Marrying a laundryman for clothes and cooking

Hope all well with you guys?

No photos with this one, way too difficult without my mate Adam the photographer.  He is sending them to me on a disk which should help!

In my last email I think I talked about the health of the girls. I mentioned that when they arrive at the Charity they are generally unwell and living with illness often born of poverty,  anaemia, TB, HIV D+V. All the girls are tested for TB, HIV and have routine bloods.

Luckily the local Government Hospital is very good. In India the quality of the government Hospitals varies greatly. When I worked in India before the local Government Hospital was terrible and often cruel to the patients. I was looking after people who had HIV, but it’s different here which is a great relief especially as the Government Hospital is mostly free, we have to buy some meds and blood. For interest blood is generally donated by family members but as most of the girls do not have family it’s brought from the Red Cross which sells ‘safe’ blood, i.e. tested before its administered.
As you know the girls who live in the Charity are aged 5 to 18. The referall criteria has a priority entry for girls who have no family at all, then girls who have a single parent, normally their Mum. At the start of the Charity the co-founder Radica visited the train station and slums to let people know about the Charity but now people bring girls via word of mouth because locally the charity is known to be good and uncorrupt. There are 20 girls waiting to come and live here but space is too limited to offer more than 26 places. The Charity wants to expand to 50 places next year, so that’s me fundraising for ever and a day!

I think I mentioned that the Charity is looking at how to support the girls after they leave at 18, and in India this is about making sure they have work but also supporting them to get married. In India being married is socially vital for women. The only people who don’t get married, as far as I can tell, are holy women and men. Radica has built contacts with the local charity that cares for boys so that she can make marriage alliances for the girls ready for when they leave. I am bringing back with me the local paper’s matrimonial ads, they are brill. My favourite is ‘ tall bride wanted 5 foot 2′ !
I am thinking about replying to one from a dobhi ( that’s a man who runs a laundry to you and me). I like the idea of getting me clothes done for me, if he can cook too and doesn’t mind a white 43 year old he is the one for me!

Just one last thing, which is to say that the girls and the charity workers are more grateful than I can say for the money and the thoughts that have gone into giving the money. The little girls think its amazing that people in the UK are thinking of them and wanting the best for them and say hello to all the Aunties and Uncles (that’s what every one over the age of about 25 is called)

This might be the last e mail as I am going to take some of the A/L as A/L and travel, shop and eat something other than spice!

Happy Christmas and a brill new year to ALL and again thank you for thinking of the future of the most delightful, cheeky girls.

 

5.30am starts, trench foot and a new pet elephant

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

 

More photos

 

Monkey bin is not my new husband…?!

A few more photos of life in India, thought you would like to see the contrasts between children with family, the little girl all dressed up, she was off to a party, and the small boy who we gave our fizzy drink to, it was about 35 that day and he looked as dry as a bone.  As you can see boys and girls can wear different things then in the uk, the boy with the hat had me laughing my head off but it was totally normal here.
Also thought you would like to see a man making his way along in an Indian wheel chair, very hardy and used on the street as pavements are impossible for the very agile who use two feet and legs.  Disabled people just get on with it here.
Last but not least I am collecting pictures of Indian bins which I think are fab, the monkey the best so far, if i get 12 I am going to make up a calendar!

 

A huge thank you for your generosity!

A grand total of 2075 pounds raised! Charity thrilled, will keep them going for 2 months.

 

Helen and the girls

 

Cactus man is not my husband

Having terrible trouble getting e mail, managed to get in via a friend’s yahoo account. A few photos of india, hope they capture a flavour of the place and the journey down to charity.  Charity photos to come.  The man with the cactus plants is not my new husband! Got chatting to him, as you do in india and he was very proud of his plants!

 

In one piece

Got to India in one piece last Tuesday. Having trouble finding an internet place which is a change from 2004 when I was last here.
India the same in many ways still what we think of as bonkers chaos. Have had great fun travelling down to the Charity on the trains, on the way I stopped off to see Sarnath, which is where Budda spoke to his first apostles.
Tummy getting used to things, there has also been a big Shiva festival which seems to mean lots of drum banging and chanting at 5.15 am, India still the land of no sleep! More middle classes than before but to be honest the people seem as poor as ever they were.  The street children and families as amazing in their resource fullness as I remember. I met the most amazing street child a couple of days ago who could have sold sand in a desert, we will be, hopefully, getting her into a English speaking school which is one of the best ways of getting a decent crack at getting out of some of the poverty many women are bonded to here.
I have some great photos to send along but can’t find a computer place with USB, when I do will send along.
Will write again soon and photos of the kids when I find a USB.

 

Gallery 4

The Girls

 

Gallery 3

Christmas