Nav-Jeevan

Newsletter February 2010

This month we visited the Nav-Jeevan project. We were amazed by the huge progress the children made since our last visit, a year ago. The children speak English more and more and are working hard on their vocabulary. The kids seem very happy and feel at home in the school. The building looks great and everything goes very controlled; getting up, breakfast, the lessons, playing during free hours and the meals. During our last visit the school was burdened by continuous power cuts but the arrival of the new generator ended these problems.

There are currently 150 children enrolled in our school of which 80 in the hostel. The school has 11 classes including the kindergarten, 1st class Hindi, 1st class English, 2nd class Hindi, 2nd class English and the classes 3 to 8 Hindi.

Klas 5

Besides the volunteers we employ a principal, 11 teachers, a computer science teacher, a couple that runs the hostel, two women in the kitchen, three cleaners, a driver, a bus driver, two sleeping gards, a night watch man and a part-time gardener.

The teachers

Alle beschikbare lokalen zijn in gebruik genomen; als leslokaal, slaapzaal, computerlokaal, studiezaal/eetzaal, bibliotheek/tv-lokaal/speellokaal.

Class room

Computer room

Dormitory

Study room, also dining room

Dining room, also study room

Library, tv- and play room

Last year construction started on the first floor of the second building with a dormitory for the older boys. During our visit it was decided to continue the construction of the entire first floor, this will provide the school with a much needed extra three classrooms. We will get an English third class and a ninth class. From class nine a science and physics room is obligatory.

Front of the building

Construction of the extra rooms

Building this floor is expensive and we need to raise extra money for it. Especially since we also need to raise money for the inventory of the classrooms, in particular for science and chemistry rooms. If the school of your children or your club are looking for a charity to donate money to, we would appreciate it if you would put the Nav-Jeevan project forward for consideration. We would be happy to give a presentation on the project for you.

Our target for 2010 is to pay fixed costs out of our annual contributions. The monthly costs for wages, food, water, electricity, transportation, etc are about 4.000 Euros.

Happy murals in the kindergarten.

The playground also includes a garden and behind the building we have a vegetable garden.

The children from the hostel participate in cooking and gardening.

The children love dancing and singing.

After school activities: playing games.

The annual picnic

Almost all the children in the project were confronted with violence and misery in the past. As you can see, Nav-Jeevan provides a safe haven for them, a place for happiness and development.

Donors are welcome to visit the project. We have two guest rooms available. Please let us know in advance if you wish to visit the project so a room can be reserved for you. The months of May and June are not suitable for visiting due to school holidays.