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IntroductionOur apologies for the late newsletter (again). We have been kept really busy in Goa as you will undoubtedly see from this months and next months newsletters. Thank you to everyone for their continued support and hope that you enjoy reading this month's newsletter. If you have any queries or comments, then please contact us via the website http://www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Contact-Us.htm. To provide extra safety to the children we have changed or removed their names in this and all future newsletters.
| Introduction | |
| What's Been Happening | |
| Website | |
| Future Plans | |
| What Can You Do? | |
| And Finally | |
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What's Been Happening
HMS IllustriousWe were contacted earlier this year by Tim Denley, an Able Rate in the Royal Navy on board a British Navy aircraft carrier, HMS Illustrious. HMS Illustrious was making a trip to India and would be docking at Vasco in Goa for a few days shore leave. In the past Tim and the crew have done community projects in the Caribbean, Sultanate of Oman and Africa and he hoped that he could do a similar project here during their shore leave in Goa. Tim mentioned there might be 20 or 30 willing volunteers for the day.The first job we thought of was the external wall of "The Mango House". Most of the property has been worked on in recent years but the wall, because of the amount of work involved never got off the ground.
The plan was to re-build the wall to make it an equal height throughout and cement it in place to make it solid and safe. Unfortunately, time was against us, and we didn't manage to get the required permissions in time.
Thankfully, there is always lots to do around the house (as any of our volunteers will tell you), so we decided an extension to the water tower, a bamboo tree house and clearing an area in the forest to set up a football pitch would be a good alternative.
As the agreed date got closer the number of sailors went up and up and in the end 50 HMS Illustrious crewmen and women arrived in two large coaches which caused a little traffic issue on the small road outside the house. The crew brought with them a huge amount of recyclable items for the children, most of which came from a little 'down time' the night before.
Lots of materials were required for the day; bamboo, sand, stones and cement. We ordered the big items, stones and sand well in advance, although as the day approached there was no sign of either. In the end we ordered two lots of each hoping that one supplier would deliver in time. Finally, stones were delivered by one merchant and sand by the other literally with an hour to spare.
The guys (and girls) were split into groups and started work, clearing, building and fixing. As well as man/lady power in the garden there was a dentist and medical staff who came to check the children's teeth and to patch up any sores or cuts.
 The day was a huge success, the water tower grew by 5ft, a large football pitch was cleared at the back of the house and roof tiles were replaced and fixed. The main project and the children's favorite by far was the bamboo tree house which was named "HMS Mango".
During the day we were also host to the Granada TV crew who were shadowing the ship for a TV series called "Warship" which is being shown on Channel 5. The show will be split into 6 parts and shown on Monday evenings. The last episode on the 23rd June will include the visit to "The Mango House".
The volunteers were quite excited about the sailors coming so thought it would be great idea to teach the children a song to sing to the sailors. What song did they choose? - "What do you do with a drunken sailor", I wasn't too sure how it would go down but thankfully the crew thought it was great and asked the children to sing it again and again.
The day finished with the crew presenting a framed picture of "HMS Illustrious", the ships emblems and the children all received caps, key rings and magnets.
We would like to thank everyone who was involved in the day and made it such a great success.
Surprise inspectionsIt has now been over a year since we received our status as a registered children's home in Goa. As such we have had several inspections, all of which have been surprise inspections. Each of our inspections have resulted in clear reports from the District Inspection Teams. The reports are usually straight to the point but some have gone into more detail of the work. Below are two comments that made us smile...
Extracts From previous Government Reports on Children Walking Tall “The Mango House”
“The love, affection, care being showered on the children,
as if the children were their own and that too
by strangers / foreigners, was a big surprise to us...”
“…The child was so dirty that it was a surprise that a
foreign educated individual was taking care
of the said child as if it was his own”
We are still waiting for more information about our licence but have
seen the latest report from the District Inspection Team which finished on
" In view of above the DIT recommends herewith the
extension of the term at the said children's home"
Thank you staff, volunteers and supporters alike who continue to help Children Walking Tall give the children a childhood worth remembering.
Pirate Party In the same week as the sailors visit the volunteers thought it would be topical to have a pirate themed party with pirate inspired games, fun and costumes. The volunteers worked hard getting everything ready. The children painted a life size pirate for the "pin the patch on the pirate" game, there was also walk the plank off the new tree house, a game of treasure hunt which had the children running through the garden to find clues to the location of the secret treasure chest. All the children made daggers from cardboard and paper mache, eye patches, head scarves and waist holders for their daggers. Thank you to all the volunteers for making it such a fun activity. Pirate party photos wil be uploaded soon... :o)
Sexual AbuseWe are lucky that Sexual abuse doesn't seem to be a huge part of our children's lives, but occasionally situations happen in the slum where we need to be involved and give advice and help when needed. Recently, a couple of boys were abusing younger boys so we spoke to the parents and the children to try and stop the abuse. Abby, helped by Ali, conveyed the message and hopefully with education these incidents will become less frequent. Many street and slum children do suffer badly from abuse, both sexual and physical and we hope to give our children a voice to say stop, and those children we work with every day, the education to know what is acceptable and what is not.
