« November / December 2008 » |
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IntroductionChildren Walking Tall is now four years old. Those who were with us in the begining I'm sure will have seen a huge difference in what we do. Our beginings were humble when we visited slums giving out donated clothes and held informal lessons for the children. It's not been an easy path but we are still here and will continue to provide a solid safe base for the children we help. We hope you enjoy this newseltter and please accept our appologies for it being late.
We have moved offices in the UK so please make note of our new address which is
Children Walking Tall
5 Lyncombe Court
Ordsall
Retford
Notts
DN22 7FY
Thank you to everyone for their continued support and I 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 | |
| Fundraising | |
| Future Plans | |
| What Can You Do? | |
| And Finally | |
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What's Been Happening
A Child's Return I'm sure most of our readers remember the girl who was severely burnt last year. She received burns to 74% of her body and was only given 2 or 3 days to live. A year later has made a huge difference to her, after being discharged from hospital in November 2008 she came to "The Mango House" where she received her daily dressings until the middle of January when she was well enough to return to her village in Karnataka.
She lives around 8 hours drive away from Mapusa so we couldn't go and see her as often as we liked but a few of us managed to see her in February and then went again in June only to find her house closed. We then had a huge surprise as she magically appeared at our local slum again, she had been brought by her elder brother to look after his two children (one a newborn). It was a joy to see her again and she had put on a little weight and looked so healthy, she stayed for a couple of weeks and then returned to her village with her brother. We tried to get her to come and learn stitching at the house although her brother wouldn't allow her as she had to stay home and watch over his two children. This is an unfortunate problem that faces many of the girls.
It was nice to know that we weren't far from her thoughts as on Boxing Day she rang the charity and wished Robert and staff a "Happy Christmas"... This message shouldn't stop with us, as it is our supporters who allow us to do the work we do. So "Happy Christmas" to everyone who has helped us over the last 4 years. Thank you.
Presents for the children in the slums I would like to thank all the volunteers, staff and supporters for making this year such a great success. During the run up to Christmas we thought there would only be enough toys for around 500 or 600 wrapped presents. The store room was looking a little empty and due to the world financial crisis and bombings in Mumbai we thought we would just have to make do. We started organizing the toys into their different types, balls, Frisbees, dolls and toy cars etc. Each toy was separated and counted, the main items we had were cuddly toys and with just weeks to go we had around 700 cuddly toys. Each wrapped present we give normally has a cuddly toy, a main toy, balloons and a few more small bits to fill it out.
The main job of organizing and wrapping the presents was given to Sophie who excelled and started wrapping with just a few weeks to go before Christmas. The first presents to be wrapped were for 'our' children and 50 presents were quickly wrapped and put aside in suitcases for the special day. During the next few days Sophie, Abby, Seema, Jay and volunteers started to churn out the wrapped presents. Within a week there were around 400 wrapped presents and by the weekend before Christmas they had managed 1000 presents.
I would like make a special thank you to Sophie, Seema and Jay for spending most of the two weeks before Christmas locked away in Santa's grotto wrapping presents.
 Aloysious was away for the first time this Christmas and this was a little worrying as he is 'Santa', this year Robert had to fill his shoes (and costume). One thousand presents is a little too many to give out on one day but as we started on the 22nd December we had to get a good third of them given out otherwise we would be struggling to give the rest out before Christmas. The day started by buying 1000 pieces of fruit (apples and oranges). We unloaded half of the fruit and filled the van with about 400 presents which had already been put into large red coloured bags ready for Santa to carry. Each bag was sorted by style of present, boys, girls, unisex and babies. Robert dressed up in the Santa suit (which is really hot in this weather!) and 2 staff and three volunteers headed off to Margao. Our first stop was Betim just outside Panjim. These children have always been on our Christmas list since we started the charity, we gather around 20 to 30 children with their parents to get the first few presents. We started slowly as Robert was the only one who had done this before and then we headed onto Margao and drove through a couple of fields to reach the first main slum on the outskirts of Margao. The children and parents were great and made giving the presents a joy... Seeing the faces light up when they opened their presents was a joy to see. The rest of the day continued going from slum to slum until most of the 400 presents were given out.
 The 23rd and 24th saw us taking presents to areas closer to home, around Mapusa, Canca, Apora, Baga, Calangute, Sinquerium and Thivim. I would like to thank Lisa and Trupti for their translation skills and help during these days (the staff). Both were new to this but managed very well. This year the Baga children were probably the best behaved as they sat in their lines and made it a joy for us to give the presents out, although for the third year running Canca was the hardest slum to deal with.
All in, we managed to give out all the wrapped presents and a few days after Christmas we gave out presents to another 100+ children who were working the roads just down the highway from The Mango House.
