DECEMBER 2023
Many of you will already know, that alongside the usual
round of studies and celebrations, the last three months
have been a particularly eventful time. After a journey
spanning more than 11 years from first setting an objective
of having our own premises for all the children at Mango
Tree, we have finally achieved our ambition and moved all
our operations into our new home - Mango Tree House. We can
now be found just a mile or two from Mango House at a place
called Duler which can be seen on our map
here.
We are thrilled to end the year having reached such an
important milestone and look forward to welcoming in the new
one from our new base. We sincerely thank our supporters for
what you make possible and wish you a Merry Christmas and a
Healthy, Happy and Peaceful 2024.
OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS
CHALLENGE REALLY NEEDS YOUR HELP
Our Annual Christmas Challenge began on 1st December and
will run until the end of the month. The Challenge is a
major source of our annual income and for those who don't
already know about this year's event we have set ourselves
two goals. The first is to raise £3,000 which is crucial as
it will be matched £ for £ by some very generous friends. We
don't want a single penny of the matched funds to get away
and at the time of writing we still have a long way to go to
reach this first target. Recognising the difficulties we
still face as a result of the severely restricted tourist
seasons in Goa over the last three years and the resulting
loss of financial support, we have set an ambitious target
to raise a further £4,000 making £10,000 in all. We know
it's a tall order but we very much hope you can help us
succeed.
You can read all about the Challenge
here. We
really rely on the success of the Challenge. We also know
that many people are themselves struggling too. No donation
is too small and we would be thrilled to receive any
donation at all. You can make an online donation by clicking
here and see other ways to make a donation
here.
THE INAUGURATION OF MANGO
TREE HOUSE
We were delighted to see the
inauguration of Mango Tree House take place in early
October. We were honoured that the Chairperson of Mapusa
Municipal Council, Mrs Priya Vallabh Mishal, and local
councillors Mrs Carasco Barbara Martin and Mrs Avni Amey
Korgaonkar, were our Guests of Honour and it was our
pleasure to have children, parents, staff, contractors and
neighbours at our event. Our honoured guests cut the ribbon
and took a tour of the premises with our Goan Trustees
before all joined together to light an auspicious lamp to
bring blessings to the event. We heard speeches from our
guests and trustees and some of our older children who spoke
about what Mango Tree meant to them. The day gave us many
happy memories and marked the end of a very long journey.
Click here to
see more photos from the day and
here to see
how our new extension progressed over the last couple of
years.
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. To play our small
part in raising awareness we held a programme of activities
which involved all the afternoon children. They chanted
slogans about the value of girls, performed skits and plays
and our older children created artwork and slogans
expressing their thoughts on saving the girl child. If you
zoom in on the photo above you will see how aware children
are about the treatment some girls receive and the impact
that has. We thank all those whose support enables us to
play a part in empowering girls to overcome the challenges
they face, to dream big and reach their full potential.
OUR GANESH CHARTURTHI PROGRAMME
The team certainly went all out to celebrate the festival of
Ganesh Chaturthi with a fabulous programme. It was hosted by
the older children and began with an explanation of the
significance of the event. A Lord Ganesha shlok (verse) was
recited by students in 2nd and 3rd students, various
traditional dances, including the Fugdi Dance shown above,
were performed by all age groups before the event drew to a
close with the singing of a Lord Ganesha Aarti by children
and staff members. Events like this take a lot of
preparation and planning and create a huge buzz about the
place as children rehearse in every nook and cranny. It was
a wonderful event, a real credit to our teachers and a great
experience for all children.
AROUND MANGO TREE HOUSE
As you may have gathered we are very happy that we have a
permanent base in Goa. Not only that, but it's such a
fabulous place for children too. We are thrilled not
just that Mango Tree House is fully operational and that our
project has a permanent base in Goa but also that children
finally have great space and classrooms. We are also
thrilled to have a huge hall where we can accommodate all
children for lunch in one sitting. We hope to see lots of
visitors in the coming months but for those who won't have
the pleasure of seeing for themselves, we thought you might
appreciate a few photos.
CELEBRATING OUR TEACHERS
Throughout India the vital role that teachers play in
shaping young lives is celebrated on the 5th of September
each year. Children use their creativity to make the day
special for the teachers by various activities from making
cards, writing poems, giving a flower to putting on a
special programme of events. As always, the children at
Mango Tree excelled with an afternoon full of surprises,
gifts, games and fun. It was lovely to see a rare photo of
all our Mango Tree teachers and to know they were treated to
an afternoon of fun and joy which demonstrated children's
regard for them.
