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New Horizons Student Interchange Project No: I09 Contact Info: A host of teenagers and young adults from the
United States have joined New Horizons’ Student Interchange
since it was founded. After completing their training, most of
these young people commit to humanitarian aid projects in India,
China, Vietnam, Brazil, Russia, Mexico and Europe.
In 1998, New Horizons opened a base in Pune, India. Its students work on social programs that emphasize education and improved lifestyles for the poor. New Horizons instigated the Ton-a-Month-Club. Basic foodstuffs, like rice and lentils, are collected and distributed free-of-charge to various villages and orphanages. Additionally, the Lindfields have been involved in a number of such emergency relief endeavors in India. To donate to this Family Care Foundation Project, please note Project NAME and then click here. Recreating a Community Center in the Slums We met Mr. And Mrs. Hashmi through a friend who has worked with some of our team here in India. This friend, Aruna, a social worker and child psychologist, got in touch with us when we first came to Pune and put us in touch with a lot of orphanages, schools and other institutions that needed the sort of help we give, including humanitarian aid, social improvement education, teaching English and so forth.
Aruna took us to meet the Hashmis at their nearby slum crèche that was at that time an appalling mess and in a terrible state of disrepair, almost not habitable. At that time there were about 35 children who attended a daycare-like situation there on a daily basis while their mothers went to work. For those of you unfamiliar with what a "crèche" is,
it's designed to be a type of community building for the very, very poor.
This particular building on the outskirts of one of the biggest slums
in Pune, housing about 200,000 people, drawing mostly those from nomadic
tribes who come to the city to find some form of income. The living conditions
associated with Indian slums of this nature are almost unbelievable to
any Westerner. Again, a "crèche" is an attempt to offer
a myriad of basic services to these poor unfortunates.
Now slums in India are a sort of free-for-all, with the most powerful claiming the most land. And even though land is now officially allocated to families and they receive a land title and pay taxes etc. it is still sort of Wild West here in that respect. The crèche building we went to see had been used for a variety
of community projects ranging from weddings to meetings to a very simple
school and daycare facility. To illustrate the above point, the property
had at one time had a nice little flower garden in front, with a concrete
bench, and one night some people just dug through the garden to build
a temple, and the Hashmis were powerless to do anything about it! They
were only thankful that they still have the building legally allocated.
The Hashmis, now in their 60's, had started the first NGO in Pune thirty-something years ago and this particular crèche project had been undertaken about 15 years ago. The main thrust behind keeping the crèche running for the last few years is a local lady whose young daughter, Aswini, was killed while crossing the road from the slum to catch the school bus. At that time, there was no place in the slum itself for children to go to school. The mother determined that no other parent would suffer such loss as his or her family if she could help it, and so she started the Aswini Crèche. However, due to lack of financing and interest, it had fallen into a terrible state. Our friend Aruna felt it was a perfect project for our FCF team and so we took it on with the intention of helping in whatever way we could. Since we started working there 18 months ago, fifty children have enrolled
so there are now 83 children in attendance every day, and they are having
more and more people from the slum asking if they can also send their
children. Among other things the children, beginning at 3 years of age,
learn English, something that government schools are now teaching as well.
It is a big status symbol in India these days as English is considered
the language that matters!
Nat and his wife, Crystal, from our team handled a lot of the local and fundraising side of things in the community, and with a grant from Family Care Foundation, we tackled the job of recreating this Community Center in the slums of Pune. Hiring a local contractor, we looked over the existing structure. There
was no lighting and it was very dim inside, no electrical connections
and the roof was so full of holes that at night what you saw was a starry
sky! We firstly removed the roof, a mixture of tin and plastic and replaced
it. Then we started on the walls and the needed brickwork. We added an
internal wall to keep the crèche separate from the women's training
section, which had piles of broken furniture and a few old broken down
sewing machines from the sewing classes that had been held there a few
years previously. (Before the place was also taken over as a drinking/gambling
den.) Local businesses helped with 2,000 bricks, 20 bags of cement, truckloads
of sand etc. and we employed local labor.
