New supplies

A few of the many supplies that Jesse and Susanna were able to bring back from England, where they spent Chrismas and New Year with their family. These are for the Mercy Home and future schools. Thanks to family and charity shops!

One of the evening tuition groups

These tuitions provide a place for these very poor children to do their homework, with supervised help.

Latest packages received

Here are the latest received packages: December packages

Photos from the Childrens Day activities.

These are our tuition students who participated in games, competitions and fun activities for Children's Day. Each group had prepared a special presentation also--dance, song or poem.

Happy Christmas

At RPI we want to take this time to thank our wonderful friends and supporters for your help, interest and concern over the past year.

Special time with Suleka

New Pyjamas

The toddlers have been keeping nice and warm during the cool, monsoon evenings in these cosy pyjamas sent by Outi.

New Packages

Details of the latest packages received at the Mercy Home are posted on our website:
http://www.reliefprojects.org/Packages_recd.html
Again, many thanks for these wonderful items. We sometimes reflect and remember the days when the babies were wrapped in torn saris, when we first started working at the Mercy Home. You all have helped transform that.

New Report in Times of India on Gender Imbalance in India

Purchasing Brides!
HANDIGARH: Haryana, reeling under a skewed sex ratio, is faced with yet another startling fact – an NGO has found that girls are being "bought" and brought to Haryana from 20 states across the country. The state's sex ratio stands at 837 in the 0-6 years age group, its lowest in the last five years and second only to Punjab.

Read more: In Haryana, get a bride for Rs 1,000 from Bihar - The Times of India

New Evening Tuitions

The SHE programme has been organising evening tuitions for disadvantaged village children in six villages, with a total of about 850 children benefiting. We have now started tuitions in a seventh village, thanks to the sponsorship of a local businessman.

Children's Day

Today was National Children's Day in India, so we had lots of fun celebrating with the toddlers. The carers enjoyed dressing them up and the children enjoyed dancing and action songs. Their beautiful dresses have all been donated by local families. We also did activities with our tuition students from nearby villages (99 kids in all. Photos coming soon!)







PHOTOS: 1. Suleka, Manju and Darshana performing their action song.
2. Beautiful Manju.
3. Group (from back left) - Melvina, Suleka, Manju, Darshana, Pushpa Raj, Induja
4. Melvina has only learned to walk recently, but she loves dancing.

More Packages

We received more packages at the Mercy Home from many wonderful friends and supporters. Details are on our website:
http://www.reliefprojects.org/Packages_recd.html

Dowry Murders and Torture in India

Last week, the following article appeared in the Times of India newspaper:
NEW DELHI: Shaken by the large number of women being killed for dowry, the Supreme Court said Indian society has become sick. "The hallmark of a healthy society is the respect it shows to women. Indian society has become a sick society. This is evident from the large number of cases coming up in this court and also in almost all courts in the country in which young women are being killed by their husbands or by their in-laws by pouring kerosene on them and setting them on fire or by hanging/strangulating them," an anguished bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Mishra said in a recent judgment.

"What is the level of civilization of a society in which a large number of women are treated in this horrendous and barbaric manner? What has our society become," asked the Bench before upholding life term for the husband and mother-in-law of a woman killed for dowry.

The bench had a point. Data compiled for 2008 by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) showed that there were 8,172 dowry deaths in the country . (RPI comment: The actual statistics are probably much higher as many deaths go unreported or are reported as suicides.)

Read more: Our society has become sick: SC on dowry deaths The Times of India

Please read about the RPI SHE programme that is aimed at improving the status and treatment of women and female children. An integral part of our programme is college presentations where we present a powerpoint on relevant social and moral issues, and discuss these issues with the young students.

Photo copyright © Ron Harmon: In-laws or husbands will frequently pour acid on a wife's face in an attempt to force her family to pay more dowry.

Babies leaving for adoption

These babies are dressed in special pretty dresses to go to join their new adoptive parents, and begin what we hope will be a new, happier life.

Alistair will be leaving us

A few months ago, a couple came forward saying they were 3-year-old Alistair's parents and asking to take him. The courts have examined their claim and finally approved it so he will be leaving us in the next few days. We are all going to miss him and there have been a few moist eyes amongst the staff. We are all hoping his parents will take good care of him. The Mercy Home director will be giving them a little talk about the fact that they abandoned him for 3 years, and challenging them to be good parents.