INTRODUCTION
As our last newsletter went
out at the beginning of December we were looking forward to
the Christmas Challenge weekend. We knew that a group of
supporters had pledged to give £1,500 but only if we raised
another £1,500 over the weekend. We were desperately hoping
the Challenge would be a success. In the event we raised a
whopping £4,041. The funds were very much needed to give us
hope of reaching our target for income this year and we
sincerely thank everyone who helped make the event a
success.
Our Mango House, Colva and
Chimbel projects all held joyful Christmas celebrations –
you can read more about them all in our newsletter and catch
a glimpse behind the scenes at Mango House as the staff
prepared for the annual Christmas party. Again, we must say
thank you as every single gift given over Christmas was
donated.
On the opposite end of the
scale we are saddened to report below that one of the slums
whose children we support has been cleared. We respect
children’s dignity and family’s right to privacy and so we
never show photos of them in distress. The events of recent
weeks, however, remind us of the real hardship that exists
in children’s lives and how essential projects to support
disadvantaged children in Goa are.
SLUM CLEARANCE
Sadly, 2014 has been very unkind to one of the slums whose
children Mango House supports. In late January the
Government cleared a number of illegal scrapyards along a
highway which also included most of the slum we know as
Crossroads (photo above before the demolition). It housed
some of the poorest children we support and left entire
families homeless. Some continued to live amongst the debris
but some have scattered. In the little time available
families were visited to ensure they knew their children
would be supported wherever they moved to in the immediate
area. All children were initially absent from Mango House
but we are relieved to report that within days all but one of those
attending previously had returned.
SANTA
VISITS MANGO HOUSE PARTY
We were very lucky that Santa found time in his very busy
schedule to attend the Mango House Christmas Party. The
children had a fun filled day with a special lunch, party
games and dancing. Some of the boys who are having flute
lessons played Happy Birthday for the children whose
birthday falls in December before those children were given
the honour of cutting the Christmas Cake. Then Santa arrived
showering sweets before taking the time to give each child a
present. See our Christmas party photos
here.
MEET THE
MANGO HOUSE TEAM
To support over 160 children Monday through Friday
throughout the year we have a team of 15. Our support staff
are continually cleaning, shopping, preparing, cooking,
serving meals, washing up, sorting donations, picking up and
dropping children and ensuring all is properly accounted
for. Our nurse attends to minor ailments and refers more
serious matters.
Our teachers, counsellor and social worker
spend their day working directly with children or their
families. They all speak Konkani, Marathi, Hindi and English. Last,
but never least, Savita leads her team, liaises with Mango
Tree in the UK and meets our visitors. We are proud to say
that 3 of our team have Masters Degrees, 3 more have
Bachelors Degrees and 3 others have Diplomas in Education.
Every member of staff makes a vital contribution and we say
thank you for all that they do, day in and day out, to
improve children’s lives.
OUR
TALENTED FLUTE PLAYERS PERFORM
Twice a week for almost a year Mango Tree has accompanied
five children to the Mitsuko Trust in Panjim for flute
(recorder) lessons. Bit by bit progress was made until the
boys felt ready to perform in public. To date they have
performed at three specially arranged musical events for
children including a Child’s Play Foundation event. In
addition to learning a new skill or unearthing a hidden
talent the children learnt about commitment, dedication and
teamwork. Lastly by performing at specially arranged local
events the children enjoyed mixing with other budding
musical artists and felt the pleasure of having their hard
work acknowledged by an appreciative audience. We say “Thank
You” to Mitsuko and especially to Susan for giving the
children such a wonderful opportunity.
NOT JUST A JOB...
By chance we came across some photos from before and after
the Christmas party which made us smile. Every single gift
given at Christmas was donated and so it was quite a task to
sort them and ensure that each present was suitable for the
child who would receive it. Just like families everywhere at
Christmas the team sat together and wrapped up the gifts in
a quiet moment when the children are out of sight. And when
the party was over and the guests had gone home they relaxed
in the kitchen together, just like many families do, – tired
but happy because Christmas is for children and all went
well. Take a look at our behind the scenes photos
here
OH
WHAT A PARTY - WITH SANDWELL COLLEGE
We were delighted to welcome a party of 14 teachers and
students from Sandwell College Tourism Department at the end
of January. Not only did they bring many useful gifts and
raised funds to sponsor children too but they planned
activities to ensure our birthday party was so much fun.
They performed dance routines, which the children joined in,
played party games and had everyone limboing by the end of
the party. We concluded the day with the students giving out
birthday gifts, dancing and then cake and icecream for all.
The children had a fabulous time and we think we can safely
say the students did too.
See how much fun we got up to
here.