OUR DIWALI CELEBRATIONS
We were caught on the hop a little when, at relatively
short notice, it was announced that all Diwali school
holidays would be brought forward and extended as the
National Games of India would be held in Goa from 25th
October. Still, we managed to fit in our planned 3 day
Diwali celebration. On the first day all children
participated in Diwali craft activities which then adorned
our House and got us in a mood. On the following day all
children sat together and decorated diyas (clay lamps) and,
as is our tradition on the last day before breaking up,
children created beautiful rangoli to welcome Goddess Laxmi
and we enjoyed watching our specially constructed demon,
Narkasur, being set alight in a symbolic act to represent
light overcoming darkness. It was a really happy celebration
and quite obvious that children were also very happy to get
an unexpectedly long break from school! Above you can see
our rangoli along with a selection of our diyas and craft
work.
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A FURTHER DONATION FROM THE
ANTHONY XAVIER D'SOUZA CHARITABLE TRUST
We were thrilled and very grateful to learn
that we had been given a further donation of
£1,500 from the Anthony Xavier D'Souza
Charitable Trust. We are currently working on
plans to develop a library and computer centre
and this lovely donation will go a long way to
make this possible. Thank you once again to the
Trustees for keeping Mango Tree in your hearts.
CHIMBEL STUDENTS ENJOY AN OUTING TO THE CINEMA
As many of you will know, it's our pleasure to be able to
continue to support Grace Educational Trust's Chimbel
project as and when we can. This year we were able to
include a grant of £500 to be spent on some kind of outings
for the afternoon children. They work very hard in tiny
classrooms with rarely a complaint and are well deserving of
a treat. The opportunity to go out is a huge deal and this
group of older afternoon children were extremely excited to
go to see a movie and better still to share some popcorn.
ALL ABOUT ME
Each month we choose
a theme at Mango Tree and many of our extra
curricular activities revolve around that theme.
In the month of September our theme was All
About Me. In different sessions children thought
about themselves, their families, likes and
dislikes and also about what they would like to
be when they are older. Some of them made
posters which were then put together to create
this fantastic piece of wall art. We have lots
of potential teachers, nurses and doctors and
although many children have such dreams when
they are young, for the children we support,
it's wonderful to see them imagine such things
and contemplate lives very different to those of
their parents.
OUR DIWALI OFFERINGS
For every major celebration our cook, Saroj,
always goes the extra mile to produce something
special, not just for the children but often as
an offering too. For Diwali, all children were
treated to poha, a beaten rice dish, but after
our rangoli was complete and the diyas lit,
Saroj appeared to offer this wonderful platter
of nevri, ladoos, poha and usal, all Diwali
treats.
CELEBRATING CHILDREN'S DAY
This year Children's Day fell in the Diwali
holidays but we somehow managed to fit parties
for both pre-primary and afternoon tuitions
around our Diwali celebrations. In the afternoon
we had lots of games, dancing and prizes with a
simple party and dancing for the pre-primary
children in the morning. Although it was the
latter's first Children's Day party, as you can
see, they are getting the hang of the party
spirit.
LOVELY TO WELCOME LISA TO MANGO TREE HOUSE
Many of you will remember our Italian friend
Lisa who, through her company LQV Designs and in
partnership Citta a Matita, holds a charity
fashion show each year from which we are very
fortunate to benefit. It's been a while since we
have seen Lisa in Goa so it was our absolute
pleasure to welcome her as one of our first
guests to Mango Tree House last month.
OUR COMMUNITY HELPERS
The third monthly theme at Mango House was
"Our Community Helpers" and we focussed our
attention on all those workers who make our
lives easier by carrying out various tasks.
Children learned of the many types of helpers
from doctors, to sweepers, to postmen,
policemen, firefighters and so many others and
how each helps us. Our activities were wide
reaching with our youngest making and wearing
hats to represent the various helpers, our older
children performing various skits and our 1st
standard children, seen here, who were very
happy playing the role of chefs and cooking up
some jam sandwiches!
COULD YOU SPONSOR A CHILD WITH
MANGO TREE?
Many of you will already know about our Child
Sponsorship scheme. For those who don't, you can
read about it in more detail
here
but it's a wonderful opportunity to donate
regularly and follow the journey of one of the
children through regular updates throughout the
year.
We are very grateful to our sponsors
for the regular support they give us. Some
amazing friends have sponsored the same child
for ten years, but it doesn't have to be a long
term commitment. We hope that it might be, but
we understand entirely that circumstances change
and it may not be possible. We expect that some
sponsors will leave us and are grateful for
however long their sponsorship lasts.
Until Covid came along, our scheme grew each
year but as a result of the almost complete
absence of visitors to Goa for two years and a
much reduced season last year, we have less
sponsors and an increasing number of children.
If you could join our Child Sponsorship
programme we would love to hear from you. Just
contact us at
info@mangotreegoa.org and we will be happy
to answer your questions and tell you more. s of imple
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