DECEMBER 2024
As you get ready to celebrate Christmas we hope that you
will enjoy reading about some of the very many activities
which fell into the quarter. Children really have been busy.
Despite having three weeks off for Diwali and a week for
Ganesh Chaturthi we somehow managed to celebrate Teachers
Day, Children's Day, International Day of the Girl Child,
Gandhi Jayanti, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navaratri, Dussehra,
Miland un Nabi and Diwali. At times it was somewhat hectic,
particularly given that children had their second major set
of school exams before the Diwali holidays and preparation
and revision were important too. But every celebration is
exciting and builds a sense of unity and inclusion, and we
thoroughly enjoyed them all.
As this our final newsletter of 2024 goes out, we sincerely
thank everyone who has given Mango Tree a helping hand of
any kind this year. We hope glimpsing just a few of our
activities in this newsletter makes you proud to be a part
of Mango Tree. To those of you who will be celebrating
Christmas, we wish you a Merry and Joyful time and we wish
everyone a Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year.
OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS
CHALLENGE - CAN YOU HELP?
Our Annual Christmas Challenge began on 1st December and
runs to the end of the month. For those of you who don't
know about our Challenge click
here to read how it works, but basically all donations
up to a maximum £4,000 will be matched £ for £ by a very
generous couple. This year we have set ourselves two goals -
the first is to raise £4,000 which is crucial as we don't
want to see even £1 of the matched funds pass us by but,
recognising the difficulties we still face as a result of
the huge drop in foreign tourists visiting Goa and the
resulting loss of financial support, we have set an
ambitious target to raise £2,000 more bringing our
fundraising target to £10,000. We know it's a tall order and
that many people are themselves struggling, but we very much
hope that if you can help us that you will. No donation is
too small. Click
here to make an online donation or
here to see the other ways you could donate.
And to those of you who have already made a donation, we
send our sincere thanks for your kindness.
CELEBRATING GANESH CHATURTHI
Our Ganesh Chaturthi
celebration is one of the highlights of our year and this
year was no exception. First of all, all children took part
in Ganesh themed art and crafts, the results of which
covered our hall and formed the backdrop to our afternoon
event. The programme was hosted by two of our 6th Standard
students. It began with lamp lighting and the chanting of a
Ganesh Stotra - a hymn of praise which is sung in Sanskrit.
It's not an easy thing for any one to learn and it's magical
to hear such young children chanting. Many dances followed,
including the traditional Fugdi Dance which is performed by
ladies at Ganesh Chaturthi. The programme came to an end
with the singing of an arti to the beat of a tabla. It was
an amazing afternoon and an absolute credit to the teachers
and children who took part.
MEHENDI ART
The word Mehendi comes from the Sanskrit word Mendhika
which refers to the henna plant. The plant releases a red
dye which is traditionally used to decorate the hands and
arms of Indian brides. It is also used at times of
celebrations and symbolises joy, beauty and spiritual
awakening. Its a favourite activity of most young girls and
the girls at Mango Tree House are no exception. We often
have sessions before important Muslim and Hindu festivals.
Even the youngest girls will have a go, and as they get
older their skills improve. Here are just a few of the
beautiful designs they created before breaking up for the
Ganesh Chaturthi holidays.
MEET THE MANGO TREE HOUSE TEAM
On the 5th of September each year, Indians celebrate
teachers for the vital role they play in shaping young
minds. In keeping with this honourable tradition, the
afternoon children at Mango Tree House showed their
appreciation for their teachers in lots of ways including
the giving of cards and flowers, arranging lots of games and
activities and the cutting of a cake. We joined with them in
appreciating not only our teachers but every member of the
Mango Tree team. They make a challenging job look easy. From
the moment our drivers set off to pick up pre-primary
children until the last child is dropped in the evening,
work never stops. Everyone plays their part in not only
giving children fabulous support to reach their full
potential, but to also grow up with respect and empathy for
others and to dream big. Taken on Teachers' Day, you can see
a rare team photo above.