DIRECTORATE OF HEALTH SERVICES HOLDS WORKSHOP AT MANGO HOUSE
During February we were pleased to welcome 10 members from
The Urban Health Centre in Mapusa to conduct a workshop on
the topics of “adolescent reproductive and sexual health”
and “Healthy Nutrition. Everyone’s haemoglobin level was
checked, tablets issued where counts were low and the
importance of good nutrition for proper development was
discussed. Doctors spoke about the onset of Puberty,
adolescent reproductive and sexual health and the bodily
changes expected. This session was held separately for boys
and girls in order to maintain privacy and help them
comfortably communicate and raise their concerns with the
doctors.
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MARCH 2014
·
Shri Shanta Durga School
·
Slum Clearance
·
Colva Christmas Party
·
Rewarding Excellence
·
Santa Visits Mango House
·
Christmas at Chimbel
· Meet
the Mango House Team
·
The Good Deed Tree
·
Our Talented Flute Players
· Social
Worker Appointed
·
Not just a Job....
·
The Apple Ball
·
Will you Give as you Live
·
Oh What a Party!
·
Learning Can Be Fun!
·
Health Workshop
CHRISTMAS FUN WITH SHRI SHANTA DURGA SCHOOL
The Mango Tree Pre-Primary
welcomed the psychology students of Shri Shanta Durga Higher
Secondary School, Bicholim for an early Christmas
celebration. The students led games and activities such as
star making, drawing and colouring, singing and dancing,
pass the parcel and some play time on the trampoline. Later
the students distributed Goody Bags to all the children. It
was a lovely morning.
COLVA CHRISTMAS PARTY
During the Christmas holidays Savita made a trip to Colva to
give out Christmas presents. Our Colva project is relatively
simple with the children attending tuition classes daily.
They work hard all through the year and it is wonderful to
see their absolute joy and appreciation for what supporters
have given. Read more and see the Christmas party photos
here
REWARDING EXCELLENCE
Here we can see 7 children all
beaming with pride after being presented with a handmade
outfit as a reward for achieving excellent results at
school. A further presentation was made at a later date to
one boy who unfortunately was in hospital at the time of the
presentation.
CHRISTMAS AT
CHIMBEL
Sister Francis celebrated
Christmas over a couple of days with the Chimbel children.
First there was a party for the pre-primary children where
the children sang songs and received sweets and gifts. The
following day a large party of the older children went by
bus to Panjim to join in the celebrations hosted at the
YMCA. The children had food and snacks and had a lot of fun
playing games and singing songs. Santa Claus made an
appearance before each child was given a mat and blanket.
They had a lovely afternoon and really appreciated the gifts
they were given.
THE GOOD DEED TREE
As Christmas approached the Mango
House team decided to encourage goodness and kindness
amongst the children by setting up a Good Deed Tree. Each
time a child did something good they wrote what they did on
a leaf and tied it to the tree. The tree quickly filled up
as children reported their simple acts of kindness and
proudly added a leaf to the tree.
Click
here to see our tree and the messages on some of the
leaves.
SOCIAL
WORKER APPOINTED
We are pleased to announce that John D’Cruz has been
appointed to the post of full time social worker at Mango
House. John has a degree in Sociology and has worked for
Childline India for over two years. He has a wealth of
experience working with disadvantaged and abused children in
Goa. He is well known to Mango House having taken part in
many awareness sessions whilst with Childline - so much so
in fact that the children refer to him as “John Childline”!
THE
APPLE BALL
We are delighted that Sanjay Majhu, the CEO of
the Apple Harlequin Group, and his wife
Jiggy have chosen Mango Tree Goa to be one of the
beneficiaries of the Apple Ball. The Ball will
take place in Glasgow on 3rd May with all
profits being donated to Charities. We are very
fortunate to have been chosen and hope the event
will be fruitful for all concerned.
WILL YOU GIVE AS YOU LIVE? AT NO COST TO YOU
Give as you Live brings together thousands of
online stores that have signed up to donate a
percentage of whatever you buy online, but
without putting a penny on the price of the
shopping. Simply by installing Give as you Live,
online stores from Amazon to Expedia will donate
to us when you shop. Click
here to join the scheme
LEARNING CAN BE FUN
Recently Mango House had an interesting lesson
about the flags, languages and currencies of
different countries. As you can see the children
were transfixed. Each was given a flag and then
represented that country in the outdoor events
that followed. In the garden children “flew”
from flag to flag as flights were announced. Our
visitors Gabbie and Akshay put a huge amount of
effort into entertaining the children and we
hope the children’s enthusiasm and joy were a
just reward. See our gallery set
here.
SPONSORSHIP
SCHEME
Our child sponsorship scheme is steadily growing. Its a
wonderful way to make a regular contribution to support
Mango House and to watch a child develop. If you may be
interested in sponsoring a child visit our web page
here to read more or contact us at
info@mangotreegoa.org
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