As always thank you to everyone who makes this possible.
Christmas at The Mango HouseWe thought Christmas was going to be put on hold this year as Santa Claus had a baby boy! Ali, who is the house parent at The Mango House called in on the 21st of December saying he was in hospital with his expectant wife and wouldn't be coming in! - Ali is an integral part of the charity and especially at Christmas when he dons the red outfit and becomes 'Santa Claus'. Thankfully, at the very last minute his brother from America (Santa Claus Jr) dropped in and saved the day (better known as Allan, Abby's husand - Thanks Allan!)
The children started to arrive around 8:30 and many were dressed in their best clothes. The children played out side for a while giving us the chance to prepare the last few Christmas presents and final touches to the house for the party. A Christmas tree lit up one corner of the reception room and below it were the 50 presents for the house children.
 Santa arrived at around 10:30 and sat at the front of reception while the children waited patiently, The presents were named and each of the children got up and collected their presents from Santa. The presents were mostly one large toy or game with lots of little extra 'stocking fillers' thrown in (Balloons a few sweets, small plastic toys, hair bobbles for the girls and a small toy car for the boys). They all seemed really happy with their presents and spent the next hour playing with them and showing them to their friends. There were more presents to come as this year as well as their 'present' each of the children received an outfit, the girls received a beautifully stitched churidar set made by Savita and the boys received a pair of jeans and a formal shirt. I would like to thank Graham & Jenny Coles, Kavita Verma, Mark Gaunt & Graham Elrick who all helped with these.
 Just after mid day the children came in and had their Christmas lunch, Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, bacon.. Hang one.. No... That's not right, we're in India.... The children enjoyed a beautiful chicken curry made by Saroja Didi! Thank you Didi! As always her food was gorgeous, After dinner Savita gave out the second half of their presents (the outfits). The children spent the next 30 minutes getting their look just right, many spending most of their time in front of the mirror combing their hair over and over again to get it just right. The tree house was nearly complete so we took the girls up first and clicked a photo of all the girls together in their new clothes and then the boys. They all looked stunning so a huge thank you to everyone who made this possible.
The rest of the day was spent playing games and dancing to very loud music. For more photos please see the Christmas Day Pictures on our website.
Sewing LessonsFor the last few months we have been teaching sewing to the children. We would like to Thank Sapna and Heena for their help teaching and hope this continues. Around 20 children have started these lessons and both boys and girls are joining in. The children start off by learning on newspaper which is marked, cut and stitched to make paper outfits and some of these have been really good with the children parading them around the house. Once the children have got the basics they move on to material and we have seen some great outfits being made. We hope this success will continue and hope that we can offer this skill to even more children. We would like to thank Anja Kielen who is supporting the sewing classes and has made this possible.
 Bamboo Play Park
We would like to thank the owners of Moglies Bamboo park in Vagator who were kind enough to offer our children free entrance to their park. Moglies is just a small park but has lots for the younger children to do. Most of the equipment is made out of natural materials like Bamboo and Wood and gives the park a friendly and homely feel. The children have been a couple of times now and it's a great way for them to burn off some energy. Unfortunately some of the equipment involves pushing, so shouts of 'Please push' echo the park..
The Mango Tree House This season our volunteers have been working hard in the garden to make a fun exciting playground for the children. Alex was the 'bamboo man' for most of his duration with us. He built up a solid tree house at the front of the garden under the Mango Tree. Last year the guys and girls from HMS Illustrious made a tree house but it did not survive the monsoon. Crossed fingers our new tree house will last for a year or two. The base is built on brick stilts and has a solid wooden (Mango wood) floor. Just before Alex left we were also able to build a second platform and connect the two with a bamboo bridge. The children now use it to play on every day. Recently, Matt and Guy have added some more platforms and will hopefully have them finished in the next couple of months. Thank you to Melanie and the Department for Children and Young People, South Gloucestershire Council, Trina, her students, family and friends for making it possible.
VisitorsDue to the recent events in Mumbai and the bad press Goa has received of late there have been a sharp drop in the number of tourists in Goa and those visiting the house and were very worried that we would not be able to celebrate Christmas as we have in the past. Thankfully we had some very generous visitors just before Christmas bumped the number of presents up to a respectable 1000. The New Year so far has already been busier then the months leading up to Christmas. |
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WebsiteThe Website has settled down and the main updates are always the pictures and volunteering section which is kept up to date each week. Below are the changes in the last few months.
VolunteeringThe volunteer section continues to grow and develop. If anyone is interested in volunteering then please read this section first as most of your questions should be answered. The most important page is the volunteer calendar which shows available slots. Do keep your eye on this as it can be updated daily. We currently have most our volunteer places filled until March 2010!