CHIMBEL PRE-PRIMARY STUDENTS
DANCE AT NAVARATRI UTSAV
The festival of Navaratri took place in October. It takes
place over nine days and has several ancient traditions
including the wearing of a pre-determined colour clothing in
each of the days of the festival and traditional dances of
which Garba and Dandiya Raas are the most well known. This
year during the festival an exhibition was held in the main
hall in the capital city of Panjim. Children from the
Chimbel project were invited to put on a dance performance.
Having decided to perform a Garba dance, costumes were
urgently sought and rented and dance practice took place for
an hour every day after tuition class. Some of the younger
children danced on the first day and some of the older girls
on the second. As you can see, once again, the children were
an absolute credit to the team at the Chimbel project.
OUR DIWALI CELEBRATION
Once again, our Diwali celebration was a big event.
Teachers put in a lot of work to make the event such a
special occasion and we could easily fill our newsletter
with accounts of the many things that took place. Well in
advance of breaking up all children were involved in Diwali
craft themed activities, which adorned our House in the run
up to the Holidays. Two days before breaking up the oldest
children took part in a lantern making competition - you can
see the winners of the 5th to 8th Standard category above.
Once judged, and prizes awarded, the lanterns were then hung
from our veranda. Meanwhile, a group of boys made our demon
Narkasur ready for destruction on the last day and all the
afternoon children sat together and painted and decorated
diyas - the small clay oil holders which are lit to welcome
the Goddess Laxmi into the house. On the last day only a
couple of tasks remained, the first being the making of the
beautiful flower petal rangoli you can see in the header. It
was a painstaking job and once lit with the diyas it was
simply stunning. Our cook prepared a number of traditional
Diwali Sweets which were given as an offering and last but
not least our Narkasur was set alight and it was hilarious
to watch him explode into a crumpled heap. It was the
perfect end to a perfect couple of afternoons. Children left
on a high as they broke up for a well deserved three week
holiday.
RECOGNISING 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. As always we played our
part in raising awareness, not only amongst the children,
but also among the wider community, by conducting a street
play in the garden and chanting various slogans demanding
equality between boys and girls. Some of the older girls
also made this amazing rangoli. For those of you who don't
know, rangoli is made be applying coloured powders on a
template drawn on the ground and is a lot harder than it
might seem. We think you will agree the rangoli is not only
beautiful but also contains an important message "Girl Child
is Nation's Pride".
OUR HAPPY AND SAD
CHILDREN'S DAY OUTINGS
This year Children's Day fell at the end of the Diwali
holidays, so it was a perfect opportunity to arrange to go
out for the whole day and enjoy a picnic. As children cover
such a large age range we arranged two outings - a trip to
the Art Park for Primary children and a beach outing for
Secondary and above children. On the first day we knew
something was amiss when some children didn't turn up and we
tried in vain to contact parents. The same thing happened
the following day and we got the news that a number of the
children's homes had been demolished by the Government and a
further 100 of the children's homes would be demolished
imminently. On what should have been children's special day,
several lost their homes and several were about to. The
children we took out had a fabulous time, but the demolition
was a sad reminder of the fragile lives that many children
lead. At the time of writing, we are pleased to report that
all the affected children are still at Mango Tree and we are
grateful for that.
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LET'S TALK ABOUT SUICIDE
Whilst suicide is a public health concern in
all countries, it is particularly so in India
which accounts for 18% of the world's population
and 28% of its suicides. It is the most common
cause of death amongst the 15-29 age group, with
daily wage earners accounting for 26% of all
victims. With these things in mind, our Social
Worker planned a session on the topic on the
occasion of World Suicide Prevention Day in
early September. It's never easy to get all the
oldest children together as they have hectic
schedules but, nonetheless, many came along.
Amongst the topics discussed were the warning
signs of a suicidal person, risk factors that
encourage thoughts of suicide, protective
factors and preventative measures. Most
importantly children learnt how to seek help.
Here you can see some of the older children who
came in for the session.
CELEBRATING CHILDREN'S DAY WITH PRE-PRIMARY
CHILDEN
This year the monsoon in Goa was particularly bad and it was
impossible for children to play outside for some months.
