A Christmas greeting from our Students!
The students at Happy Valley English School and Padhar Mission Higher Secondary School send their greetings for a wonderful Christmas season to you and yours! These drawings were created especially to share with you and come with warm wishes. May the joy of the holidays fill you with joy and peace, now and always.
In gratitude for your support,
Your Friends of Padhar Schools
Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities and the School and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind in Padhar had a party! International Day of Persons with Disabilities falls on the 3rd of December each year, with the aim of promoting empowerment, and helping to create real opportunities for people with disabilities. This enhances their own capacities and supports them in setting their own priorities.
Thank you for your support of our 2018 Giving Tuesday campaign! Yesterday, we had five simultaneous #GivingTuesday fundraisers going all day and together we raised $1827. Many Thanks to Krista S Givens, Mairi Wohlgemuth, Loreen Brown and Jaime Kim for hosting fundraisers and to their friends and supporters for your gracious donations.
Our Giving Tuesday goal was $1200 to cover the cost of books and supplies for the upcoming semester at Panchsheel School. With your help, we met our goal and we are able to provide more to students in need.
We are grateful for your generosity. Thank you!
Through Nov 2, AmazonSmile is donating 5% (ten times the usual amount) to Friends Of Padhar Schools Inc when you shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/47-2034473. #AmazonSmile #StartWithaSmile
India holds it's General Election in 2019, and regional elections are happening around the country. Students of the School and Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind in Padhar are preparing Election training materials in Braille, to prepare those in the village and surrounding areas for the election. What a wonderful way to use their resources and care for the community.
During Vacation Bible School at First UMC Redondo Beach the children learned about our students in rural India and then collected donations to help us provide books for Panchsheel School. Last week, we received a check for $1,023.15 and this wonderful letter:
"What a joy to learn about our friends in India every day at VBS! Our kids gave generously and with so much love! Please feel free to use this for anything the schools, students or friends of Padhar needs!"
Many thanks to Risa Vargas, Molly Vetter and the wonderful team at First UMC Redondo Beach. Because of your generosity, we are able to give books and school supplies to the 600 children at Panchsheel Ashram School.
Yesterday, we sent funding to provide school uniforms for the children of the Mission Primary School. Thanks to our generous donors for helping us give children an opportunity to go to school in Padhar, India.
When the new school year began in July, students at Padhar Mission Higher Secondary School returned to an improved school thanks to your donations! At the conclusion of the previous school year, Friends of Padhar Schools sent $3050 to the Mission School and they used the funding to complete the following projects:
Ceiling Fans - The school is now equipped with 2 electric fans per classroom, and our donation was used to pay for the ceiling fans themselves and also to pay for running electricity into each of the ten classrooms.
New Computer and Printer - The Mission School and its 200 students are dependent on one computer and one printer to produce all paper materials for exams, classwork and homework assignments , and that computer and printer were both failing.
Flooring repairs and a water delivery system - Our funding provided the opportunity to purchase and install a water pump to deliver water to various locations on the campus.
Teacher's stipend - We were also able to provide an emergency fund for teachers salaries for the year.
A Note from Mr. Horeb Rao, Principal of the Mission Higher Secondary School:
Loving greetings to you and all the members and friends of Mission High School Padhar . We gratefully acknowledge your kind concern for our services.
Once again we all are immensely thanks from the bottom of our heart the precious help we had received from you all, it shows yours solidarity toward our school and services.
Thanking you all.
Horeb Rao, all staff and students, Mission High School Padhar
Amazon Prime Day is July 16th!
By shopping on AmazonSmile on Prime Day, you are getting the best deals for your purchases AND the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organization of your choice. Make that organization Friends of Padhar Schools, and your purchases support students in rural getting and their pursuit of an education.Write here…
Hello friends,
As July approaches, it is time for our mid-year review and fundraising update for you. I am pleased to tell you we are doing well, with over 50% of our goals reached.
Our Projects for the second half of 2018
We have 4 remaining projects for the Fall and Winter:
GREAT NEWS!
Yesterday, we reached our goal and raised $1037.00 for our Scholarship program for Happy Valley English School! Many thanks yo all who purchased beautiful crafts and to the artists who donated the items! You are wonderful!
