Hope Home

FEBRUARY 2010  update of the Hope Home  Calcutta

 Dev writes:

Beloved friends:

A VALENTINE APPEAL

Give your Valentine a gift more meaningful than candy or flowers — the gift of hope for the children  of Calcutta . This year, match the amount you spend on your Valentine with a gift for the children of Hope Home that would demonstrate your commitment to them and to the children at the Hope Home Calcutta. Your symbolic gift  would support our efforts to turn the challenges of depravity, poverty, exploitation and instability into opportunity for the  of children in this large and difficult city, ironically also referred to as the ‘City of Joy !’

BACKPACK – 2010

Like other years, this year too we have received numerous queries from many of you regarding the BackPack 2010 initiated by the Hope Home Calcutta in concurrence with our school project, HOPE EDUCATION CENTRE.

The ‘Back Packs 2010’ campaign which aims to help support orphan and underprivileged children with school supplies, fees, uniforms, shoes, stationary and books to enable them to do study and do better in our school program. Presently we have 81 students and would like to provide school supplies to a minimum of 30 children from the beginning of 2010 .

Individual students in more developed countries could, on their own with help from their families or, join together as a class pooling in their resources to take part in the ‘Back Packs 2010’  campaign. A few years back a school in Phoenix organized a play ‘The Cotton Patch Gospel’ to raise funds for school furniture of the Hope Education Centre! Children in different parts of the U.S. have initiated a class-wise ‘Penny-Collection’ drive and the amounts thus raised are amazing! The opportunity of being creatively involved are plenty!

Consider this: Of the over 400 million children in India below the age of 18 (40% of the population), less than 80 million go to school. Many of those who are not able to attend school end up as child labourers ( India has the world’s largest concentration of child labourers.

About 2 years back I has shared about Kanhaiya. I am happy to share about his progress in our school project.

  Kanhaiya Jha (4) comes from a very remote village of the Indian State of Bihar . Four years back his mother was crushed under the   wheels of a truck  and killed. His father died soon afterward and this child along with 3 other siblings were left orphaned. His maternal grandfather brought him over to Calcutta so that he could receive a decent education. Being very poor, they could not admit him to any private school. They brought him over to our school project. He did not know even a single English alphabet! Today Kanhaiya is completing his second grade and can  read and write English. Kanhaiya today is a happy and caring child!

There are many others in our school program like Kanhaiya who would benefit through the BackPack program and receive an education they would only have dreamed about otherwise.

BackPack 2010 is designed to provide quality education to children like Priya who are enrolled in our school program. Your participation can equip a whole generation of children to be worthwhile citizens and men and women of character and integrity – who would have otherwise lived a life of depravity and helplessness.

The minimum suggested contribution for each child is U.S. $ 25  (Sing $ 40/ Indian Rupees 1100/) every  month. This would include all school supplies, text books, uniforms, a pair of school shoes and lunch on school days.  Please contact us immediately regarding this.

The BackPack 2010 is part of the Send my friend to school campaign  that is a global initiative that challenges schools, students and teachers to take the challenge of Global Education For All with seriousness and sincerity so that the goals of the campaign are effectively fulfilled.

It encourages schools, students and teachers to be involved by:

• Creating awareness of the great need to fulfill our obligation  to provide free, compulsory basic education for all people; in particular for children (also women and all disadvantaged, deprived sections of society in Calcutta as part of our adult literacy effort)
• To help  create a chain of testimony and accountability at the  local, school and community levels  and place action oriented leadership at the end of a civil society monitoring chain  for deliverables
• To work in partnership with civil society organizations / non-government organizations and government agencies to ensure that the main stakeholders: children  receive a  basic education that is a right inherent to every  being human and each child's birthright
• To develop dyadic relationships between ‘Buddies’ – on both ends of the benefit chain: help givers and help recipients; tangible expressions of care, thoughtfulness and concern  to further strengthen such relationships
• To be a student volunteer for community improvement and developmental projects that focuses on meeting the campaign objectives of Education For All

ANNUAL SPORTS DAY – JANUARY 29, 2010  

The Hope Home Calcutta and the Hope Education Centre organized our first Annual Sports Day on January 29. We rented a sports field very close to the Hope Home Calcutta. Events included races, discus throw, long and high jumps besides non-conventional events like sack race, balance race and spoon-marble race. The students were teamed in three houses – red, blue and green! Cups and medals were presented to the winners. Lum was adjudged the best sportsperson and the Green House the House Champions!