It's fair to say that when pre-primary children got their
first chance to play out they unleashed lots of pent up
excitement. Better still, as part of our Children's Day
celebrations, children finally got the chance to visit a
local play ground. It's an absolute favourite activity and
costs absolutely nothing. Although they couldn't have
enjoyed anything more, we followed up with a traditional
party with games, prizes and treats to take home the next
day. Here are some of our little winners.
OUR RICKSHAW RUN FRIENDS THROW A PARTY
It was lovely to see
our friends Mike and Shirley in September as
they called in whilst undertaking the mammoth
task of driving 3,500 miles in a rickshaw from
Kochi in South India to Jaisalmer in the North.
They were taking part in the Rickshaw Challenge
to raise funds for a charity tackling
homelessness in their hometown of Skelmersdale.
Despite a very tight schedule they still found
time to call in at Mango Tree to catch up with
their sponsored child and to enjoy a party with
the children which they had sponsored. We are
happy to report that they arrived safely and on
time in Jaisalmer and say thank you for
including time out for fun at Mango Tree House
in their journey.
OUR THANKS TO SAKURA WELLNESS & THEIR FRIENDS
We were thrilled to
have a visit from the organisers and attendees
of a Sakura Wellness retreat at the end of
November. Not only did they bring along very
generous donations, but they ensured the visit
was a lot of fun for children too with a much
appreciated gift of a tube of bubbles for every
child. Children had an absolute blast and we say
a huge thank you for a very happy morning and
for choosing to support Mango Tree.
THE GANDI JAYANTI CLEANLINESS
DRIVE
The above photo of children cleaning Mango
Tree House may seem a little strange,
particularly as one of our ambitions it to keep
children away from child labour. Rest assured,
it was taken on the 2nd of October which is the
date of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. It is a
National holiday in India and on this day in
2019, the Prime Minister announced a cleanliness
campaign, it being considered that a clean India
would be a fitting tribute to this national
hero. The campaign continues and every year on
Gandhi Jayanti, children all over India pay
their respects and have a cleanliness drive
around their school premises. Far from engaging
in child labour, our children our doing their
bit towards the cause honour this esteemed
leader.
PRETTY IN PINK
As we mentioned above, the Navaratri festival
takes place over nine days and, traditionally,
certain coloured clothing is worn on each day.
The nine colours remain the same, but the order
can change. Our team often follows this
tradition but this year many of the younger
children joined in too. Here you can see them on
the eighth day of the festival which this year
was designated as pink day, the colour
signifying peace, love and care for all. In
addition, some of our girls asked if they could
learn and perform a Dandiya dance and we chose
"pink" day for them to show off their routine.
Unlike a Garba dance which concentrates on hand
movements, Dandiya includes the use of decorated
sticks which signify the Goddess Durga's combat
over evil forces and is quite tricky. The girls
did a great job and we are amazed that after 12
year we still see new activities added to our
calendar.
CELEBRATING MILAND UN NABI
The Muslim festival of Miland Un Nabi
commemorates both the birth and death of the
prophet Muhammad. For the first time, this year,
the festival was declared as a Public Holiday in
Goa and we were happy to add the festival to our
already quite lengthy list of celebrations. As
it was, children came back from the Ganesh
holidays for a day before having the next off
for the new holiday!
THE CHIMBEL CHILDREN ENJOY AN OUTING TO A FARM
Part of the support that we give our partner
Grace Educational Trust involves a grant of
£1,000 to be spent on extracurricular fun
activities. It covers things like Children's
Day, Sports Day, Christmas etc. It's not a lot
of money for a project supporting around 120
children but it brings a great deal of joy. The
afternoon children had asked for a long time if
they would be able to have a picnic outing this
year. An ideal location was found at a water
park set on a farm in Ponda. At around £5
including food per child the Chimbel team felt
it was pricey and sought our advice on whether
they should go ahead or not. Exams were just
around the corner and our advice was to seize
the opportunity and enjoy the day. Some hard
bargaining followed which led to a discount and
the bus was hurriedly booked. Children sang
their way to and from the venue on a jam-packed
bus and had an absolute blast playing in the
various pools and waterfalls being coaxed out
only to enjoy lunch. We were delighted to see
several little videos of the day and moved to
receive a little thank you video from the
children at the end of it.
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