Mumbai still dominates the news here. The questions about who and why and stories of individuals who lost their lives. Most people died at the train station, just commuters at the Mumbai version of Waterloo.
Thankfully no local reprisals against Muslims which I was worried about. As you might know India has a population of 1 billion, 85 % identify themselves as Hindu which still leaves room for the 3rd largest Muslim population on Earth. It’s true to say that there is often tension between both groups, but having said that given that 1 billion people are pretty squeezed in things generally rub along in a pretty tolerant way.
Hoping that my cards have arrived, I even stamped some of them myself at the post office much to the amusement of the post office man, his family and me!
A little bit about the Charity, as I mentioned in my cards I think it’s safe to say that your donations are being well spent. The girls are educated, comfortable and most important as safe as possible all for 700 pounds a month.
There are 26 girls here, most are around 5 years old  and up; the charity will support them until aged 18. The daily routine starts at about 5.30am (yippee). The girls get washed and dressed, the blue clothes you see in the photos are their school uniform. They all have chores to do before and after school, like washing their clothes, cooking, cleaning. The chores are important as they help them start to be able to look after themselves. As most of the girls are street children they have not learned to cook and clean or look after a house. The little girls have schooling in the Charity itself and the older girls go to a government school outside. Getting a good level of education is absolutely the best way of helping to build a positive future for the girls. When school is finished it’s more chores and a bit of play, they all love dancing and singing, and have dance lessons as some of the photos will testify. The girls that do have families might see them at the weekend but this can be a risk to the girls especially when they reach an age when they could be sold on for the sex or domestic service industry, usually about 12 or 13, and some girls have not returned from family visits which is very distressing for the others and for the staff.
Some of the photos are to show you the inside of the charity and the staff, the toy cupboard, clothes cupboard, the sewing room and tailor Laxmi, the kitchen and the cook Saraswati, just so that you can get a picture of what life is like. It might look basic to our eyes but is very clean and comfortable.The girls eat the most enormous amount of food, for example they get through 10kg of rice a day! All of the girls arrive malnourished (Hb of 5 is typical) and really enjoy their food. Will tell you a bit more about the medical care in my next email but I was amazed to discover that malnourishment is still as widespread as it was when I last worked here in 1999 despite India’s economic growth. Will also tell you about the referral criteria and plans for support for girls after aged 18.
It’s been raining cats and dogs here, have had wet feet for weeks it feels like. I will come back with trench foot! Also sending a couple more photos of daily life. There is a general election here in Jan and it’s election fever, one photo of an election rally and man in a bonkers outfit which made me laugh also a photo of me feeding elephants on my day off. (I can recommend it!) You can even get a bank loan for one here, so if I come back with Nelly don’t be surprised.
Take care All
Thinking of you All H

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