 Lum adjudged the best sportsperson

LET THERE BE HOPE…HOPE HOME BUILDING PROJECT- AN URGENT APPEAL

Most of you are aware of the building project we embarked upon in 2006 to provide proper facilities to children who are part of the Hope Home Calcutta. We had a soccer drive (each soccer ball representing 5%of the estimated costs). Later on we added the girls dorm (as an afterthought!). While we were able to meet our budget needs for the girls dorm (stand-along budget) last December, we are still in a deficit regarding our original building project.

While I do acknowledge that this is probably not the right time (nor PC – politically correct), especially in the light of the global recession and the  DD (Dubai Debacle – but slowly recovering!!), I would nonetheless request you to consider participating in this critical need as a gift for the children of the Hope Home Calcutta during the beginning of this New Year.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

Some of you have enquired about possibilities of sponsoring children during  2010. A few of our friends who have been involved in the past supporting the children on a regular basis and no longer involved. Please write to me for details. Appreciate your  response to this urgent need.

QUOTE FOR THE MONTH

Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him – Mahatma Gandhi

BIRTHDAYS IN  FEBRUARY  2010

February 28:         Martha

Peter turned 18 on January 13 –the first child at the Hope

                   Home to do so!!

Regards and Blessings,

Dev and all of us at the Hope Home Calcutta

************************************************************

Support for the Hope Home Calcutta should be sent to/checks made out to:

VERDE VALLEY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

3605, ZALESKY ROAD, COTTONWOOD , AZ 86326 , U.S.A.

(Please  designate your gift  for Hope Home Calcutta clearly)

HOPE HOME CALCUTTA

A-7/11, SRIJANI, OPPOSITE THAKURPUKUR CANCER HOSPITAL

P.O. JOKA, CALCUTTA 700 104, INDIA , Tel: +91-33-6534 1083/ 6520 9995

(all contributions are tax deductible under Section 80G of the I.T. Act, 1961)

JANUARY 2010  update of the Hope Home  Calcutta

 Dev writes:

Beloved friends:

Wishing all of you dear friends a successful and meaningful 2010, I want to share this poem with you:

NEW YEAR’S REFLECTIONS

Looking back on the months gone by,
As a new year starts and an old one ends,
We contemplate what brought us joy,
And we think of our loved ones and our friends.

Recalling all the happy times,
Remembering how they enriched our lives,
We reflect upon who really counts,
As the fresh and bright new year arrives.

And when we ponder those who do,
We immediately think of you.

Thanks for being one of the reasons

We'll have a Happy New Year!

By Joanna Fuchs

www.poemsource.com

Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for your care. Thank you for your participation. Thank you for investing in lives of boys and girls at the Hope Home Calcutta and consolidating our resolve to bring about a qualitative transformation in our community through them.

DECEMBER 20-HOPE H0ME CALCUTTA CHRISTMAS CONCERT  

The Hope Home Calcutta was able to organize their first outdoor Christmas Concert at a public auditorium on December 20. It was a wonderful evening with dances, guitar ensemble, string ensemble and a guest soloist (Daya) who last week won the best male singer and received the Galilean Awards in India (Christian media)! We were particularly privileged in having Rebecca Strobl from Georgia emcee the program. The Connell and Bailey families from Colorado Springs were also with us for this event. The Director of the Max Mueller Bhavan (German Consulate – Cultural Department in Calcutta ) – Dr. Reimar Volker was our Chief Guest. Close to 400 people attended the concert! We have the concert DVD’s available both here in India and also in the U.S. – feel free to ask us for your copy and we’ll do our best to reach it to you at the earliest!

HOPE CENTER FOR EXPLOITED PERSONS (HOCEP)

(A Hope Home Calcutta Initiative)

Rescue Relocation Rehabilitation

We, at the Hope Home Calcutta (through this initiative —HOCEP, are seeing to work  towards the transformation and empowerment of individuals and communities – ESPECIALLY CHILDREN (CHILD LABORERS)  through initiatives based on advocacy, crisis intervention, education, rehabilitation, training and resourcing.

This is the life-changing life story of Salomi at the Hope Home Calcutta:

 SALOMI (Birthday – June 11, 1995)

Salomi came to us when she was 7 years old. Her brother Moses is also at the Hope Home .

Salomi grew up in a small hut near a railroad station squatter colony in the northern fringes of Calcutta . They had a small room – about 8 feet by 6 feet- with bamboo canes as walls and tiles as roof. Around seven families shared a common toilet and they had to draw water from a nearby pond to clean themselves! Her father used to sell fish in the local market. He was a violent and abusive man who often beat up her mother.

