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Naimasharan Clinic, School and Orphanage
About 70 miles from Lucknow, in a small village called Naimasharan, an extraordinary man, reputed to be 112 years old, is realising his dream to build a small clinic and school for this remote and very poor community. He has somehow managed to raise the necessary funds to build a simple clinic, and now needs to equip it, convert a cowshed into a kitchen, provide a generator and a better source of fresh water, and purchase numerous other necessities. He has already started a school where hundreds of children are |
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Cowshed to be converted to a kitchen |
receiving a free education. About 20 orphans live there permanently, but it is very basic accommodation and the classrooms are in dire need of better flooring and new matting for the children to sit on. Nearby is a piece of land which has been offered for sale, and which would be ideal for growing crops and for grazing. The goal is to make the whole community as self-sufficient as possible. |
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Current classroom at Naimasharan
Our voluntary co-ordinator and good friend, Krishna is currently based in Rishikesh and has visited many of the remote Himalayan villages, where there is desperate poverty. On the Trust’s behalf he buys and donates much needed bags of cement, water storage tanks, shelters, medical supplies, provisions, clothing, blankets, etc, as well as livestock and seed.
Buffalo purchased with trust donation In many cases very little outlay can achieve significant improvements. For example last year the Trust gave Rp 7,000 (approx. £90) to a man struggling to provide both for his family and for his ailing parents. With this modest donation (given on the proviso that he found the last 10% himself) he was able to purchase a buffalo, and by selling the milk he has managed to transform his circumstances.
MumbaiThe Trust is providing on-going support to a local organisation, which has set up an impressive medical and educational centre in a Bombay slum area. The clinic is open six days a week and is staffed by doctors, surgeons, nurses and other helpers, all giving freely of their time and expertise. It cares for literally thousands of patients to whom various medical services are offered, including Allopathic, Ayurvedic and Homoeopathic treatments, as well as dental and eye clinics. When funds allow, cataract operations are performed in mobile medical camps in outlying villages too. The building where these clinics are held was kindly donated by an elderly lady with no family, who is now happy to live in one room above the clinic, and enjoys helping out. It also doubles up as a training centre for 18-24 year old students from economically deprived families. They are all receiving certified computer courses that last from three to six months, and cover basic training right through to quite sophisticated programming. The selection process is stringent and only the most disadvantaged students are accepted – and everything is free, down to the last pencil!
The same organisation provides approximately 400 free hot meals daily to people such as migrant Tamil workers who live hand to mouth on the street. Judy and Jenny have both helped out at the centre and can vouch for the efficiency and enthusiasm with which it is run.
Free meals in Mumbai
The Prema Samajan is a well-run but under-funded Institution caring for handicapped and mentally retarded children, and for the elderly. It is doing fantastic work in the community, and also houses and cares for a hundred lepers in another part of the city.
Judy and Krishna have visited several times, and as a result the Trust has purchased and donated a variety of much needed equipment including bandages, bed-sheets, medical provisions, cooking pots, clothing, and a medical table for dressing the lepers wounds. The Trust has also recently bought an auto-rickshaw for them, which will be indispensable. We intend to continue our support for the essential work of this Institution.
The Satya Sai Education & Lepers Welfare Society is another wonderful organisation set up and run by two elderly ladies. They have adopted a leper colony consisting of 158 families, re-housing them, and providing medical care and essentials such as crutches, spectacles, etc. There are about 80 children in this leper colony who are being given free education, mid-day meals and, where necessary, board and lodging. Although the children are free of leprosy, the stigma and fear of this dreadful disease still exists. However, the Eswaramma School has been such a success that is has now expanded to include the poorest local children as well. The adult lepers are taught vocational skills in order to become self-sufficient, and gradually they are gaining their dignity and freedom through work rather than from begging. It is a growing success story and we feel privileged that the Trust can help it continue to flourish and expand.
The Eswaramma School in Hyderbad The Leper colony
The Trust has donated food, clothing and bedding to 25 old ladies who were destitute after their Home burned down, and who have been taken in by a caring but very poor family. Krishna is watching their progress.
The Trust has donated equipment such as Braille boards, funds for food, and also towards building renovations for another very under-funded School for the Blind. The facilities are extremely basic but none-the-less the children are prospering. For instance, one totally blind staff member was a pupil there herself and is now studying for a Master’s, having already gained a degree.
Children at the school for the blind in Bangalore Sri Lanka
As a result of family links the Aislaby Sri Lanka Appeal was set up under the umbrella of the Sunbird Trust after the shocking Asian Tsunami disaster. This raised over £180,000 which was carefully distributed to Tsunami victims by our volunteer, Lorien.
The work included:
New water pump and toilet in Sri Lanka
Distribution of sewing machines given to 30 Muslim widows in Sri Lanka
The Appeal is now over, but as a result of contacts made, we are now supporting a Leprosy Hospital in Hendala.
Southern AfricaThe Trust has given donations to the Sindisa Foundation (of which Jenny is a Trustee), to help in the completion of two conservation and education centres, one in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and one on the north coast of Mozambique. For more information about these please see their website.
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The Sunbird Trust is making
this project the main focus of it's fundraising this year and
hopes to raise £15,000 which, along with a lot of hard work
from the local people, would be sufficient to achieve all of the
above.
Buying land for the
construction of new homes.
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Education Advancement & Community Development | Registered Charity No: 1090029 |
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