DECEMBER 2022
As ever, there has been lots to celebrate in this
quarter. There have been some amazing festivals, all
children have raised awareness about the plight of girls on
the occasion of the International Day of The Girl Child,
there have been some wonderful donations and fundraising and
we have at least seen a trickle of visitors to Mango House
after two non existent tourist seasons. All of these things
feel good and we have appreciated celebrating with children
all the more because we were unable to for the two years
they were out of school.
Not so good, however, is the outcome of being out of in
person classes for two years. This was all too apparent when
two thirds of children failed their first set of exams this
October. We are sad but unsurprised by the results and will
continue to do our best to reverse this situation.
Meanwhile, we take heart from the words of one of our donors
who reminded us what life would have been like for children
if we hadn't been there for them during the two years they
were out of school, if we hadn't been able to provide food
parcels and continued to support them in any way we could.
In some ways its a miracle that the vast majority of
children are all still with us and that the Charity itself
survived the pandemic. Children are happy, healthy and
enjoying life in school and with their friends. Compared to
last Christmas and the one before that's a huge step
forward.
At the root of all that we have been able to do are our
supporters. Without you nothing is possible. We sincerely
thank you for all that you do for children and wish everyone
a Joyful Christmas and a peaceful, happy and healthy New
Year.
OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS
CHALLENGE NEEDS YOU
We are delighted to announce that our annual Christmas
Challenge has begun. For those who don't already know about
it, if we raise £5,000 we will receive a further donation of
£5,000 from our very generous friends who have offered to
match it. The Challenge is a major source of funds for the
Charity and we don't want a single penny of matched funding
to get away. In fact, considering, the difficulties we face
again this financial year with a restricted tourist season
and the resulting loss of potential donations, we are
setting ourselves an ambitious target not only to raise the
minimum £5,000 needed to receive the £5,000 in matched
funding, but to raise £7,000. We know it's a tall order but
we hope you will help us to succeed.
You can read all about the Challenge
here. We really rely on the success of the Challenge. We
also know that many people themselves may be struggling this
Christmas. No donation is too small and we would be thrilled
if you would support us if you can. You can make an online
donation by clicking
here. You can see other ways to make a donation
here.
A SURPRISE TEACHERS' DAY
PROGRAMME
Teachers' Day is widely
celebrated throughout India and this year children surprised
our teachers with a special programme of events which they
had secretly put together and rehearsed. Students performed
group dances, recited poems, enacted skits and organised
games for the teachers to take part in. They also gave
handmade bouquets. All the teachers were moved by the
lengths that children had gone to in order to show their
love and appreciation. Here are some of our teachers taking
part in one of the games.
RAISING AWARENESS ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL CHILD
The UN declared the 11th October as the International Day
of the Girl Child with the aim of raising awareness of the
inequality girls face. In India the birth of a girl is still
often seen as a burden and many girls do not have the same
opportunities and rights as boys. On the day, Mango House
acted to raise awareness about these issues not only amongst
the children, but also in the wider community, by holding a
programme events in the garden where passers by would see
them. One of the older boys gave a speech on the subject
which was followed by children coming forward with their
placards to shout out their slogans - take a look at our
header photo to see what this looked like. The older girls
then took part in a play on the topic of "Beti Bachao" -
Save the Girl Child. It was a really well thought out
programme which we are sure will have a lasting impact on
both boys and girls and hopefully some passers by too.
ALL CHILDREN ENJOY AN END OF TERM OUTING
The term from June to Diwali at the end of October is a long
one and culminates with a set of exams. By the time children
break up for the holidays they are tired and it's the
perfect opportunity for an outing. As there are so many
children in the afternoon, its no longer possible for us to
go out altogether and so two separate outings were arranged.
Both had an historical note with the younger children going
to Fort Aguada Jail and the older ones to Reis Magos Fort.
Both groups also enjoyed a picnic and free time to play at
local parks. From the moment the trips were announced the
children were buzzing with excitement and the mood continued
from the start of the days to the end. Here are the younger
children having a photo stop at Fort Aguada Jail.
CELEBRATING CHILDREN'S DAY
"Children are like buds in a garden and should be
carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of
the nation and the citizens of tomorrow". These are the
words of India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru and, as
a result of his love for children, India celebrates children
on his birthday, the 14th November. The team at Mango Tree
made a huge effort to make the day special. In the morning
pre-primary children came along brightly dressed and were
treated to a dance performance by their teachers, enjoyed
performing dances and took part in lots of games. In the
afternoon, children enjoyed a programme of singing and
dancing before heading outdoors to take part in various
games like tug of war and the sack race. The day concluded
with prize giving and refreshments. Children left on a high
after thanking their teachers for such a fantastic
afternoon. Here are some of the pre-primary children
performing one of their dances.
A MANGO TREE HOUSE UPDATE
We are very pleased to say that much of the first phase
of the Mango Tree House is now complete. Although it looks
as though the building has had a coat of paint, it actually
has had a coat of primer and we have delayed outdoor
painting until we can be sure that the monsoon has finally
moved on. We still have quite a bit of groundwork to
complete, work on the roof, some fittings and painting to
do, but these are relatively small in the grand scheme of
things. We are currently going through various inspection
processes but hope that these will be complete by the end of
the year and then it won't be too long before we gain our
Occupancy Certificate. After that we have to apply to the
Education Department for the necessary licences but, at
last, we can see a huge light at the end of what has been a
very long tunnel and it's getting very exciting.
