What's Been Happening
Christmas Preparations
Over the past four months volunteers and visitors have been working hard to sort, wrap and label over 1200 presents and 1000 goodie bags to be distributed over four days at Christmas. Shermina and the volunteers started by turning the floors of the school and playroom into a grid of presents; each square had two, three or four smaller presents to make each present a similar size. Once the floor had been covered, the parcels were all hand wrapped and labels attached to denote what was in each parcel. As you can imagine, this was a mammoth job. As we got closer to Christmas, more visitors came with even more presents so our original goal of 1000 quickly went up to 1100; finally over 1200 presents were wrapped. The presents were stored in bags, suitcases and boxes in the attic ready for Christmas, each container marked with the type and number of presents. As well as the wrapped presents, we also had goodie bags to give to each child. The goodie bags were bought, filled with pens, pencils, sharpeners (thanks to everyone at HT for this), sweets, balloons and fruit (apples, oranges and bananas). Obviously the fruit was the last thing to go in and over the four days that we gave out the presents, over 4000 pieces of fruit were distributed. During the last month, a Christmas calendar was made to show the targets we needed to reach to keep on track which also highlighted the days that we would be giving the presents out and how many would be given on each day. With the support of the volunteers and visitors, we exceeded all our goals and even managed to have Christmas Eve to recharge our batteries for the final day of giving on Christmas Day.
Can I hear the sleigh bells?
Many of you might wonder why we celebrate Christmas as most of the children are either Hindu or Muslim. The answer is simple and one that all the volunteers who have worked with us will recognise: the excitement and happiness that such a simple gesture can bring is priceless. The laughter, anticipation and sometimes confusion (why is that man dressed up in a red fluffy suit?) that the children show when we are giving out the presents is amazing and so rewarding. There is never a feeling of disappointment which is so often found in the West. The simple act of receiving a present is so unique and new to many of the children that it makes them burst into laughter, song and uncontrollable dancing. Christmas is a time of giving and this is what charity is all about.
Day 1 : As there were so many presents to give out, we were going to distribute them over the next 5 days leading up to and including Christmas Day. Thursday the 21st was the first day. We were a little nervous. We started by going down to the fruit market and buying around 1000 pieces of fruit to fill the goodie bags. Volunteers sat round in a circle as if on a production line, each one putting their piece of fruit into a bag, wrapping it and placing it into one of the three huge plastic containers ready to be put into the van; after the fruit was secured, we filled the rest of the space in the van with around 300 wrapped presents, leaving no room for anything or anyone else… Luckily some of the volunteers came in their own taxis so we spread the goodies out between three vans and managed to fit all the presents in and just about enough room for all the volunteers; two brave souls (Ali and Jake) got into their glad rags (Father Christmas outfits) and added a little bit of padding. A little apprehensive, we set off and drove toward Panjim. Our first stop was Betim. These children have always been on our Christmas list since we started the charity so it was good to start with somewhere we knew. There was a good number of children and it was a great start to a very busy day. We then headed to Panjim and made a couple of stops. The second stop was probably a mistake: huge numbers of children appeared from everywhere. They were all very good and lined up but just a little unexpected… Continuing towards old Goa, we found several small pockets of families who work on the roads and building sites. The volunteers soon realised that it was a tiring but fantastic experience.
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Day 2 : We started early for the volunteers to sort the fruit into the goodie bags and set off to Margao. The vans were joined by Rob and Santa (Jake) on the bike. Jake loved his new role as Santa and often shouted, ‘Ho Ho Ho’ to confused bystanders as we drove down the highway. We had given clothes out earlier in the year so decided to start at the biggest area where there were probably over 100 children; thankfully they were very well behaved. We divided them into boys, girls and babies and started unloading a mass of presents and goodie bags. We continued onto a few smaller areas and the response from everyone was great.