Chicken PoxMost of the children in the two slums we work closely with have had chicken pox lately. Every year there seems to be an infection that passes through the community. Thankfully chicken pox isn't considered too dangerous in children, even though it might be very uncomfortable and unsightly. For the children who live in the slum there are extra greater risks involved as they get infections caused by scratching the spots that form. Because they live in a dirty environment the spots often become inflamed and sore, many of the children had bad infections and it's nearly impossible to prevent them from scratching. Thankfully all the children finally shook off the chicken pox and have returned to good health.
Volunteers We have been so lucky with volunteers recently, unfortunately they all have to leave sometime. We would like to thank Kate, who returned to volunteer a second time and is now employed as a teacher in Thailand - Nadja, from Switzerland who had a lovely way of expressing herself through sounds - Jenny, from the UK who extended her stayed to four months and is now traveling in China. They have all made valuable contributions and will be sorely missed.
Not everyone leaves; Abby, a social worker from America has stayed a little longer than most, she has been with us 10 months and plans to stay another year which is good news.
As well as the ones that got away, we have several new starters. We would like to welcome, Richard, Paul, Caroline, Karla, Justine and Geeta who have started over the last few months.
The Mango HouseWe have been very lucky the last six months with volunteers who were willing to do that little bit extra to help keep The Mango House looking smart and safe for the children. Matt was a great help by building a cover for the well and extending the playground outside by making swings, seesaws and balancing poles for the children. At Christmas, Louise and faithful assistant Kate helped paint the whole of the outside of the house giving it an extra coat to protect it from the up coming monsoon. We really appreciate the volunteers who give an extra skill to the house.
A recurring problem at the house are monkeys. We occasionally get a group of around 20 monkeys some of which bound across the roof breaking the tiles and if that wasn't enough, they also steal the mangoes, cashew nuts and chikoo fruit from the trees. To help at least with the roof we have cut back some of the trees to make it more difficult for monkeys to jump onto the roof.
MedicalA few of the children have suffered from fever and vomiting over the last couple of months. Where ever possible we try to encourage the parents to be more responsible and in most cases they take their own children to the hospital now. This is a great improvement from when we first arrived when some parents were just leaving their children with no checkups even with severe burns. I am sure some of our long term supporters remember the girl who had her arm put into scalding curry by her father and who left her for 15 hours without medical treatment. Hopefully this is a thing of the past.
Visitors The tourist season has come to an end but before it did we were lucky to receive many visitors who helped out for the day or brought items for the children. A couple of visitors brought fruit from the market to give out to the children in the slums. This is always a great way to help as fruit gives the children extra vitamins and nutrients which might not always be part of their diet. One set of visitors (Rebecca and friends) were kind enough to bring drums and started a 'jammin' session with the children. It was lead by the drummer but the children joined in with their own instruments and it was fun to hear a beat form. (although very noisy). Later on one of the visitors dressed up as a clown and performed for the children. It was such fun and made a lovely change for the children.
Exquisite Beauty SalonEarlier this year we had ladies from Exquisite beauty salon join us in Goa to do a craft day. They came for one afternoon and gave the children a real treat. We were sadden to find out that Helen who helped us on the craft afternoon unfortunately passed away. Helen suffered a heart attack 2 weeks after her return to the uk, and was found in her home surrounded by her pictures of India.
In the words of Kirsty and Sarah from Exquisite"She had thoroughly enjoyed Goa and was touched by the work of Mango House as she had grown up herself, an orphan, and raised in a children's home. She will be sadly missed."
The Staff and Children at Children Walking Tall would like to pass on their condolences to Helens family and friends.
Child Care CourseRobert and Ali were invited to take part in a workshop provided by Child Line to give advice and instruction to staff who look after children. Staff from several homes around Goa were invited. The day course went through the best ways to work with the children in our care. We would like to thank Childline and the instructor for their time and for inviting us to the course.