Part of the building plan was to put in a toilet but there are no city plans for drainage in the area so we had to find the right man who knew where the road was last dug up! We had a couple of false starts but eventually we found the main drain and made our own hole in the pipe and viola, we had drainage! It was tough work in the burning sun, breaking up all the old plaster off all the walls and then re-plastering them. We also bricked up some windows that the neighbors had built a wall in front of, only a few inches away, and plastered over them too. We have repaired the steel doors and modified the entrance as their front door hadn't opened all the way due to the temple being built right there partially blocking it! When the walls were all refinished, we started on the electricity, with a completely new wiring system including main junction box and adding new fans and fluorescent lights etc. This changed the place from a hot, dark, dingy place into a bright and breezy uplifting setting, complete with running water, a bathroom, washbasin and toilet. Before the children all had to rush home at 11:30 am to use their toilets
at home, as the property did not have one of its own. And school usually
finished at that time each day as a result, but now they have at least
a couple more hours of schooling since they have a toilet in the crèche
now.
Our young volunteers painted the whole place a pristine white and it looks really nice plus the piece-de-resistance is the full wall mural that our young artists painted, with animated animals and settings. All 8 young folks did a tremendous job and Amaris our resident artist, and Mark, who recently returned to Japan, did the main sketches. On the wall is a VCD video player and color TV which was donated by FCF
specifically for this project, locked into a steel-doored frame welded
to the windows, to prevent the equipment walking out the door one dark
night! And complimenting this set up, there's a full set of sponsored
bi-lingual (English and Hindi) Aurora educational videos. Furniture, chairs
and bookshelves were donated by local businesses to fill out the property.
We now plan to add a second floor to the structure to allow them to accommodate double the number of children attending school each year. Can you help us? Orphanage and School for Street Children and the Poor One of our main programs is supporting an orphanage in Wagholi, which majors in taking in street children or abandoned babies. So these children have showed up from various sources, from the police bringing orphan children begging at train stations, to children of nomadic people who have abandoned their children.
What’s more, 55 of these children are deaf, and have to be trained to learn sign language, and then receive academic training in the local languages, Marati and Hindi, altogether a long and patient process.
Once these children reach 15 years of age, they are also taught a vocation which allows them a livelihood once they are on their own.
250 children are in the orphanage altogether, and receiving academic training in Grades 1 – 8, a dream they would never have attained given the lack of opportunity in their previous life. These dear folks running this orphanage also run another nearby establishment that houses and teaches another 172 older orphans and children from similar backgrounds.
The man who started this orphanage 20 years back could very well be described as a male Mother Teresa, as far as his dedication to this wonderful undertaking. He was a successful businessman and human rights activist who took in a few street kids, then a few more, and before he knew it, this is what he was doing full time.
The most rewarding part of our work here is interacting with the precious children, each of which we realize could have been ours, except by the grace of God, and the circumstances that allowed them to be born in a western nation, where opportunity exists.
As an added vocational benefit, we have added a sewing facility and computer schoolroom, both funded through a recent grant from Family Care Foundation. Feeding and Caring for the Hungry
We often bring people by the Wagholi school where we work, where the man who started the facility, Mr. Jhadav, shares how he has dedicated his life to help nomad children. After interacting with the children in the facility, many become supporters. For example, one new friend visited the school for the purpose to check it out for certain needs, as he had rooms full of furniture and door and window frames. He had wanted to donate them to worthy cause and after his visit he was more than convinced of their genuine need.
Another was likewise touched with the need he saw and offered to build 300 beds for the children, as well as benches for their school. He also decided to give the complete industrial kitchen and furnishings from his restaurant that was just closed down.
Yet another showed up with blankets for all the kids as the colder weather will soon be here.
AIDS Community Work As an extension of assisting AIDS treatment centers, we began researching the feasibility of opening an orphanage for AIDS children. We now have a pledge of land donated to us for use of building a 40-bed AIDS hospice. It is over one acre and is a prime piece of land full of trees, greenery, and functioning well. The building itself will also be used as a dispensary for medicine for AIDS patients, plus housing a ward for a children’s orphanage.
We are modeling this around an operating facility in Bombay, which was built 2 years ago and provides hospice services for 35 women patients. The team that runs this facility, the Sisters of the Destitute, has been all too happy to give all assistance including building plans and information on permits, etc.
Our goal is to provide this facility for women and children who have
no recourse once their AIDS-infected husbands have died. Typically when
a family, with anywhere from 3 – 7 children, loses their principle
breadwinner to AIDS, they are Then completely ostracized by their families
and their communities. The stigma is so strong that no one wants to be
involved with them. They can’t survive without outside help. We
can sustain a family for 12$ a month to supply the needed nutritious food
for their families. The ones we take care of are just one little community
that is asking for help. Click the links below to go to articles on:
To donate to this Family Care Foundation Project, please note Project NAME and then click here.
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