SEPTEMBER 2022
The last quarter has certainly been a memorable one.
Children went back to school full time in June and they
settled down for a full term with only the odd day off here
and there for celebrations. It was such a relief to get back
to normal and children were certainly on a high. Eid,
Independence Day, Rhaki Day. Friendship Day and Ganesh
Chaturthi all fell into the quarter and you can see some of
our celebrations below. As there were rather a lot, and
Ganesh Chaturthi fell on the last day of the quarter, we
will update about that next time. Our teachers put so much
effort into every celebration and we enjoyed them all the
more because we had missed them over the last two years.
Normality has been a long time coming, but we are very happy
that children can once again enjoy a healthy educated
childhood.
OUR BACK TO SCHOOL APPEAL
SUCCESS
We are hugely grateful to be able to say that we received a
magnificent £3,689 in response to out Back To School Appeal.
This was a really great help at a time when children needed
more things than ever and we have our hands quite full doing
as much as we can with building works at the Mango Tree
House. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us. As you
can see from the photo above, children were very happy to be
all kitted out in their new uniforms and to be back in
school.
CELEBRATING EID UL ADHA
As many of you will already
know, Mango Tree celebrates all major religious festivals
and we were very excited when the Eid Ul Adha, the first of
so many celebrations in the quarter, came around. Eid Ul
Adha is sometimes known as the Festival of Sacrifice. It
recalls Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son for Allah
and that Allah replaced his son with a ram. As the timing of
the festival starts with the sighting of the crescent moon,
the moon and stars in addition to lambs often feature in
greetings. Our teachers put a lot of effort in to conducting
craft activities with all classes. Here you can see what one
of our pre-primary classes made.
MANGO TREE REACHES ITS 10TH ANNIVERSARY
On the 9th of June Mango Tree celebrated its 10th
Anniversary. It's been quite a rollercoaster over the years
but we are very proud to have stood strong regardless,
giving children a hand up to a healthy educated childhood.
Our anniversary always coincides with the first days of the
new academic year in Goa. The photo above, taken at that
time, shows children arriving at Mango House after spending
the morning at school. They are on their way to a brighter
future. On reaching our milestone anniversary we day an
enormous thank you to our supporters, our trustees, our
volunteers and our team on the ground in Goa. All of these
people come together and have made that brighter future
possible.
HONOURING OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS
The Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan is one of our favourite
festivals. It celebrates the sacred bond between brothers
and sisters, or those who are like a brother and sister to
one another. In the days leading up to the celebration, all
children took part in specially themed craft activities,
including the making or rakhis which were to be exchanged on
the day and decorating special thali plates which would be
used during the rituals that were performed. On the day,
boys were seated at specially decorated tables before their
"sisters" who held thalis containing the necessary items.
They girls placed a tilak on their "brother's" forehead with
some flowers and rice. They then performed an aarti for his
wellbeing and gave him some sweets. Finally, a rakhi was
tied around each brother's wrist and in return he promised
to protect his sister for life. The smiles on the children's
faces above tell what a special moment it was.
CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF
INDEPENDENCE
On 15th August, India celebrated 75 years of freedom and
Mango Tree joined in the wave of celebrations throughout the
country. Our programme started the previous week when all
children took part in specially themed craft activities and
rehearsals for the celebration began. On the day, we were
very fortunate that the Rotary Club of Mapusa Millennials
chose to celebrate with is. They conducted a poster
competition and sponsored lunch for the day. After judging
and prize giving, all children were very happy to receive
sweets and a participation certificate. Later in the
afternoon the celebrations continued with a special
programme. The hall was wonderfully decorated with all the
craft activities made by the children. The children hosted
the programme which started with a welcome song and
continued with patriotic speeches, singing and dance, with
the national anthem bringing the programme to a close. It
was an amazing day and everyone left feeling proud and
happy.
OUR 8TH STANDARD STUDENTS
STAY ON AT MANGO HOUSE
In the past, once children passed their 7th Standard
exams they attended outside tuition classes which would be
smaller and children could better prepare for their very
important 8th Standard exams. Throughout the pandemic,
however, it was clear that the role of older girls in the
home had changed and parents relied on them for a lot of
household tasks and minding younger children. Very sadly,
when the call came for children to return to school, some
parents were so used to relying on them that they did not
permit them to return. Concerned about the situation older
girls were facing at home, we asked them whether they would
prefer to go home from school and then attend outside
tuition class to or continue to come to Mango House. They
unanimously asked for the latter and we were happy to
accommodate their wish. We are pleased to see that alongside
their studies 7th and 8th students spend time working
together on projects related to their school work. They
research their subject online and then produce something
which represents what they have learnt. Here's the result of
a project they did about the structure of soil.
