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News
The London
Run
A big thank you from Brighter Future in
India and in UK to all who took part in the London Run and
raised a total of £3800.This has
been put towards the new project at Shanti Nivas.
Shanti Nivas
My first visit to the Site of our next
HIV/Aids children’s home was on 17 September to reassess
the site and make any necessary adjustments to the original
plans made in February. (A government land registry survey
had been done in the intervening months.) The following
day the main home area and internal arrangement of the rooms
was measured out on the ground using sticks and string,
with the intersecting walls widths marked along it by inserting
matchstick size pieces of dried grass. It took all day to
mark the two main areas and the rough dimensions of the
dining room/kitchen. Places for supporting vertical pillars
were assessed according to the room sizes. Powdered chalk
marked the pillar positions and a few centimetres of soil
was removed. The builders are great believers in Vastu –
sounds like an Indian version of Feng-shui - so compromises
had to be made. If not complying with these precepts the
head builder, Mistri, would be ridiculed by all who saw
the finished building and the building would be unlucky!
Meanwhile Victor worked on the pricing
negotiations with the masons and a very detailed contract
was drawn up detailing their responsibilities and duties.
The important Bhoomi Puja ceremony took
place on the evening of 23 September, (in deference to my
heat exhaustion after two day’s travelling from the
North).The earth was symbolically broken by Victor, the
Pastor and me. I had to lay three cement blocks, joined
with mortar, at the eastern corner of the building area,
representing theTrinity, prayers were recited by the Pastor
from the Baptist church of Vizianagaram, and Holy oil was
poured on the corners. We had taken a random selection of
children from DMC house and from Prem Nivas and they sang
a hymn. A blessing was made on the reserve borewell site
as the flow at the first site is not too good, although
this is in part because of the dearth of power supply these
days because of political unrest. Andhra is seeking division
into two separate states.
After the Pastor left the site, we
had a Hindu equivalent, breaking coconuts at the appropriate
corners of three buildings. Our masons and labourers are
all Hindus.
Karuna Nivas
On 27 September our current volunteer,
Kirsty and I joined Victor on the long two hour journey
to Narasannapetta in Srikakulam District, which lies to
the north of VIzianagaram District, on the national Highway
to Calcutta. We picked up our Pastor Elisha, the Coordinator
of our Karuna Nivas and Narasannapetas projects from the
Leprosy Project where he lives. Kirsty and I had a quick
look at the 17 new houses Brighter Future had constructed
on the colony while Victor was explaining how patients could
take loans to set up businesses under the Self Help Grant
Scheme..
We were soon on our way to Karuna Nivas
the Home for HIV positive children that we established in
March 2008. The children were off school for the Dasshera
holidays and having presented floral garlands to Kirsty
and me, were able to introduce themselves. There were 15
new faces since my last visit in February. The oldest boy,
Rambabu, is in the 12th year, our upper sixth equivalent,
and is studying maths with the idea of being an accountant.
(We met his mother with the HIV infected adults who were
arriving for their food and medicine parcels and a check
up with our doctor for general problems.)
Nagaraju is now over 14. He wants to work
in a cloth shop but for the holiday period he is helping
the KN staff and doing shopping and other responsible jobs.
Meanwhile we will try to find some training for him. He
might like to take a tailoring course in Vizianagaram, staying
at the Rainbow Boys' Home.
The children have new staff. Venkatalaxmi
the social worker, Adilaxmi, housemother and the new cook,
Ramamamma. They have a new kitchen, water is now pumped
from the well to a tap and there is another toilet. A wall
has been built to separate the children from the stream
and the leprosy colony and there will soon be an additional
sleeping room available for the 20 children.
After lunch with the children it was time
to turn our attention to the HIV patients who had come from
their villages to collect our food and medicine parcels
and see the doctor about general problems. There were lots
of new faces among them as the Pastor, social worker and
the doctor have surveyed another 54 villages in the last
6 months so 14 new adults and 5 children have been taken
for testing and found positive.
Brighter
Future’s HIV strategy and grass
roots work has attracted the attention of the authorities.
We have been told that our patients who are widows/widowers,
of leprosy or HIV background and below the poverty line,
can now be admitted to the government scheme which has been
running for 3 or more years, and get 35kg rice a month.
As our HIV patients fill all these requirements we are hoping
that they will soon benefit from this scheme. Brighter Future
will be able to distribute our 5kg to other mothers and
children.
Calling all
Sponsors!
The first thing the children ask when they
can get a quiet word in my ear is 'Have you got a photo
of my sponsor?' We have email facilities at Prem Nivas and
DMC house so it is now possible for you to send us a photo
for your child. It could be of yourself, or your pet or
hobby or family – some small thing for us but a huge
boost to a child’s self esteem. The children who never
hear from their sponsors are reminded that they are busy
people and do continue to put money in the bank to pay for
accommodation, food, staff, petrol, outings, toys etc. But
they still hanker for that tangible photo!
Some of our children get e-cards at birthday
times and they and their friends gather round my computer
to see them. Others get emailed letters and photos which
I can now print off (and get someone to translate).
Please dear
Sponsors - make a special effort for your special child!
Read
previous newsletters
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Our motto:
Compassion and Respect
How
did we do in
September 2011?
Children sponsored
1
Donations and events
J& J U ~ £70
Sarah ~ £200
Mark G ~ £50
Sue D ~ £30
Birthdays
October and
November birthdays
Prem
Nivas children
K Sunitha
3 October
Prem Nivas Bhavani 21 October
Rainbow children
Vamsi 11 October
Madhuri 16 October
Mmanohar 17 October
Bhasker Rao 15 November
Jyothi Ch 27 November
Manohar A 27 November
Cards take about ten days to reach India.
Please send birthday cards
and presents to
Brighter Future
Development Trust
PO Box 18
Plot 705 Vuda Layout Vizianagaram
Andhra Pradesh
India 535003
Donations
may be made to Brighter Future via internet, cheque or bank!
Brighter Future International
Trust
Sort code 30-90-28
Ac no. 3085385
or by Paypal and CAF on
our web site
www.brighterfuturetrust.com
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