EXTRA great news: we also collected $800 for our Student Sponsorship program and so eight more students will have the opportunity to go to school beginning in July!
So, we leave Annual Conference today with $1837.00 and a heart filled with gratitude. Thanks so much California-Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church!
This is the first time we've hosted a booth to distribute information, network with potential connections and do a little fundraising. I am on Day 2 of the 4-day gathering of the California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Representatives from over 300 churches are here and on their break time, they visit the booths, find out about programs and do a little shopping. This year we had several artists and friends donate over $1000 worth of items: artisan soap, jewelry made with succulents, beautiful piece of handmade jewelry, reusable gift bags, handmade cards and many other items. This sale will fund our scholarship program for Happy Valley English School in Padhar, India.
Two days into the conference and we've sold $637.00 worth of merchandise! We still have 2 days left and hopefully we will reach our goal!
The other good news is that, so far, we've raised $500 for our Student Sponsorship program and our Give Books program. Overall, this has been a awesome experience to get the word out and introduce people to our work.
Felix Convent School is a Primary school for village children, grades Nursery-6th, near the town of Paratwada. They teach primarily in English, although their first language is Mahrathi and they also learn Hindi, the national language is Hindi. They had a fantastic welcome program for us this morning, with three different dances. One by the Kindergarten class, one by two third-grade girls and one by the fourth graders. They were all wonderful! I then toured each classroom and learned about their studies.
On our final evening together, the children of Panchsheel school held a program featuring many dances from all ages and nice words spoken by the teachers and staff of the school. I accepted their gratitude on your behalf, our dear donors and supporters. The work we are doing together is changing the world. Maybe not ALL of it, but in this place, the world is changing for many. Thank you!
On the last evening we were together, the children presented a program and it was a celebration of joy and progress. Here are the girls from the Primary School with their dance.
Yesterday, I captured the morning ritual of serving breakfast to 450+ children under the trees at Panchsheel Ashram School. It is the beginning of the summer and has been very warm (in the high 80's and low 90's), so the children have moved to a shadier spot. Each day they have a small breakfast, then this morning meal, then a dinner around 6:00PM. The school has it's own flour grinding process and it's own chapati machine - to make chapatis for so many children! It is like a kitchen-aid mixer, but supersized! They have 8 full-time workers in the kitchen to prepare food for 600 children each day, and the teachers help facilitate the serving and organization. Quite a production!
So, I have been in India for 14 days - 2 full weeks of travel and sight-seeing, adventures and visits. I still have 3 busy days here, 3 days that include tours of Panchsheel School and Felix Convent School, check in's with our students, meetings with teachers and programs "in my honor." But I am feeling the need to explain why this time in India is important for me.
It is not a spiritual retreat - it is too busy and too loud and too crazy for that.
It is not a holiday - or it is not ONLY a holiday.
It is not "work" as in drudgery or meaningless tasks.
It is more like a homecoming. For the people, the food, the sights and sounds, the smells, the laughter of children, knowing that I am contributing to the goodness of the world, knowing I am helpful.
I do miss my people in the US, my family and friends and I miss my Po, and that's why I come back. But in the back of my mind I am always planning for my return, checking my internal calendar to see how long I can stay away.
So - as I finish up my work here in Panchsheel and Felix, my heart is full. I thank you, for letting me share this experience with you. And I will see you soon!
(There will be more posts to come, just thought I'd take a moment of personal privilege.)
Panchsheel School serves a large tribal area on the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, in the Maharashtra state located near the town of Bahiram. It serves the Gond and Korku tribes, poor children from 1st grade to 12th.
It is a 5+ acre live-in facility that houses and teaches almost 600 students. 50 staff including teachers, attendants, wardens, kitchen staff and other specialized trainers and tutors. The children wash their own clothes, have jobs around the site, have regimented times to study and to eat.
They offer:
• Vocational training in computers, carpentry/ fabrication (welding), electrical work, tailoring
• Homegrown vegetables and fruit from large on-site gardens
• Off-site chicken farm which produces eggs for use and sale.
• Animal care-taking of goats and cows.
• Sports facilities and teams
• Water filtration for clean drinking and washing water