Pictures
 Merry Christmas - Part 1, 2, 3 and Christmas Day!
There are four sets of new pictures which are from the Christmas celebrations. Three sets are from giving out the presents in the slums throughout Goa and the final set is from Christmas Day at the Mango House. thank you to the kids for making it such a joy to give out the presents this year. Merry Christmas All.... |
Volunteer ExperiencesBrian and Sebastian have added their comments on their stay while they were here during the monsoon. Brian and Sebastian were responsible for creating the fabulous Children Walking Tall video ( You Tube Video ). Anne has already written down her thoughts and left us only last month. Thanks to all the volunteers who put their time and effort in to help the children here in India. Click here for Volunteer Experiences |
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Fundraising and Donations
Manchester United and Stoke City football club regaliaThe children were given the chance to put their new football goal posts to the test in full Manchester United and Stoke City football club regalia which were kindly donated by the clubs and brought over by Darren and Carol Balderson who spent a few days at Mango House. In addition, Darren and Carol have helped organise fundraising activities at St Thomas More College where Darren works and has raised awareness of the charity in the local area through Stoke City Football Club and their local paper, The Sentinel. Oncemore, the college has chosen to support CWT for Lent every year, so we look forward to seeing Darren and Carol in February when they visit us again!
Golf DayWe would like to thank Humphreys Letting Agent (the Leicester office) who held a a Golf Day in the summer. The money raised was kindly donate to us and will go towards the day to day costs at the charity. Thank you to everyone who was involved in the event, a special thanks to Joanne Magnor and Nick for supporting our work.
Tandem Sky diveMany thanks to Lauren Theaker who leapt from a plane at 15,000 feet in a tandem skydive and had the adrenaline rush of her life, raising more than £500 for the charity.
Solar EnergyThe Mango House went solar this month with a solar panel fitted on the roof to take care of its hot water needs. We would like to thank Iris who donated a solar panel water heater. The donation came from her late daughters ((zara-jade) estate's. Iris says "It is nearly 4 year since Zara passed but it still feels like yesterday to me. Zara loved life and she loved children and had done quite a bit in the way of helping during her short life time. I know that Zara would be really pleased and happy that the kids can now have hot water showers just as she was used to. My aim is to continue helping at grass roots level so that many more children can be helped." Thank you to Iris Ainsworth who donated it from her daughters, Zara Jade’s estate, and visited the charity to see it up and running.
Easy Search Use Easy Search and raise funds for Children Walking Tall at the same time... Just Bookmark this link (http://cwt.easysearch.org.uk/), or make it your home page. Easysearch Version 2.0 is a now 'super' search engine, which cleverly combines the strengths of several search providers together - Yahoo!, MSN Live Search, Ask.com and many more. So, when you use easysearch to search the Web, we'll track down only the most relevant and accurate results, which means you'll find what you are looking for quickly and easily every time - all in one 'easy' search!
Also are you buying insurance, apply for a bank card or just playing the national lottery? - Perhaps you can help by using one of these offers to raise even more money for Children Walking Tall
EBay For Charity We have registered with MissionFish to allow us to receive donations from eBay sales. You can now sell an item on eBay and donate from 10% to 100% of the final sale price to support our work with street children in India. All you have to do is set up an account; find all those items that are tucked away under your bed and sell them on ebay.
Visit Ebay for charity (Children Walking Tall) for more information
If you have something to sell, and want to support Children Walking Tall at the same time, then please add us to receive a portion of the selling price.
Thank You to Everybody We would like to thank everybody who has helped to raise funds and awareness over the last two months. It is becoming increasingly difficult to write details about all the donations we receive due to the amount of work involved. If you are kind enough to arrange an event for Children Walking Tall and would like your event to be included in the newsletter, then please write a small paragraph about how the event went and who was involved and email it to us. The newsletters are very time consuming to put together so this would be a great help to us and allow more time to be spent helping the children. |
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What Can You Do?
Add a Link to our website Do you have your own website, blog or have a say on a company website? If the answer is yes then please add a link to Children Walking Tall. We have a collection of links that you can use, or if you want something designed for an offer, 5% goes to charity, or £1 for every order goes to charity then do let us know and we will make a link that fits your website.
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. Currently, people are donating from £2 to £40 per 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
UK Fundraising TeamBecome a member of our UK fundraising team by raising money or organising fundraising events. A good way to help is by finding something that you enjoy doing and getting people to give you money for doing it! For example, you could organise a night out, an Indian evening or just have a party. There are lots more ideas in our Online Fundraising Pack |
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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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