HOW TO MAKE A NARKASUR
As many of you may already know, one of the unique things
about the Diwali celebrations in Goa is the "slaying" of the
demon King Narkasur. Large effigies of the demon are made
from wood, paper, straws etc and destroyed on the night
before Diwali. The destruction marks the victory of goof
over evil. Traditionally, the older boys at Mango House make
our Narkasur. It is stuffed with fireworks and one of the
last things we do before breaking up for Diwali is to set
fire to our Narkasur and scream with delight as he explodes
in flames. Here's this year's Narkasur.
|
FUNDRAISING IN MEMORY OF DHIRU
CHAVDA
We were thrilled when Suneet contacted us to
tell us that he and his family were planning a
fundraiser. The event was being organised in
memory of his father Dhiru, who was well known
for his selfless fundraising work. The
fundraising would culminate in a commemorative
dinner and dance in September. Funds raised
would be split equally between Mango Tree Goa
and The Help Ukraine Emergency Appeal. The whole
event reflected the esteem that the whole family
were held in by family, friends and colleagues
and, as a result, we received an astonishing
£3,179 with some Gift Aid to come on top too.
Not only that, but we were blown away to receive
a further £2,726 from Suneet's employer Legal
and General. We say a huge thank you to Suneet
and his family for choosing to support Mango
Tree and to the very many people that supported
him in so many ways.
THE STYRRUP HALL GOLF CLUB FUNDRAISER
We were delighted that Styrrup Hall Golf Club chose to
support the Charity once again through its annual
fundraiser. The event took place in September and was
another great success. In addition to the traditional golf
competition, those taking part enjoyed a putting
competition, some fabulous homemade cakes and pastries at
the halfway house and a huge raffle too. It was a great
event which raised a whopping £1,000 to be shared between
Mango Tree and a local charity. We say a huge thank you to
the club for holding the event and choosing to support Mango
Tree, to our friends who continue to keep the Charity in the
forefront, to all those who helped to organise the event, to
those who attended and last, but not least, to the ladies
for their wonderful baking.
THE CHIMBEL PRE-PRIMARY CHILDREN ENJOY A SPORTS DAY
It was lovely to see
the children from the Chimbel project enjoying
Children's Day at a local park. Parents were
encouraged to go along too and it was a real
treat to see how many chose to do so. Children
and parents had a lot of fun partaking in a
Sports Day before enjoying some tasty snacks and
refreshments under the shade of the trees.
A VERY SPECIAL GANESH PROGRAMME
Before breaking up for the Ganesh holidays,
we held an amazing event to celebrate the
festival. Children had rehearsed dances and
prayers for several weeks and were very excited
to take part. We began with a lamp lighting
ceremony which took place as mantras were
recited. Our students hosted the programme which
incorporated recitation of verses, speeches
about the significance of the event, various
traditional dances and concluded with a
recitation of Lord Ganesha's aarti (prayer). It
was a fabulous afternoon and a wonderful way to
encourage all children to understand the
traditions of this festival.
LOOKING EVERY INCH A PROFESSIONAL
Many of you may remember this young lady. For
those that don't, she has been part of Mango
Tree since it began in 2012 and as she grew up
she had a dream to be a cardiologist. To do so,
she had to compete with the whole of India for a
seat at Goa University on their Bachelor of
Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery course. She
also needed a sponsor to cover the cost of the
fees which total over £5,000. Amazingly, she
obtained both a place and a sponsor. She is now
more than halfway through her degree course and,
despite the many challenges that studying during
the pandemic threw up, she is still thrilled
with her course and still wants to be a
cardiologist. These days she regularly spends
time on the wards and we were delighted to see
this photo of her looking every inch the
professional.
BUILDING RAPPORT AMONGST OUTSIDE TUITION
CHILDREN
In October our new social worker took up her
post. It's quite a challenge to get up to speed
with the backgrounds and circumstances of over
280 children and a particular challenge to get
to know the children who go for outside tuition
classes and, as a consequence, only rarely pop
into Mango House. In order to get to know the
older children better they were invited to come
in and take part in some team building
exercises. Not only did this help children and
our social worker to know one another better but
it also helped children to cooperate and work
well to achieve a common goal. These new skills
were very useful in completing the rangoli below
which was their final task of the day.
OUR DIWALI RANGOLI
Another Mango House Diwali tradition is the
making of rangoli from flower petals which is
lit before leaving on the last day before
breaking up. Every year we are blown away by the
latest creation and think that year's can never
be beaten and every year we are proved wrong.
Here's one of this year's amazing Diwali
rangoli.
WONDERFUL SUPPORT FROM CHRYSALIS
SUPPORTED ASSOCIATION LTD
We were thrilled to learn that the Board of
Chrysalis Supported Association Ltd once again
approved a donation of £3,000 to Mango Tree. We
were lucky enough to receive this support last
year. The support enabled us to employ two
additional teachers. Having been out of in
person school for almost two years, children
badly need additional support and we are
delighted that the further donation will enable
us to continue to fund additional teaching
staff. We say a heartfelt thank you to Chrysalis
for their kindness.
|
