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Thank You Gatehouse School
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30-Jun
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In mid June our volunteer teacher, Fran, returned to Gatehouse, her former school, to tell the children all about her time at Mango House. We were thrilled to learn that at the end of the assembly Fran was presented with a cheque for £464 which the children had raised over the preceding weeks. A huge thank you to all concerned.
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All Projects Completely Full for the New School Year
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30-Jun
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We were delighted to learn that at the start of the academic year every pre-primary and afternoon tuition place at all projects has been taken and in fact there is a waiting list at each. This represents a tremendous effort by all the teams on the ground who work with local communities to promote the value of education and we congratulate them on their achievements.
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Girls, Girls, Girls
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30-Jun
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It is well known that girls from impoverished Indian families are much less likely to go to school than their brothers. Generally education of girls is seen as a bad investment and they are kept at home to do domestic chores and mind siblings. We were thrilled, therefore, to learn that this year at Mango House 53% of the children are girls. It's a huge credit to the Mango House team that they have been successful in encouraging parents to educate their daughters and we look forward to following the girls' progress over the coming years.
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Uniforms & School Bags for the New School Year
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30-Jun
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As a result of the need to target as much as we can towards the construction of The Mango Tree House this year we limited our Bags4School and Back2School schemes to children attending our projects and those still in school who had previously attended. We are delighted that we were able to provide around 170 school bags filled with stationery and toiletries and around 320 uniforms. Many visitors donated the items we needed for the school bags which was a big help and much appreciated.
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The Styrrup Hall Golf Fundraiser
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23-Jun
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A huge thank you goes to Pete Grimshaw for organising the Styrrup Hall Golf Club Fundraiser which was held in aid of our Brick By Brick Appeal. Lots of kind people supported with donations of prizes for the competitions and the provision of raffle prizes and tea and coffee. It was a great day and the members raised a whopping £625!
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Inside the New Chimbel Pre-Primary School
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15-Jun
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We were pleased to see photos of the pre-primary children settled into their new premises at Chimbel. Not only are the new premises in a much better location right at the edge of the slum but they are bigger too. We know that it was really important to the team that their new premises were big enough for tables and chairs so that children could read, write and draw with better support. As you can see the dream became a reality.
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Introducing Julie Davis - Our New Trustee
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12-Jun
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We are pleased to welcome Julie Davis to our trustee board. The fact that Julie won an award last year for her outstanding personal contribution to her company gives a clue about her drive and determination. She is a passionate Mango Tree supporter with a keen interest in fundraising. We very much look forward to working with Julie in the future.
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Meet Chantel Ram - Project Manager For The Mango Tree House
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11-Jun
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We are fortunate that Chantel Ram, one of our supporters, happens to be a qualified Project Manager. A busy Mum of two young sons we tentatively asked if she might be prepared to volunteer her services as a Project Manager to help guide us through our Project. Without any persuasion she jumped on board and will be a huge help in ensuring we keep on top of things. We say a huge thank you for the support over recent weeks and into the future.
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Kumari Receives Our First Brick
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11-Jun
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Pictured above holding the first Buy A Brick Gift Card is Kumari, the neice of our very lovely Project Manager Chantel. During a recent progress meeting Chantel was shown the Gift Cards and we talked about the idea that people donate and Buy A Brick themselves or donate and gift a brick to a loved one. "My neice is 21 next week" she said "she would love that". So Kumari's name was the first on our brick but two more bricks quickly followed when Chantel's sons Kiishan and Rahul raided their money boxes and donated for bricks too. And so our wall began.
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Our Buy A Brick Fundraiser
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11-Jun
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Our Buy A Brick fundraiser is a really important part of our Brick By Brick Appeal. You can read more about it here but in short it offers supporters the chance to make a donation of £5 or more and have their names added to the Wall of Support the Mango House children are creating. We hope to see all the walls at Mango House covered with the names of those who help us build The Mango Tree House. If you can, please, make a donation and help build a better future for disadvantaged children.
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Our Brick By Brick Appeal Is Launched
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11-Jun
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Today we announced our plans to build The Mango Tree House, a purpose built pre-primary school and afternoon tuition centre which will support hundreds of disadvantaged children in future. The land has already been purchased and we have made £25,000 available towards the cost of building and equipment. That's the good news. We now need to raise the balance of £60,000 to make our plans a reality. To this end we have launched a Brick By Brick Appeal. Please read all about it here .
