Nav-Jeevan

Newsletter July 2008

Tina and Bhawna

Februari 2008

In February we visited the project. It's overwhelming to see how nearly 100 children attend the school daily. They follow lessons in a nursery class, forms 1 to 5 and a special class for children who need special attention due to their poor development. 50% of the children stay in the hostel. The class rooms and dormitories are situated on the ground floor and the first floor of the main building. In this building you can also find the temporary but well equipped kitchen.

The construction of the ground floor of the second building has been finished but not yet put to use. In this wing are situated the dormitories, a big dining hall and kitchen. According to plan, the last work on the buildings and the furnishing of the new wing will take place in the May-July school holidays. At the start of the school year, June 26, 150 children can be admitted of whom 75 in the hostel. The main building (first and second floor) will house class rooms. The second building will house the dormitories, dining hall and the kitchen.

We can admit fifty new children each school year, at the most. The Nav-Jeevan children are not different from other children who attend school. They have an extremely poor background and are used to do anything to get what they need. Nothing frightens them and they are independent. It's great to see how they change when they learn to read and write.
They are from a filthy neighbourhood but hand in impeccable assignments. They spent their lives in slums but make drawings of green farms with flowers, trees, mountains and beautiful houses.

26 June 2008

The first day of school with 150 children, two nursery classes, forms 1 to 5 and a special class. Half of the children are also house in the hostel. Neatly furnished class rooms, dormitories, kitchen and dining hall. We've reached our goals. Wonderful. People are still busy finishing the outside of the buildings. Apart from the volunteers, the staff consists of 16 people, 9 teachers ( 3 of them are also social workers) and 7 persons charged with coaching and domestic chores.

Targets June 2009

A first day of school with 200 children, 100 of them in the hostel. Two nursery classes, two first forms, forms 2 to 7 and a special class, a fully equipped computer room and library.

In 2009 the present building, with 200 children attending school and 100 in the hostel, will be completely full. The foundation of the second building can hold another three storeys. However, at the moment this doesn't seem a good option. This means that we will only finish the present building. We will focus on getting as many regular patrons as possible in order to pay the fixed costs every month.

At present our regular income is about 1.700 euro a month. The local population often donates in kind. Sometimes we receive donations from American patrons.

In the past six months we received a number of substantial gifts intended for special projects:
The furnishing of the class rooms, dining hall and kitchen was paid with the 1.000 euros from the book fair of the Vincentius Vereniging in Den Bosch and the 1.500 euros from the Geranium appeal of the Zwijsen College in Veghel (Holland).
The 20.000 euros donated by Mr Godert van Buren are used to finish the buildings, pave the grounds, playground materials and to buy a generator.

The fixed costs and the purchase of books, uniforms and shoes for the children were paid with the contributions from our regular patrons and the doubling of the gifts from the employees of Alexander Calder Arbeidsintegratie and Calder Holding.

The furnishing of a computer room and a library are projects we would like to realise in the coming months. Should your school or organization be interested in supporting a good cause, we would be grateful if you'd consider our project. It goes without saying that we will provide you with all the necessary information.

Schooltrip

Like we do each year, we took the children on a school trip. A day never to forget. We went to the planetarium. The children had great fun. They also watched a 3D movie. The little ones were so excited and at times they got scared and took off their glasses.

The stories of some of the children are heartbreaking. Like little Isha and her sister Saloni. These two girls are orphans. You may have read about them in our previous news letter. The story about the girls eating the lice from each other's heads. They only had an aunt who hardly paid any attention to them. Isha was quite traumatized and didn't speak a single word for months. However, gradually she is responding. After not visiting her aunt for almost a year she paid her a short visit shortly before the school trip. In the planetarium we were able to have a picknick outside. We were seated at the same table as Isha and some other children. The children tried to teach us some words in Hindi and cited all kinds of nursery rhymes. When everyone had finished and went to clean their plates little Isha sat down next to me. She was shy but looked at me with her big eyes and said something. I gestured that I did not understand her and she repeated her words. I called for Aneeta and asked her what Isha had said. She translated: 'My mother visited me last week.' Of course it wasn't her mother but apparently her aunt was so important for her that she called her her mother. Auntie doesn't really care about them. It's awful to be just a little child being left on your own. Fortunately we have Nav- Jeevan, a safe place where children can be happy.

Isha