SchoolOne of our main areas is getting as many children as possible into School. We believe that education is the key to help the children better their position in life and enable them to be aware of the possibilities they have and how to achieve them. Last year we helped around 70 children with their school requirements. It was a huge task and has been a great success as most are still attending school and have recently finished their exams with 97% of them passing. This coming year we hope to be able to help even more children with access and support during their school year, more will come in next months newsletter. |
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WebsiteThe website continues to evolve and we hope our visitors like the style and it's content. If you think there's something missing then do let us know. Below are the latest changes....
Paypal, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and My Charity PageFor the last three years we have been using the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) for our online donation system and we have been so grateful for their contribution. They have provided a great service to us.
In the last year we have had requests to include a Paypal option to the website. Paypal is a widely used service and we have finally included this option for our supporters. Please try the option now if you would like to donate using paypal.
The second new service is My Charity Page. This allows standard donations to be made but it also allows fundraising pages to be setup. If you have an event organsied, simply set up an account, add an event, choose Children Walking Tall and then get friends and family to donate online.
Hopefully these extra options will allow more people to donate online.
Social BookmarkingSocial bookmarking seems to be all the rage now-a-days so we have added an easy way to add Children Walking Tall to your favourite social bookmarking site. The sites currently listed are Google, Stumble Upon, DiggIt, Del.icio.us, Yahoo, Ma.Gnolia and Simpy. These quick links are available on our home page.
Volunteer Calendar The Volunteer calendar has had a complete make over. Hopefully the new calendar will make it easier to see when volunteer slots are available and when the best time to volunteer is. PLEASE do look at this page before sending in an application to volunteer. We will give preference to those who apply early and those who are willing to 'fit into' the spare slots.
PicturesThere has been 3 sets of new photos added in the last couple of months, these have been :
HMS IllustriousWe received a call from Tim onboard HMS Illustrious saying they were making anchor in Goa and wanted to help out for the day... A few weeks later 50 crew turned up outside 'The Mango House' in big buses (causing a little bit of mayhem in the morning) and set to work building an extension to the water tank, a tree house, football pitch and helping on the roof. It was a fantastic day and both the crew and the children loved it. (Click The Photo to See the pictures) |
 Sports Day
The children love getting outside and competing against each other. All in the name of fun of course.. Here are a few pictures of a sports day we had a couple of months ago. Thanks to all involved (Click The Photo to See the pictures) |
 Drummers and Clowns
One set of visitors (Rebecca and friends) were kind enough to bring drums and started a 'jammin' session with the children. It was lead by the drummer but the children joined in with their own instruments and it was fun to hear a beat form. Later on one of the visitors dressed up as a clown and performed for the children. It was such fun and made a lovely change for the children. (Click The Photo to See the pictures) |
Volunteer Experiences Two more volunteers have left their mark on our website. Nadja and Laura have added their comments. We want to provide as much insight as possible for new volunteers and rely on previous volunteers to give an account in their own words of what the CWT experience is like. We plan to introduce a Volunteers tips page too, which will hopefully calm the nerves of the volunteers who aren't sure what to expect. Click here for our collection of Volunteer Experiences. |
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Future Plans
SchoolOne of our main projects is to bring education to a wider audience and allow more children to attend school. This year we hope to continue supporting all the children from last year (about 79 were admitted) and although some have dropped out, we also hope to give help to even more children this year by providing school uniforms, bags, books, equipment and all their school needs. Hopefully over the next couple of months all the equipment will be organised so the children will be ready for the new academic year that starts in June.
The MonsoonThe monsoon which is predicted to start at the begining of June this year will provide us with lots of little jobs to keep the house dry and 'ship shape'. |
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What Can You Do?
Monthly SponsorshipThe charity has grown so much since it started, making it more important than ever to keep a solid base to work from. With this in mind, we are looking for people to give monthly donations so that a core fund can be relied on each month. This money would help towards feeding the children each day by providing a morning snack, a main meal for lunch, and a second snack in the afternoon. It would also help provide vitamins, health care and allow money to be set aside to pay rent, electricity and the water bills every month.
For more Information : http://www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Donations.htm
Spread The WordAn easy way to help Children Walking Tall is to just spread the word - just let more people know about what we do! If you've received this newsletter by email, then simply forward it to your friends; otherwise send a link to our website, as this and our older newsletters are always available on our website www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com |
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And Finally...
Newsletter By EmailIf you would like to receive these monthly newsletters by email please Contact Us. 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 with the subject “Cancel Newsletter” Many Thanks from everyone at Children Walking Tall.
Contact Us Children Walking Tall,
'The Mango House',
H.No 148/3,
Near Vrundavan Hospital,
Karaswada, Mapusa
,Bardez, Goa
Web : www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com
Tel : (0091) 9822 124 802 |
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