Bathroom time at a village creche. Sponsorship needed for toilets.

Here you see the village children at a creche going to the front yard for their bathroom time, as there are no toilets. Read how you can sponsor toilets here.

Starting work in one more creche and new supplies.

Thank you to Susee Group, Madurai for donating these supplies for a creche. We have been able to start working in one more creche, in Edyapatti, thanks to these supplies.

BEFORE: The creche only had the following items for 30 children before.

AFTER: Some of the lovely educational items donated by Susee.

A cheery 'hello' from some tuition students.

These are some of the tuition students from the new group we have started at Ediyapatti, near Usilampatti.

Creche Program Launched

With the start of the new school year here, we decided to start working right away in two villages creches. We still don't have all the needed sponsorship for renovations and educational items, but we decided to start with what we have, since the creche had no educational items or teaching at all. Here are a few photos of the children enjoying some action rhymes, construction blocks and colouring!

Clipo Received

We received this lovely box of Clipo for the Little Darlings from an internet store. The name of the sender was not provided, but we send many thanks to our anonymous donor. The children will love this toy.

Excursion for summer students

SHE staff took the students who faithfully attended the summer English classes on a fun excursion to Vagai Dam. As you can see, they all enjoyed themselves.

Summer English classes

Summer school holidays take place in May in India. So SHE staff organised some English language classes for the tuition students. Emphasis was placed on learning through games and fun activities--after all, the children were taking their holiday time to attend these classes. The attendees all made lots of progress in their English-speaking skills.

Some Little Darlings Activities

Enjoying musical chairs. We repeated the last rounds a few times so everyone could have a chance to win!
Below, Danny proudly shows his writing.

Packages

We have received two new packages: www.reliefprojects.org/Packages_recd

Prime Minister asks for national campaign to fight infanticide and feticide.

The provisional Census figures, released last month, show that the child sex ratio in India has declined to 914 females per 1,000 males — the lowest since Independence. "Terming practice of female feticide and infanticide in many parts of the country a 'national shame', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday expressed the need to have a national campaign to counter this bias ...Referring to the figure, the PM said improving this ratio is not merely a question of stricter compliance with the existing laws. 'What's more important is how we view and value the girl child in our society,' he said. " Courtesy Times of India 


Follow this link to read about RPI's SHE program which was launched last year to fight infanticide and feticide, raise the status of females, and improve the health and well-being of mothers and disadvantaged children.
The SHE Program

Latest arrival at the Mercy Home.

It is very very unlikely this little boy will be adopted because of his missing hand, so he may well join the Little Darlings in a year or so.

Gift from Antti and packages from Leena Gustafson

Thank you to Antti and children for the playdough we received for the Little Darlings. They will have lots of fun with it. Please thank your children for their kind greeting also.

And many thanks Leena Gustafson for the fives packages of baby textiles we received, I think on behalf of Vaaka and Lutheran Congregation of Myanamaki mission group.

Volunteers

Karen from Australia is currently volunteering at the Mercy Home and being a super big help with the babies. Last month, Heidi, also from Australia, was a great help in the nursery. (The baby she was holding has since been adopted by a lovely family!)

Finger-painting fun with 'Lil Darlings.'

Lots of fun for all but decidedly messy!

Self-help group meeting

Here are some photos of one of the meetings of our local self-help group set up by SHE. Each woman pays a small amount into a common account each month. When they reach about $200 they then become eligble for an interest free loan from a local bank. The women can then take a loan to be invested. One lady wants to buy 2 goats to start a flock; another one wants to take advantage of a free tailoring course being offered and then take a loan to buy a sewing machine. We hope this initiative will improve the income of these desperately poor families.