[Poiple Shadow]

Hopefully a couple of you out there in web land might have already heard about Children Walking Tall? Hope so.... Anyway, the newsletter was sent out last month and everybody has been working hard since, in the last few days they have given out over 1200 items of clothing, hopefully more will go out this week. I'm hoping to get some pictures from this up on the website this week, but you know how it is, there's never enough time. I have just put up some pictures from their recent Sports day, it was a basic affair but the children loved it, if you'd like to have a peak then click the link

www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Pictures.htm

[cyberhippie]

Looks like a fun day!! Carry on the good work, maybe I'll drop by when in Goa next!

[Poiple Shadow]

Hi Cyberhippie,

The day was great fun and you're more than welcome to drop by, you can even come and volunteer if you like... - we always need help. How often do you come to Goa?

[Poiple Shadow]

The last week has seen an increase of the number of children visiting the Mango House as they recover from an outbreak of measles at one of the slums. During that time there was about 14 chilldren down with the measles and we had to admit 5 of the children to hospital.

One of the Mothers unfortunately said she would rather them be at home and die than having them stay in hospital (as it meant someone staying with them from her family), it's a hard battle sometimes and to be honest this is the first case. What makes it worse is that a year a go Children Walking Tall admitted the mother into hospital after finding her laying on the floor of her house in lots of pain (later to find she was nine months pregnant). If she hadn't been admitted she would have most likely been dead today. Even after taking her to hospital the doctors were still very unsure whether her or the baby would live. They had no history of her (no blood work etc) and giving her last baby she nearly bleed to death.

Thankfully it all ended well (after having the whole family in the hospital cry) and Robert actually had the honour of naming the baby (Akshay). So for her to be so blasé about 2 of her children is really demoralising and we wonder if we are teaching the families anything.

Anyway.... Over the last month we have had LOTS of craft seasons with the children and also started a Yoga class which they thoroughly enjoy. Please visit the pictures page in the website, if you are interested.

[madmania]

I'm very interested in volunteering for a children's charity in India........ where abouts is Children walking Tall and what are thew oppurtunities you have going? I love to work with children and am very outgoing.

[Poiple Shadow]

Madmania,

We are actually short of volunteers (or wil be in the next couple of weeks), so it would be great if you could come out straight away, but I'm guessing this is more of a 'in the next year' sort of query...

Children Walking Tall is based close to Mapusa in North Goa, about 15 / 20 minutes away from Calangute. We have volunteer positions open all year round, but do get a good amount of volunteers during the tourist season but not so many this time of the year, although we do have 7 right now (5 of which will be leaving in the next gew weeks!)

It's great to be outgoing as you need to be, otherwise the children will make you outgoing. The children are excellent with lots of energy, sometimes too much but it is great fun. If you have a look on our website you can find lots more information including what previous volunteers have thought etc. I can't supply direct links (as I get told off) so just go to the website and click on help us and then volunteering buttons.

If you need any more information then please do email me via the website.

[madmania]

Thanks for that. I am definately interested and will be hopefully coming out around christmas.

[Poiple Shadow]

madmania, on May 29 2006, 03:17 PM, said:

Thanks for that. I am definately interested and will be hopefully coming out around christmas.

That's great, there will be lots of other volunteers around that time but I'll sure get lots of things for you to do... If we get more volunteers we ust tend to extned what we do, the main concern is 'The Mango House' but we did start of with basic schools in the slums so it would be great to start these up again once we have the resources (eg Volunteers), we had slums asking for us to teach so it might take some organising but with a little help I'm sure we can do it.

To give you an idea of what we do, I have updated some pictures of us giving the clothes out to slums in Margao, Vaso and Panjim (There's two sets), All available via the link below. Enjoy!

[Poiple Shadow]

It's taken ages to do but we've finally managed to get this months (it's becoming every two months! ) newsletter out.

A little snippet...

Quote

Seeing the Doctor
Robert and Shermina are well known at the Vrundavan hospital as they've taken many of the children there in emergencies as it is only two minutes walk from ‘The Mango House’. Vrundavan Hospital treats many of the foreigners who live and visit Goa as it is a private hospital with good facilities. Due to the good relationship with the hospital Kirsty (A volunteer who is a paramedic in the UK) and Robert went to see Dr. Digambar Niak, the Managing Director of Vrundavan Hospital, to ask if he could support Children Walking Tall by giving the children free check-ups. He was very good and instantly called a doctor down to meet us. We had a Dr Sanyogini for the first few weeks and now have Dr Karishma, visiting the house every week and has taken a huge pressure off the volunteers and staff: we’re very grateful to her for this special service. Krishma sees 5 or 6 children on each visit and we hope this will reduce the time the children are in discomfort and pain.

If you would like to see what other facilities the hospital has on offer then please visit their website at http://www.vrundavan.com.

Did you know...

Poor health is a chronic problem for street children. Half of all children in India are malnourished, but for street children the proportion is much higher. These children are not only underweight, but their growth has often been stunted and it is very common to mistake a 12 year old for an 8 year old.