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Day 3 : By the third day, our energy levels were flagging but everyone was in early again to sort the 1000 pieces of fruit into bags and boxes and the vans were loaded. We started by visiting a temporary slum area close to The Mango House; unfortunately some of the parents were a bit of a handful and kept on pushing and asking for more. We then headed to Candolim, Calangute and Baga and visited small pockets of slums. We managed to finish early and up to now had given out close to our original target of 1000 presents. It was December 23rd and it was decided that everyone would have a day off for Christmas Eve and reconvene on Christmas Day morning to do the last few slums.
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Day 4 : Christmas Day: Everyone was in early and started by sorting the fruit out and preparing the vans with all the gifts. We left the slums we have most contact with till Christmas Day; for all of us, they are the closest to our hearts as we see the children nearly every day. Karaswada was first. We arrived to find twice as many children as are normally there; many had joined the slum children from the surrounding houses with the hope of presents, certainly remembering last year. All the children collected around the area where we do the outreach work, waiting for their name to be called out. One of our little helpers captured some of the days events on video and is a great watch, so if you'd like a to see what fun we got up to please click here or copy/paste the link below....
http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=6130226512573112232
The next stop was the crossroads, the second area where we carry out our outreach work. The children were great once again and proudly wore the glasses that Lin added to their goodie bags. The last and final stop was Sinquerim. We have known the children at Sinquerim from the start of Children Walking Tall and it was great to see their beaming smiles as they unwrapped their presents. Some of them were working so we gave their brothers and sisters their presents to look after until they returned. The best was one 3 year old boy who was saving presents for all of his four sisters.
Christmas was a great success and we would like to thank everyone who made it possible. This includes all the visitors who brought toys and games for the presents, the HT guys for buying the pencil sharpeners, the people who donated money for fruit and goodie bags, the visitors who joined Santa on the trips to the slums and finally to all the volunteers who stayed with us till the end, giving out the huge number of presents. I know anyone who was there will realise what a fantastic experience it has been, but for those who couldn’t join us, please have a look at the large collection of photos from the four days of giving.
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A volunteer's view of Christmas - By Jake Kennard
The bull sighs in frustration as it walks towards us. If it picks up any more speed, it will be charging.
 “Jake, get ready to run,” says Ali, picking up his pace.
From under the brim of my fluffy hat, I keep an eye on the angry pair of horns stomping our way.
Sweat trickles through my white beard as I regret ever eating steak, and wearing a padded red suit. It’s the day before Christmas Eve and I’m in Goa, on a road towards Old Goa, to be exact. The sun is beating down on a cloudless sunny day and I am walking through a large field, dressed in a full Santa outfit with my colleague Ali (also dressed as Santa), followed by a Indian mother, her child, and a bull.
The bull moos again and Ali breaks into a run up the scraggy slope where the rest of the team are waiting with me hot on his tail.
The rest of the CWT team burst into laughter as we reach them at the top, pointing at the mother, carefully picking her way up the hill, completely ignoring the bull and with all the time in the world.
“Yeah, well she isn’t wearing red; me an’ Ali are.”
“Bulls go after red, Jake, not cows,” laughs Shermina.
“No that’s a bu… oh… shut up!”
I have found stories like these only come about through experience and by far the best experience of my life so far has been my time in India, working voluntarily for Children Walking Tall.
I have been asked to write a piece for the newsletter about the Christmas period when we traveled to slums all around Goa, to deliver more than 1200(!) childrens' presents in four days in two or sometimes three cabs stuffed full of prezzies, volunteers, and a few visitors.
One Santa (Ali) leads the convoy driving, the second Santa (myself) on the back of Rob’s bike, turning more heads than, well, Santa on a motorbike
Some of the things I have seen I hope will remain with me for the rest of my life; a young girl peels back the wrapping to reveal a big white fluffy teddy; she buries her face in the soft fur, with a smile so wide I feel my heart break and join back together again; another, aged around ten, dances to a song on the Dhoom: 2 soundtrack, better than any Bollywood star; a third young girl from Sinquirim and her younger brother demand that I see their home, but not before I take my sandals off outside the door. I step into the one roomed shanti. It is dark, threadbare and smaller than my living room back home.
