Dear Friends,
Greetings as we approach Christmas 2021 in the hope that our lives are slowly becoming more normal. As it is still not possible for me to travel to India until the new year (flight planning in progress!), this is an update - but I can assure you that we have been very busy in reordering life on our projects as the pandemic finally eases. Not only this but plans are in advanced stages for some changes.
This report will accompany Christmas cards from India. A sponsor recently asked why the reports come from India. The answer is simply, cost. Printing reports here (particularly in colour) is too expensive, in India the costs are much less than half of the cheapest quote we have had in the U.K. (even if they do try to help in presentation leading to occasional bits missing!). The biggest saving is postage, one mailing from India, is much less than in the U.K.
This also lays down foundations for the future. I reach 75 next year, when I hope to make my 58th trip, but obviously I need to be thinking about the longer term future of the Trust. There definitely will be a long term future because the foundations are laid in India, we have long serving and trusted staff and assets which will help financially by lease or sale in the future. Most of all we are well established and trusted, here and in India.
Jo and Paula can take on my role if and when needed, in Muthukumar we have the best security of all. You will have noticed that he is writing letters/reports now and this will gradually increase. We run a joint database and admin system and are in very regular contact, usually daily, as we build on that stability. Our Auditor, Grant (Nurden) has been a Godsend since joining with us, so the future looks secure.
This does not mean I’m stepping back!
With this in mind we are in the process of auditing our database and gift aid details, so enclosed with this report is a short form, we would appreciate it if you could fill this in for us and return in the SAE .
Just a reminder that we are very careful about keeping your details secure with data protection registration and very limited access to your personal details (Trustees and Auditor only.)
Our Projects
We are indeed now back to pre-pandemic working.
Over 100 children attend our drop in tuition centre, mainly in the evening but available in the morning too. Regular feeding programmes are also back to normal.
Our elders are now meeting in groups for lunch. Sadly we have five less, we don’t know if they died as a result of the virus, or just old age as there is no testing available. However most have been vaccinated now.
Our residential home is still on lease (more if that later) because we moved these very vulnerable elders out of the city to a small home run by distant relatives of Muthukumar in an isolated rural area. Our staff have visited weekly. It proved to be a wise move because thankfully they have all remained safe. The idea was to move them back when it is completely safe to do so, but don’t feel that time has come. However, it is possible that we will leave them there. All of the ladies were destitute and/or begging on the streets in Madurai because they were homeless with no-one to support them. They went to the city from remote areas so that they could beg. Now they are happy to be back in the deep countryside away from the city and actually would rather stay there.
This leaves us with our wonderful building which as already said, has been leased to a small hospice style charity. They seem to be excellent, are working with the poorest and cannot afford their own building. So they rent the building from us.
The money that they pay, around £50 monthly enabled us to expand our established daily food bag delivery to children with cancer. There were other children not on our project who were isolated in the hospital, so we were able to help them too. The only hospital food available was a thin dhal, not enough for a child with cancer.
All of the children in this hospital which cares for those too poor to access treatment in the major cancer centres will come from city slums or rural villages. As it is essential for a parent to stay with a child (limited nursing available) the impact on the whole family, already existing on inadequate income, has been profound. To say our food bags were essential is an understatement. So the income from renting our home was invaluable and enabled an expansion of our work. We also ensured daily clean water delivery, sanitation and PPE for staff and children.
Now we are restarting trips to the major specialist hospitals for bone marrow transplants and other advanced treatments. We continue to fully support almost 40 children.
There is more about this project which I will share after the project updates.
Leprosy Home
Our people in the colony are fine; they were already isolated because of the still outdated view of the disease, so they have remained safe. We had one loss, one of our oldest in terms of project participation, Krishnan, sadly had a heart attack. He had no family so as always we arranged his funeral. Throughout the pandemic they have had their monthly food deliveries (10kg of rice, fruits, antiseptics and bandages, biscuits, sugar, vitamins). A specially sponsored weekly children’s camp for children and grandchildren of leprosy sufferers has also restarted. This colony remains a joy to work with.
Our other ambulance work in Trivandrum has been severely restricted by the pandemic, but our friends from Care Plus have provided food packs and essential medical supplies throughout.