ONGOING SUPPORT FOR CHIMBEL
Many of you may remember that for several years Mango
Tree funded a project at Chimbel, a large slum area quite
close to Goa's capital city, Panjim. Unfortunately,
financial pressures meant that a few years ago, we had to
take the difficult decision to scale down support over a
couple of years. We love the work that takes place at the
project and, not wanting to see the project collapse
completely, we have continued to meet the rent of the school
rooms. We were very pleased to see the pre-primary school
back up and running when schools reopened after the
pandemic. Here are some of the children celebrating
Independence Day.
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CANFORD SCHOOL'S MUFTI DAY RAISES
£441
We were absolutely thrilled to learn that
Dorset's Canford School chose to donate the
funds raised from their latest Mufti Day to
Mango Tree. The pupils and staff raised a
whopping £441. We say a huge thank you to anyone
who helped in any way and special shout out to
Julie for proposing Mango Tree as a worthy
recipient and the school for choosing to support
us.
CHRIS'S AMAZING FANTASY FOOTBALL FUNDRAISER
Just over 2 years ago Chris approached Mango Tree and told
of us his plans for a Fantasy Football fundraiser. The
response to the fundraiser was fabulous and despite the
challenges of the last couple of years, it has become an
annual event and has grown each year. As the football season
began this year, Chris let us know that he had launched his
3rd Fantasy Football fundraiser. Once again, the event had a
huge response and this year raised a whopping £655! We say
thank you to Chris for continuing to support Mango Tree and
for the time and effort he gives to the League and to all
those who chose to support him.
YVONNE'S DUNBAR FUNDRAISING SUCCESS
We were thrilled
when we heard that our Dunbar friends Yvonne and
Eddie planned to hold a family fun day at their
local bowling club. It was a huge endeavour.
There were 18 stalls, music, a barbecue, a
bouncy castle, a bowling competition and so much
more. A huge amount of work and planning went
into the day. It was an amazing success raising
£1,543.40. We say thank you to Yvonne and Eddie,
who chose to take on the challenge of
fundraising and gave it their all and to all
those who supported them so well on the day and
in the build up.
ANOTHER FABULOUS FRENCH FUNDRAISER
We were delighted to learn that Gill (seen
here) and Richard and their friends around Jouac,
France were planning a Summer Fete in early
August. Once again, friends Rhonda and Neil very
kindly volunteered to host the fete at their
restaurant Le weekend. The day was an amazing
success and an incredible 1330 Euros was raised.
We say thank you to Gill and Richard and
everyone who supported them in any way. We also
say a special shout out to Dot McLean who raised
480 Euros on the raffle and to Rhonda and Neil
for volunteering to hold the Fete at their
restaurant once again.
ANDREA'S YOGATHON SUCCESS
Many of you will already know that our
friend, Andrea, had organised a Yogathon
fundraiser of 108 Sun Salutations on 26th June,
which was International Yoga Day. For those who
don't know what a sun salutation is, it's a
series of yoga movements which start and end in
the standing position. You can see just one of
the positions being performed by some of the
participants below. To many of us, a couple of
Sun Salutations might be a problem so imagine
attempting 108! In the event, Andrea's
fundraiser was a fabulous success. The funds
raised were split between Mango Tree and Welfare
For Animals in Goa. We are delighted to say that
as a result of Andrea's efforts and those who
supported her, we received a fabulous £300.
Thank you to Andrea and all those who supported
the day.
CELEBRATING FRIENDSHIP DAY
On the first Sunday of August, Indian
celebrate Friendship Day. It's an important day
and friends go out of their way to honour their
friends and exchange friendship bands and
greeting cards. During the previous week, after
sessions exploring the value of friendship and
what it means to be a good friend, all children
took part in specially themed craft activities.
Following this they exchanged friendship bands.
It was a lovely quiet celebration that raised
everyone's spirits and made everyone everyone
feel happy and closer to one another.
HAPPY MONSOON
Unlike many of us who don't enjoy the rain,
Goans look forward to the monsoon as it breaks
the suffocating heat and brings much needed
water. Although the monsoon came a little later
than expected, when it came it was unrelenting.
The heavy rain and flooding reached such a pitch
that the Government took the unprecedented step
of closing all schools for two days in mid July
Although there is still quite a bit of rain
about, we are relieved to see lots of sunshine
around to brighten up our days too.
PRE-PRIMARY PROGRESSING WELL
The Mango House pre-primary school re-opened
in the second week of June. In the previous week
a meeting was held with parents to explain the
routine and their responsibilities too. The Hall
was absolutely packed and it was really good to
see parents' commitment. Uniforms were given out
so that everyone was ready for school the
following week. This year we have 87 children
enrolled into two Upper and two Lower
Kindergarten classes. They settled down really
quickly, and unusually, we didn't have any
tears. By the end of the quarter, the first term
had been completed and all parents had been in
to talk to teachers about how their children
were faring.
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