'Nice house, no?” she beams with pride, struggling to open a bottle of bubbles.
Looking around the room, I realize that it is spotless, with everything (what there is) in its place. In that second, seeing her pride in her home, my perceptions change.
“Beautiful,” I say with honesty, and then show her how to open the bubbles.
We laugh as her little brother jumps around the room giggling, trying to pop the bubbles that we are blowing. I hope I never forget any (and more) of these memories but I know that if I do, I will always have them written down, and they will always make me smile.
I hope what I have written down shows the huge positive experience we all gained from those few Christmas days and I thank everybody who was there to share it with me, Thank you to everyone for donating the toys, crayons, nail-polish, Frisbees and all manner of things that make Christmas what is is.. And I know I must sound like I’m competing for a Miss Universe prize but most of all thank you to the children, for scratching up the spirit to smile, no matter how bad the poverty you are living in is, for making me laugh so much my ribs hurt, and for summoning the courage to approach the big scary man in the Santa outfit.
Typhoid
One of the girls from the slum came to us with a raging temperature recently. She had already seen a doctor who thought she might have malaria although he had not given her any tests. We took her to the local government hospital for an examination and blood tests to be done. She needed to have several tests; the first was done there and then but the rest needed to be done on an empty stomach so we were called back the next day. Unfortunately she deteriorated as the day progressed and her mother brought her round to The Mango House that evening and asked if we could help. We took her back to the hospital where she was admitted. She had the tests the next morning and it was concluded that she had typhoid. She was really well looked after by the nurse and her temperature was finally brought down. She returned to the slum after being in hospital for a few days and is now doing much better.
Animal Antics
There has unfortunately been a stream of children requiring the post rabies jabs. In total 3 children have been bitten by stray dogs in the last month. As a precaution, all were taken to the hospital to receive their rabies injections. The children are given from three to five injections. They are never too keen to receive them and in some cases require a little encouragement. We are getting quite well known at the hospitals and are treated well. We thank all the staff who have helped the children but hope that it will be quite a while before we have to visit again.
Seizure
One of the younger girls (around 5 years of age) was admitted into hospital over Christmas as she had a severe seizure while at home. We're still not sure what caused it but she was admitted into hospital for around a week for tests and to recover from the experience. As this was over Christmas, she missed out on the present giving at the slums, although we still managed to visit her on Christmas day at Bambolim hospital to spread a little joy and happiness...
ADHD
Over the last couple of months we have been working together with ADHD in Suffolk who run a charity to help young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and associated learning difficulties. Jake who has ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) is currently working, under supervision, with the children and is really enjoying the chance to do this kind of work. Linda who started the charity around 10 years ago contacted us and has now set up the link with Children Walking Tall in India. This partnership will hopefully be a long term effort, which will not only benefit the children but also those volunteers who join us from their organisation. As part of this, we are hoping to address some of the childrens' learning difficulties early so work can be done to improve their situation. We would like to thank everyone associated with ADHD Suffolk for all their help over the last couple of months.
Leprosy
Suresh was diagnosed with leprosy some 3 months ago and has been on medication every day since. We are happy to say that he has remained high spirited throughout the whole experience and with great support from his family is improving every day. Each day he must take his medicine and also have regular checkups with the Goa Medical College, Bambolim. The only worry is a severe open wound on one of his fingers that we are continuing to work on.
For more information about leprosy http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs101/en/
Twisted Foot
Shalu has been using his last leg brace and it has finally given way. Luckily a foot specialist from England
(Martyn)
joined us for a few weeks and already knew about Shalu's foot. He was eager to find another solution to the problem which might be less intrusive and easier to conceal to prevent teasing. The new orthotics have been made from a mould of his foot and can fit nicely inside a standard shoe. They have been designed to improve the foot's position and to spread the weight which was being applied in one area of the foot. It's early days yet; he is using them for a couple of hours at a time until they become more comfortable to use for longer periods.
