[priya]

OMG Rob, the picture of your little burn victim is too too terrible.  I do so hope she continues to make a full recovery after all she's been through, the poor mite.  

You must feel so relieved she's now in proper care and receiving the medical attention she deserves.  Thankfully her face wasn't burned, but I'm concerned about the neck scarring, and how that'll inhibit her movements.  Do you think the skin grafts be sufficient?

Keep up the wonderful work you're doing.  It's heartening to know that someone really does care about the children.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a real "duh" but.....

[Poiple Shadow]

Hey All...

It has been such a long time since I have had a proper chance to post news about CWT...  It's been a very busy time here...  I am sure everybody will be glad tyo hear that the girl who was burnt is doing a fantastic job of recovering which is ah huge but delightful suprise..  She spent about 2 months in hospital and has now been discharged so is attending 'The Mango House' for continued treatment and checkups.  In the end she had 2 skin grafts which are healing well.  The change in her appearence is outstanding, there is still lots of work to do but we hope that she will continue to get better.  There has also been a few other emergancies, including badly broken eyes, more burns and scalds, malaria, peumonia - the list seems to be endless... - Along with the bad there's lots of good news though, the children are doing great at school most have finished their exams and have started their Diwali holidays, the latest set of swimming lessons have finished...

If you're coming to Goa then we have updated the list of items that you can bring to help us out www.ChildrenWalkingTall.com/Charity-Luggage.htm..  

Many Thanks to everyone

[Poiple Shadow]

Hey All...  I've updated 3 new sets of photos from Goa...  Have a look if you're interested....

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

Rob

[priya]

Your day out must have been a load of fun for the children.  They certainly seemed to be having a wonderful time!  Rob, thanks for keeping us up-to-date with your activities.

[Poiple Shadow]

Hi...

Yes the day(s) out were fabulous fun, they work so hard during school term so it's nice to give them a good fun day out during the holidays.....

I have just finsihed the latest newsletter it's Sept/Oct newsletter, although I only finished it during the middle of November!!  

http://www.ChildrenW...r/2007-09-E.htm

[john.sw]

Hi Rob,

It's great to catch up with your news!

Thanks for keeping us in the picture and very best wishes to you all.

John

[dzibead]

I'm really happy to see that the young girl who was burned is doing so well!

[Poiple Shadow]

She's here now having a daily shower and her medicine applied, then there's her exercises to help keep her muscles / skin from getting contracture.  She's better each day so it's a joy to see...

Thanks

[priya]

A lesson in courage!!

[Poiple Shadow]

She is amazing! - I never thought she would pull through when we took her on the scarest trip of my life (transferring her to the new hospital) - The original hospital who was not doing anything for her said we took her against doctors wishes - so the journey was on my head...  VERY VERY SCARY - And then when we got there the new hospital gave her just 2 or 3 days to live...  She's been amazing, bucket loads of life and I hope to see her running around the garden like the other children as soon as possible.

[Poiple Shadow]

Well I have finally had chance to go through some of the photos that we took over the Christmas Holidays. For those of you who don't know we aim to give out as many wrapped presents as possible during Christmas, this year we gave out 1000 presents to children in the slums dotted around Goa and the last few in Mumbai. It's never an easy job but I would like to thank all the volunteers who helped, Ali (Santa), Saroja and Savita (the Staff) and the helpers we had along the way including Carol & Tony, Subash and Friend who helped give them out, which is far from an easy job at times. Another huge thank you to everyone who worked so hard wrapping up the presents, visitors, volunteers and friends and family - THANK YOU!

Lucy, A Volunteer sat in the middle of some of the presents...

http://www.childrenw...if/Presents.jpg

The Presents were handed out on Friday (South Goa), Saturday (Around Old Goa, Panjim), Sunday (Mapusa, Canca and Sinquerium) and Monday (Slums Near The Mango House) and finally on CHristmas day to 'OUR' children.

I have updated two sets of photos from the first two days of present giving, use the link below to view the photos....

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

[priya]

"Happy Faces" (for me) steals the show, but all of them are lovely.

I hope 2008 is just as rewarding for you, as 2007.

[vandy]

Thanks for the Xmas pics Rob,it really brightened up my Day.  

All the very best to ALL of you for 2008.

vandy  

[Poiple Shadow]

Glad you enjoyed the pictures, I've just put some more up and hopefully get another set by the end of the day... (crossed fingers...  so do have a look)...  

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

Found this from last year too....


http://video.google....226512573112232

Edited by Poiple Shadow, 20 January 2008 - 12:18 PM.

[Poiple Shadow]

Hi All...

Everyone keeps asking to upload some photos of 'our' children, the ones we help at 'The Mango House', so  I have just uploaded some of the ones from Christmas day....  I hope you enjoy

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

Thanks

[malkers]

doing a great job there Rob, good on ya mate!