When Salomi was about 5, her grandmother one day informed her about some ‘bad men’ who had just killed her father on a train, put his corpse – all battered and violently tortured – in a jute sack and thrown it out of the moving train. The sack was eventually brought to their courtyard but neither of the children were allowed to have a last glimpse of their father (the police concluded that the killing was part of a local mafia turf-war in which he too was involved).

With poverty staring at their faces, her mother decided to operate a small eating place on the railroad platform after her husband’s death. This was a bold decision as it involved dealing with a number of ‘customers’ at odd hours, many of whom would probably be drunk and try to exploit her. It saved her and the two kids from starvation for a while. But it also meant she would have to be prepared for losses and days when there would be no customers. She then decided that she would approach us and request us to take care of her two children.

Salomi came to us when she was 7 years old. She has now grown up to be a lovely young lady with an excellent handwriting and a strong understanding of English language and literature. She, along with six others are learning to play the violin and music theory. Her favorite pastime is reading story books and she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. She also wants to look after small children as and when opportunities arise in the future! A far cry from the squatters of the railroad colony where she probably would have been helping her mother in the roadside eatery had she not been at the Hope Home Calcutta.

This then is the story of Salomi – a story  of transformed and empowered life, which is the story of the Hope Home Calcutta! And we would never have been able to achieve any of this, but for your participation in the lives of the children here.

LET THERE BE HOPE…HOPE HOME BUILDING PROJECT- AN URGENT APPEAL

Most of you are aware of the building project we embarked upon in 2006 to provide proper facilities to children who are part of the Hope Home Calcutta. We had a soccer drive (each soccer ball representing 5%of the estimated costs). Later on we added the girls dorm (as an afterthought!). While we were able to meet our budget needs for the girls dorm (stand-along budget) last December, we are still in a deficit regarding our original building project.

While I do acknowledge that this is probably not the right time (nor PC – politically correct), especially in the light of the global recession and the  DD (Dubai Debacle!!), I would nonetheless request you to consider participating in this critical need as a gift for the children of the Hope Home Calcutta during the beginning of this New Year. We appreciate the Zuerchers (Nancy and Greg) for covering up 20% of our deficit on January 31- a perfect year ending gift to the Hope Home Calcutta! And to all our beloved friends at Verde Valley for pitching in too!  (3 Soccer ‘balls’ yet to be filled in)

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE

Some of you have enquired about possibilities of sponsoring children during  2010 (Peter, for one, doesn’t have any sponsor).  A few of our friends who have been involved in the past supporting the children on a regular basis and no longer involved. Some have also expressed interest in the Back-Pack program. We would be giving you more details in our February update. Please write to me for details.

QUOTE FOR THE MONTH

When Someone is Hurting, C.A.R.E.

Connect - When someone is hurting, we often don't know what to say or do. But even simply expressing, "I'm sorry and I care about you," can make a tremendous difference.
Accept - When we try to help someone, it's easy to direct their emotions or give advice. But emotions need to be shared openly. You'll be a blessing by providing a safe place to grieve.
Respond - While it is important to take action. What you do can be practical (like providing a meal) or symbolic (like sharing a thoughtful gift).
Extend - People are flooded with attention when a loss first occurs, but support usually decreases over time. By remembering and continuing to reach out, you can bring comfort and healing.

(This excerpt is from Comfort & Encouragement: A One-Year Ministry Guide for Helping Those Who Are Hurting by Holley Gerth)

BIRTHDAYS IN  JANUARY 2010

January 1     -        Rohit

January  13  –       Peter

January 20 -                   Cephas

January 22   -        Jitesh

Regards and Blessings,

Dev and all of us at the Hope Home Calcutta

************************************************************

Support for the Hope Home Calcutta should be sent to/checks made out to:

VERDE VALLEY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

3605, ZALESKY ROAD, COTTONWOOD , AZ 86326 , U.S.A.

(Please  designate your gift  for Hope Home Calcutta clearly)

HOPE HOME CALCUTTA

A-7/11, SRIJANI, OPPOSITE THAKURPUKUR CANCER HOSPITAL

P.O. JOKA, CALCUTTA 700 104, INDIA , Tel: +91-33-6534 1083/ 6520 9995

(all contributions are tax deductible under Section 80G of the I.T. Act, 1961)