Boxes of Educational Items from Udaipur
We would like to send a special thank you to Jill Bennett who sent us 8 large boxes of educational items from Udaipur. She had originally planned to start a nursery but her plans changed and she wanted to donate the items to a similar project. It was quite a surprise to receive so much in one go and it was like Christmas as we opened each box to find the excellent items that we will use with the children over the coming months. Jill will be in Goa shortly and will see how the items are being used at The Mango House.
Giving out Clothes
 Report from Darian (Himalayas) : At last I have made progress with the NGO Uttaranchal Jyoti Samiti (UJS). I have been to the village four times now and recently spent 4 days there. I had just had a meeting with the Director and it was decided that my visits to the school to teach will become more frequent and I may start visiting more remote villages to work with adolescent girls. It feels really good to finally get a bit established with the NGO and the great people who work there. On November 10th I took the clothes from CWT to the village and handed them out to the kids who attend the UJS school, ages 4-11. There was just enough for every child to receive 2 pairs of socks, one sweater/jacket or shoes. They were very happy and grateful. Some were able to take some of the baby clothes home to their younger siblings. For some of the bigger clothes we invited a couple adolescent girls in to give them some of the larger items. One girl received a very nice jacket that will help keep her warm this winter. The day went very well with the help of the teachers and Director. These children walk between 2-6 kilometers to get to school. They are from extremely poor families and the clothes will all be put to use. The other day when I was teaching I noticed one of the pair of boots in the collection of shoes being worn for the long walk to and from school.
Swiss Television
We had been contacted by Suresh from Palmland tours who was organising events for Swiss Television. The company has a show where two presenters taking differing routes through a country, this time they decided to investigate Goa and one presenter took the high life, staying at the best hotels, interviewing prominent Goan celebrities, the second took a more down to earth route and stayed in budget accommodation and visited places to see the true Goa. Children Walking Tall was requested to take part and the presenter and film crew spent a day at "The Mango House" and included a sponsored trip to the beach and joining in with the outreach work. Robert was put in front of the camera to answer their questions and to talk about the charity, something he wasn't really looking forward to, but everything seemed to go well. Hopefully in the not too distant future it will be screen and they will send us a copy. We would like to thank them for their donation and for taking the small children for a fun day at the beach.
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The pictures section has had lots of updates due to the huge number of photos we took over Christmas. Each of the four days that we took out Christmas presents we took our trusty digital camera to capture the emotions that the children experienced. As you can see from the photos, there were lots of HUGE smiling faces and a few that we a little more confused when they saw the brightly coloured Father Christmas's and volunteers. Please 
The volunteer experiences section has been updated with Jon and Mike's comments. We like to encourage the volunteers to write a bit before they go and most of them do. It's nice for us to have a little record of what the volunteers thought of their time here and of course new volunteers find it useful so they can get a feel of what the charity is like before volunteering. 
This is a little hidden gem for anyone who is coming to Goa. We have example Taxi prices from Calangute to various locations throughout Goa. These have been updated to include the standard fares from the Airport. This is great to print out and bring with you to give you an idea of the going rate of the Taxi journeys.
Thank you to everyone who has given donations over the last year, hopefully most of you have been to "The Mango House" to see what we have been doing and how far the money has been stretched. We continue to develop the facilities at the house and include them in the needslist. Hopefully I will get chance to write down a few needs once we get the licence details through.
During December we designed a few Christmas cards from some of the photos taken this year. The best one however was made by the children (with the help of some volunteers) and is a picture of a Christmas tree and some presents. To view the Christmas cards please 
Linda Philips came to visit us and was kind enough to bring us some presents in her luggage and also a donation from Alex and Sue Gregory and a cheque from Wardle High School in Rochdale, they managed to have a look round the house and even got Robert to pose for the camera while receiving the cheque. We would like to thank everyone involved for all their efforts and hope that they will all get a chance to see what we do in the future. 