[Poiple Shadow]

Nearly ready for the newsletter...  Here's a bit of a preview....

Christmas
For the past 12 months we have been collecting and saving all the toys that are given to Children Walking Tall over the year. Our aim is always to accumulate enough toys so that we can give as many children as possible a smile at Christmas. Last year we were able to hand out around 1500 wrapped Christmas presents to children across Goa and in Mumbai. This year there has been a significant drop in the number of tourists which has had a knock on effect to the number of presents received, but our aim was the same - make as many children smile as possible!

Christmas was fast approaching and the toys were moved to Roberts apartment, temporarily, renamed the ‘elf’s workshop’!, ready to be sorted and wrapped.   Trying to wrap 1000+ presents is not an easy task and even harder when you want each present to give the same happiness rating (width of smile). It's never nice when you have a row of children and one or two get small presents and their neighbours receive bigger better presents. Making sure each present has the right mix of toys and organisation is the key.

The first job was to count and separate out all the different types of toys - balls, dolls, cars, hair bobbles, bags, colouring books, cuddly toys. Once we knew how many items we had there was a better idea of what we could join up to make the presents equal. We always receive a large number of cuddly toys so as a general rule every present had a cuddly toy, but the cuddly toys themselves were separated into four different sizes (small, medium, large and extra Large). A typical wrapped present included a cuddly toy, a few balloons, a doll or plastic toy, bobbles, hair clips and nail varnish for the girls. For the boys, similar with small toy cars, sun glasses or action men.

Many readers are thinking - are you mad!? - The answer, yes probably, but it does help! Thankfully we had a good team of volunteers and visitors that helped with the wrapping. The first presents wrapped were for the children we work with every day. The ones who come to The Mango house and those in the two local slums, we do try not to show any favouritism but we did have to give ‘our’ children a little extra in the presents…. A special gift to all the girls was a hand made Chudidar outfit made by Savita our accountant cum dress maker and for the boys a new pair of shoes each.

Every morning a grid of 30 to 50 presents were laid on the floor ready to be wrapped. The volunteers would then wrap and make similar presents for hours on end, we were also lucky enough to have a few visitors who gave a helping hand. - THANKYOU!

By Christmas we had wrapped 1,000 presents, and even managed to have a day or twos rest before the present giving started...

This year was the first year we had a Christmas Tree, the tree was donated by 'Ron' a friend of Shermina's, the staff and volunteers spent one evening decorating the tree and house. The final touches to the tree were given by the children who made a star each to put on the tree.

Presents were given out in slums all over Goa over the four days before Christmas and although exhausting it is always a great atmosphere and to see the smiles on the faces make it all worth while. The best way to describe this is to see the pictures on our website....

[iwanttogoback]

brilliant - you are all wonderful.

[Poiple Shadow]

IWantToGoBack... Thank you...  But I couldn't do any of it without the staff and volunteers!!! - My main job is TRYING to keep everything working smoothly, something that isn't always that easy...  

Just as I don't seem to be that much closer to geting it out...  here's another bit  

A Fantastic Recovery
We are delighted to say that the girl who was severely burnt in August has now made a full recovery. For several months we were worried about how the burns would constrict her movement and mobility but now since receiving regular exercise and good food her health has blossomed. Over the last few months she has been attending The Mango House for treatment and rehabilitation.

Our main concern was to keep her wounds clean and allow them to heal fully. When she left hospital she still had several open wounds. These were thoroughly cleaned and medicated each day. One of our volunteers took over from Robert to assure her full recovery. Eva who has nursing skills was more than happy to help out and worked very hard to keep Rukmani on the mend. By the end of December all of her open wounds had covered over and healed.

With help from Steve Nelhams we were able to purchase two burn suits for her. The burn suit is a thick, tight lycra suit that is specifically made for the patient. We were shown in the hospital how to put the suit on but the first few times it took around 30 minutes to put the two pieces on. After a while though we got the hang of it and managed to do it in five to ten minutes... The suits have to be worn every day and when one is being worn the other is washed and dried.

In December there was another worry when we noticed that her hair was falling out, thankfully the doctor assured us that it was a result of her original burns and the shock to her system. Medicine was given to promote growth and we are happy to say that new growth has started and she is looking much better. But that was not quite the end of her the saga as she caught Chicken Pox after Christmas, this although not that serious made wearing her burns suit very uncomfortable.

Steve Nelhams was one of the main supporters who helped with providing the funding for her treatment and he was lucky enough to see her during his visit to The Mango House. Thank you Steve and everyone who helped with her recovery.

[dzibead]

This is wonderful news about Rukmani's recovery!