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The Mango Tree House - A New Project
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11-Jun
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We are very excited to announce our plans to build The Mango Tree House - a new pre-primary school and afternoon tuition centre around one km from Mango House. We know that The Mango Tree House is really needed because demand far outweighs the number of places at both the Mango House pre-primary school and afternoon tuition classes. Working alongside Mango House our new project will enable us to help hundreds more disadvantaged children to enjoy a healthy, educated childhood. Read all about our plans and how you can help here.
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Inauguration of the Chimbel Pre-Primary School
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08-Jun
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The inauguration of the new school rooms at Chimbel was made extra special when the local Sarpanch, the senior officer of the Panchayat or local assembly, agreed to be the guest of honour. The ceremony took place on the first day of school and all the pre-primary school attended. The Sarpanch, seen here in white, shared the celebratory cake around all present and complimented the team on such a lovely event.
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Our Back To School Appeal
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10-May
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We say a huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Back To School Appeal this year. We raised a much needed £740. A special mention goes to Joe Vine of Joe and John's Pocket Bags who gave £180 to provide 30 bags with stationery items. The Pocket Bag scheme is a new initiative which aims to provide school bags through the sales of specially designed pockets which attach to t'shirts. We wish Joe luck with his initiative in future.
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A New Home for the Chimbel Project
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09-May
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We are very pleased to hear that new premises have been secured for the Chimbel project for the next three academic years. The school will have more space on two floors and is less congested as it's on the very edge of the slum. We look forward to hearing about the move in the coming weeks.
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Today we said goodbye and thank you to Keri who spent the last month volunteering at Mango House. Unfortunately her visa didn't cover the length of her volunteer placement and she had to leave sooner than she had planned. We very much enjoyed having her with us and thank her for all that she did. We know that continuing her studies was very important to Keri and we wish her well as she embarks on her Master's Degree this autumn.
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Thank You to the Herrod Foundation
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26-Apr
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We are delighted to receive a generous donation again this year from the Herrod Foundation. This generous support is a huge help in making what takes place at Mango House possible and we really do say thank you for it.
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The Big Apple - Apple Ball
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25-Apr
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We were very privileged to again be one of the charities supported by the Apple Foundation's Apple Ball which took place at the Glasgow Thistle Hotel on 25th April. The Ball takes place each year thanks to Sanjay Majhu, CEO of Apple Harelquin Group, and his wife Jiggy. Mango Tree was represented by our lovely Scottish ambassadors Alison and Glen McPhee and Yvonne and Eddie Carver. This year the Ball took on an American Theme resulting in the Big Apple Ball, It was a wonderful night with many generous people, as always, contributing to such a successful event.
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Outing to the Aquarium
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22-Apr
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Once school breaks up many children head home to their native villages for the long summer holidays but for those that don't we like to celebrate with an outing. This year a party of 58 headed for Abyss Marine Fish Aquarium followed by the children's park at Campal. All the children enjoyed seeing the different types of fish and were keen to have their photos taken in Abbys Fish Garden. Later in the afternoon we headed for Campal park where they enjoyed the swing and rides and played games. It was really good to see the children let their hair down after the pressure of exams.
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The Malabar Rampage
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14-Apr
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Today we met Jarrod, Kavin and Anthony who together with Patrick, Ashley and Jody had safely completed the Malabar Rampage - a rickshaw challenge which entailed driving 1,100kms from Kerala to Goa. The guys donated lots of items and through his Mother Goose Nursery Jarrod raised £580. Jarrod also brought a book of short stories from the children of the Nursery so that children at Mango House could learn a little about their lives. We hope the children enjoyed seeing the messages and drawings that Mango House sent back.
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On Easter Monday we celebrated Easter with a Grand Easter egg hunt. School finished early as children had been sitting exams so we picked them up early and brought them to Mango House to prepare the eggs. 60 eggs were decorated including the very special silver and gold glitter eggs. After lunch teachers hid the eggs around the garden before children were let loose on the hunt. Amazingly, considering the size of the garden, all eggs were found. Prizes went to the finder of the gold and silver eggs and the finder of the most eggs. As you can see our golden girl also got to wear our Easter hat......
View our Gallery here
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