A major change that has taken many hours to negotiate (difficult from the U.K.) has been the re-establishment of our homes in Mavelikara. This is in Kerala which is in a different financial category to Tamil Nadu but still with many very poor areas, but with plenty of water and thriving cities. We began the homes after the Tsunami in 2004. The coastal area of Kerala was affected (nothing as bad as the awful devastation I witnessed in Sri Lanka), but the devastation of paddy fields destroyed by salt water had a profound effect on families. Without work many men who had been labourers/coolies on the fields had no option but to move to other areas to work leaving a wife who could not work as she had children to care for. It was a major crisis at the time so as many of you know we started and ran successful boys and girls residential homes for nine years, on our own site in purpose built homes. It took several years for that coastal strip of Kerala to recover but as it did it was obvious that the children should be at home with now reunited families. After closing the residential section we continued a tuition centre for another two years, but it became more and more apparent that even that was not essential.
The Mavelikara land and buildings are owned by the Trust. I Registered a new local Trust before buying land and then building. I am the “settlor” so nothing can take those assets away from us.
When setting up the Trust (under our U.K. umbrella) I appointed local trustees. I did hope that they would use their initiatives to look at other uses for the buildings, but sadly this did not happen. After two years of inactivity I began to take action - then the pandemic started. This caused another year of inactivity and as I could not go to instigate change things began to stagnate.
So action was needed. Fortunately I had contacts through the auditor covering that work and so recruited them to help with what has turned out to be an arduous time.
It was very difficult to dismiss the previous trustees, then appoint new ones and gradually through the legal system to regain complete control of the buildings. This has happened, so now we start again!
It has taken time to make plans but we have first of all leased one of the buildings (free) to a Skills Development project. This is being instigated and managed by one of those who has acted on my behalf throughout negotiations and is now auditor for the re-established Trust. This project trains disadvantaged young women to work in accounts.
We did make a small donation, but this will be a self sustaining and self financing project, obviously our building has helped them to establish, but it is not our project.
This leaves us with what was the Boys Home and Dining block.
Plans are to start children’s and elders camps, for those on our own projects and possibly by making the facilities available for other charities (who would cover their own costs). There is also the option of providing respite care for children with cancer from the local area. This is where a major change in our direction starts.
As the work with children with cancer has developed one thing has become very clear. If the child survives treatment they will be returning to city slums or poor rural areas. This generally means no electricity, almost certainly no toilet facilities so poor or non existent sanitation, limited water and poor diets.
We are already of course, thanks to donations, giving monthly food allowances to the poorest families, but we are aware of the other areas that have affected the families. It’s difficult to understand the emotional effects of dealing with a child with cancer which impacts on the whole family. We think/feel that to offer a sort of half way house between hospital discharge and returning home would do a lot to encourage and help the families to move forward. We are at the early stages of planning (I REALLY need to go!), but this can be started in Mavelikara, but it can also happen in another area closer to Madurai. A 3 hours drive leads to the hill areas where the air is fresh, it’s cooler, and a week of respite we know will help considerably as the family is helped to readjust.
A long standing friend (a horticulturalist) will help us to find a suitable house for renting, he and his wife will provide meals and help our staff who will know the families well. There is a lot we can do in a week. But most importantly we make the family feel that they are not alone. Paula is a paediatric dietitian, Jo a nurse but also mother of a child who had cancer - both are keen to offer their expertise. These are Dalit families, they matter.
Funding will come from utilising our assets via leasing and possibly eventually sales. It is early days but we are all excited about the possibilities. Because of our assets it is possible to plan for the future in this way.
So a lot has been happening! WhatsApp has been wonderful, Zoom and FaceTime, emails… but I do need to be there!
Good news, the children, elders and staff have enjoyed Diwali celebrations with parties and feasts and hopefully we can now look forward instead of marking time. Some photos are attached.
Our thanks again to you all for enabling us to provide truly essential help and services throughout the pandemic. The fact that most of our people have remained safe is thanks to your kindness and generosity.
Hopefully next time, I write it will be following a trip to India.
Every blessing, happy Christmas and a healthy New Year.
Pat