Street children live and work amidst trash, animals and open sewers. Not only are they exposed and susceptible to disease, they are also unlikely to be vaccinated or receive medical treatment. Only two in three Indian children have been vaccinated against TB, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Polio and Measles; only one in ten against Hepatitis B. Most street children have not been vaccinated at all. They usually can not afford, and do not trust, doctors or medicines. If they receive any treatment at all it will often be harmful, as with kids whose parents place scalding metal on their bellies as a remedy for persistent stomach pain.

Most street children work as rag-pickers, in which boys and girls as young as 6 years old sift through garbage in order to collect recyclable material. The children usually rise before dawn and carry their heavy load in a large bag over their shoulder. Rag-pickers can be seen alongside pigs and dogs searching through trash heaps on their hands and knees.

Many of the children who visit 'The Mango House' rag pick when they don't come to school.

The whole thing can be found on the website for those who are interested.

[Poiple Shadow]

Well, I'll update folks in Internet land today.. Everything seems to be going our way for a change... We have managed to get 33 children into school which has given us a little break in the mornings as that's 33 children who don't turn up till 12 - 1pm... We now have about 15 in the mornings which is a good amount as we currently only have a part time volunteer at present. We're desperate for volunteers if anyone is interested. The children we've got into shcool have also been bought uniforms (2 sets), books, bags, shoes, tifin tins and also small flasks for water. They were all really happy with their uniforms, some of them walk past 'The Mango House' in the morning and shout out to us... They are so pleased to be going to school. Afternoons are just as busy though but thankfully the weather has improved and we've had a few sunny days allowing them to play outside. Thanks everyone

[Poiple Shadow]

Forgot to tell everyone, we've uploaded some more pictures on the website a week or so ago (sorry completely forgot to tell everyone). They are from the first day of heavy rain when we realised... Hmmmm, we best buy some rain coats!!! I hope you like them, the children were so happy with them.... Thanks to Dave, Sue and the Elementary girls from the American Creativity Academy for their help in purchasing them. It's a good job we did as the rain came early this year and the last week has seen lots of heavy rain!

Anyway, the pictures are here...

http://www.childrenw...om/Pictures.htm

[Mercurie]

PS,

Brilliant photos.

Merc.

[priya]

You're doing a great service there PS.........It must be very rewarding for you as well as the children!!! Great pics too - thanks for keeping us posted, and good luck!

[Poiple Shadow]

Mercurie - Thank, glad you like the photos, unfortunately my camera has packed in otherwise I'd be putting a few more up. I might just have to buy myself another present when I go home.. )

Priya - Yes it's very rewarding although I'm really looking forward to my 'holiday' I get to go to the UK for 1 months break... I'm sure I'll be missing the kids when I get there, but it will be nice to get away from the monsoon for a while and sleep in a comfortable bed.... Oh... to have a bath, I haven't had a bath for nearly a year.... I would like to point out I have had showers! ) But not a relaxing bath.... Although we have a 25 meter deep well (It's HUGE) at The Mango House and I went down to clean it just before the monsoon started there was still about 3 meters of water in it, so that was nearly as good as a bath.... :os We now have about 60 regular children and have managed to get more than 40 now into school... It's great as they walk past the house in the morning shouting 'hello Robert, hello Shermina, hello Sir, hello Didi'..... I never get tired of it.... )

[Poiple Shadow]

Well the website has been down the last few days (since Saturday) so please accept my appologies, I blame it on all the rain...

But thankfully things seem back to normal, can I just say Priya, I love your little signature... Very nice....

[Poiple Shadow]

The website... Down up down up.... Arrghh! - I think it's up, hopefuly for good this time. Really sorry to all about the problems...

[Mercurie]

PS

Yes, it is up now. Glad that you sorted it finally.

Cheers.

[priya]

Glad to see that you're up and running again PS.

Once you're home - enjoy luxuriating in your hot bath.......with lots of bubbles too, I hope

[Poiple Shadow]

priya, on Jul 12 2006, 08:00 PM, said:

Glad to see that you're up and running again PS.

Once you're home - enjoy luxuriating in your hot bath.......with lots of bubbles too, I hope

Baths... Yes had a few of those, heaven! - Can I just say, when you get back to England it's amazing how clean you feel, in Goa I had to have at least two showers each day through nessecity, here you just feel clean all day long... It's such a nice feeling....

Website is up and staying that way by the looks of things... I don't know if anyone out there has any pull with the government/women and child development in Goa do they... Things just take so long, we applied for this licence 8 months ago and it's still doing the whole pinball effect between all of their offices... If anyone has any ideas can you email me (email address on the website). Or any other ideas of how to get things moving?

[Poiple Shadow]

Hi Everyone, it's been a crazy month as I've come back to the UK to do fundraising and catch up on some website development (updated the website lots, so if you'd like a look click on my link),

We've now got 43 children into school, they're loving it and crossed fingers some big news in the next day or two....