’s lives can definitely be emotional. For some volunteers though it is instant enjoyment as they see the smiling faces of the children, for others it takes a few days to understand the situation that the children face each day. Life in the slums can be brutal and scary but we are here to help make the lives of these children as enjoyable as possible and to hopefully give them some skills to make their own lives better giving them a greater chance in life. We would like to thank Mike, Dave, Geoff, Marleen, Jon, Nadine, Becky, Jonathon, Sapna, Maggie & Patrick. To see the latest comments by volunteers then please visit the experiences section of the website. (www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Volunteer-Experiences.htm)
Volunteering for CWT a volunteers perspective!
Where to begin… well for starters, life at the Mango House is everything and anything that needs to be done on any given day, but always fun! Because we both arrived after the House was closed to the children, we have been doing jobs around the house that couldn’t otherwise be done if the children were here. It’s such a fantastic building, sort of like a big playhouse, complete with a huge garden, and the restoration work that Rob and Shermina and previous volunteers have completed is incredible when you see the before pictures. So far, we have painted a large sign to go outside the house, painted the CWT logo on tiles, which was initially meant to be the sign outside, until we were advised by certain perfectionists on the staff (not mentioning any names Rob!) that the paint wasn’t going to stay where it was supposed to. So now its a table top! And finally, a mosaic on the shower area floor in the kitchen, (which is supposed to be a sun, but has already been mistaken for an octopus!) Our next house project is to mosaic the outside washing area so the tile smashing will begin shortly. And that’s just the mornings!
Every afternoon we have been teaching at the slum where the children are AMAZING! They are so full of energy it’s sometimes difficult to keep up! We have both been doing basic English and learning games with the non-school going children which can be more hilarious than you would think! Most of them are aged between 3 and 10 and have a really good grasp of English. They also really enjoy shouting the alphabet louder and faster than the child sitting next to them which can be a bit manic. We have done lots of art & crafts with them which they love. Mask making was probably their favourite so far. It’s also interesting to see some of the parents joining in with these sessions. A lot of them are in their twenties and thirties and most probably didn’t have much of a childhood themselves so it’s nice to see them being creative too.
One of the highlights for us was the trip to the beach last week, which was sooo much fun. We collected the children from the slum at lunchtime and they were so excited, all dressed in their best clothes and cheering and waving at the bus! They were so well behaved and loved every minute of it all. They sang the alphabet (!), Watermelon and One Finger, One Thumb (some of their favourites) on the bus until the exasperated bus driver turned on some music, which of course they all knew so they sang along with that too! However, that was more in tune and synchronised so it wasn’t so hard on the ears! At the beach they swam, built sandcastles and had a tug of war against the volunteers, which they won, even though there were some competitive souls on the volunteers team!!! Most of the kids fell asleep on the way home and it was so lovely to see them all totally exhausted from having fun. There were a few tenacious characters down at the back of the bus, who lead the more subdued singing, but everyone had a great day.
Last week we celebrated Diwali and were invited to one of the family’s homes for a Diwali meal which was really interesting. It was really strange to be the ones having our photo taken for a change! It’s a sign of Rob and Shermina’s hard work and dedication that the families trust and respect them enough now to feel honoured to have them at their special events. We have experienced a lot of the benefits of the work that has been done since CWT was established and we are really grateful to all the volunteers who have gone before us.
We are part of a group of volunteers from all over the world and from all walks of life and some great friendships have been forged here. It’s been a fantastic experience so far and we both hope it continues to be. Mostly, we have been having a really good time, and although we have been told that things were even better when the house was open, we are making the most of the outreach work and keeping our fingers crossed that the Mango house will be full of noisy children again soon and that CWT can continue with its great work.. helping children in India have a childhood worth remembering!
Frida & Justine
Chickens
Mike and Jon are now proud parents to (at the moment) 5 healthy chicks. Unfortunately both Mike and John left last month before the chicks hatched. There was quite a bit of gossip on whether the hen would lay any eggs, so when the first one was laid Mike was very proud as he had put a lot of effort in making 5 star accommodation for the hen and cockerel. The hen was not laying before the hen house was made, but now she feels comfortable there has been no stopping her! Some of the volunteers thought there was ‘foul’ play and someone was buying the eggs… But now they have hatched there is no other egg-splanation.. Thanks to Mike, Jon and Ali for all their effort in creating the hen house. |
