February was a big month for our charity in Kotdwara, especially for our friends Amit and Daisy Samuel and their team.
A tiger recently ran from the jungle and through the streets of Kotdwara exciting the locals. The video is pretty cool! It really is wild and primitive where we work.
The most exciting news for this month, has been the opportunity of our work expanding further in the heart of Kotdwara town, by renting an upstairs apartment for just $25 a week. This building has a kitchen, toilets, and three large meeting rooms. In this space, Amit and Daisy have conducted social work and leadership meetings for young people and just last week, it became a pop-up medical centre. Amit organised his local doctor friends to donate their time to help suffering poor people. About 200 people received medical treatment and counselling in just one day. The new tailoring school is held in this apartment also.
We thank God for his provision of such a wonderful resource.
Another highlight this month included winning a local NGO award for recognition of religious leaders who provide social work to the community. It is so good that Amit and Daisy continue to earn the respect of local authorities.
Just in February, I was excited to receive updates about the following projects;
- school visits as part of the anti- human trafficking project. This involves working in conjunction with the police and school principals. The work is going well. Sadly I learnt of a 12 year old local boy, Nasim, who has gone missing and the police fear for his safety. There is high probability that he may have been trafficked, never to be seen again. We help the local police in their work to find missing children.
- training and involvement in a womens empowerment program
- visiting needy people in hospital and helping street people, beggars and others who are poor and suffering badly.
Our Teaching team work hard but they are also very poor. Because of your generous support we gave each of our teachers a gift of a mosquito net and new towels. These were gratefully received. Our teachers work with close to 150 children, 6 days a week.
Each week I receive emails with photos and updates about the projects they are involved in. If you would like to know more about any of these projects, or see some photos of the people involved, please let me know. It would be my pleasure to tell you more.
Immediate Growth Goals
1. Amit and Daisy are both starting to find the growth and momentum of their work stressful. I am going to send them some money just to give them an opportunity to have a nice meal out and to enjoy a day trip, something they really love to do.
2. Admin support worker - 2.5 days a week
3. Christian Youth Worker/ Sports Coach for slum and Village teens and kids - 2.5 days a week.
$750 will pay for the annual salary of the above positions.
4. Construction of shade and rain shelter over our outdoor classrooms. $1000 will essentially pay for all four centres.
5. In my spare time I am still working on the website and a better way to post my monthly newsletters.
Please pray for these things and spread the word of all we are doing and hoping to achieve. If you are able to make a donation, your generosity makes a significant difference and goes a very long way in India. Please spread the word... just $5 a week adds up to help people.