MARCH 2026
It's fair to say it's been a really busy three months. There
have been lots of celebrations, many of which, such as Goa
Liberation Day, Valentine's Day and Makar Sankranti at Mango
Tree House, we just couldn't fit in our newsletter. Nor can
we fit in too much about the Christmas and Annual Day
celebrations at both Mango Tree House and Chimbel and all of
the work and preparations that went into making them so
amazing. But the reason for this is because we have so much
good news to report on the fundraising front and we wanted
to celebrate that too.
We hope you enjoy reading both about what children have been
doing and about the kindness and generosity we have
received. It would be an understatement to say that we are
both overwhelmed and very grateful.
OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS
CHALLENGE SUCCESS
We are amazed and delighted to tell you that this year our
Christmas Challenge raised an incredible £11,134. We really
need our Challenge to be a success, so December is always a
nerve-wracking month. But we are blown away and, it’s fair
to say, somewhat relieved too. We thank each and every
person and organisation that contributed to this success
whether it be through a donation, fundraising or simply
spreading the word. Once again, you made our Christmas
sparkle.
A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
We are thrilled to announce
that we have been awarded a grant of around £37,000 for our
Chimbel project which supports around 120 disadvantaged
children daily. You may remember that earlier last year an
opportunity came along for a ten-year lease on premises in
the Chimbel Slum. They were so superior to any that the
project has occupied over the last thirteen years we said
yes in a heartbeat to the lease but were concerned about our
ability to fully fund the project in the coming years. By
some incredible coincidence, we were made aware of an
organisation that might provide some support. We applied for
a grant and, after a wait of many months, we got the news
that the funds would be with us in the New Year. The funds
will be spent over the next five years. We couldn’t
have been happier than to have closed the year knowing that
both our Mango Tree House and Chimbel projects now have
security going forward.
THE CHIMBEL ANNUAL DAY CELEBRATION
All the children from our Chimbel project took part in a
wonderful Christmas celebration just before Christmas. The
event took place in a Hall in Panjim. The Chief Guest was
Milind U Mate, the Deputy Director of Art and Culture, who
formally inaugurated the proceedings and, in his address,
encouraged parents and students to give importance to
education. The programme had fourteen different cultural
activities including Christmas poems, joyful dances and
festive songs reflecting the spirit of love, sharing and
joy. The hall was packed with parents and grandparents who
made up a really enthusiastic audience. The programme
concluded with the giving of Christmas gifts to all
children. It was a wonderful celebration, a credit to both
teachers and children alike and even made the local
newspapers.
THE MANGO TREE HOUSE ANNUAL DAY AWARDS
Seen here are the winners of the various awards who were
presented with medals during our Annual Day Celebration. In
each class awards were given to celebrate different
qualities and achievements. These included Sparkle for being
neat and clean, Respect and Courtesy, and Hero for kindness
and helpfulness. We also have a Scholar award for best
academic performance and a Sportsman award for best
sportsman in each class. We are proud of all the winders.
Their medals celebrate not only success in the classroom but
also the values of kindness, respect and team work that we
encourage every day.
SMALL HANDS DESERVE PENCILS
NOT TOOLS
As part of our Christmas Show, aside from joyful singing and
dancing a more meaningful act is always included as we take
the opportunity to increase awareness about a challenging
topic. The 6th Standard children put on a dance which raised
awareness about the urgent need to eliminate child labour.
The presentation opened with a classroom setting, portraying
children filled with hope and aspirations to learn. The
narrative then shifted to a contrasting reality where a
child is forced into work by his father, shown through
scenes of misery, reprimand, and hardship. In the concluding
scenes the father undergoes a change of heart after
understanding the significance of education and learning
about government initiatives designed to support children’s
schooling. The skit ended on an optimistic note with the
child finally being given the opportunity to attend school
and the holding of a placard which said “Small Hands Deserve
Pencils Not Tools”.
OUR SPECTACULAR SCIENCE
EXHIBITION
National Science Day is observed annually on 28th
February and we couldn’t let it pass without getting
involved. During the week each class prepared a model to
demonstrate something which they had learnt about in Science
at school. Topics included things like water filtration,
pollution, global warming, the formation of day and night
and the levels of the atmosphere. On Thursday, volunteers
from each class then presented their model and explained the
scientific concept behind it. Here’s 7th Standard
demonstrating one of the ways in which power can be
generated from water.
ALL ABOUT LOVE AT
CHIMBEL
In India, Valentine’s Day isn’t traditionally focused on
romantic love in the same way as it is in the West. At our
projects we celebrate it a little differently – by focusing
on love for our families, friends and the wider community.
At our Chimbel project, children marked the day by creating
wonderful hats decorated with beautiful slogans such as
“Love is Kindness”, “Love Begins At Home” and “Love Makes Us
Happy”. Their creativity and heartfelt messages remind us
that love is about care, respect and kindness in every day
life. You can see an example of their lovely creations here.
OUR REPUBLIC
DAY PROGRAMME
India celebrated its 77th Republic
Day on 26th January. As always, all children at Mango Tree
House prepared for the day by taking part in Indian flag
themed arts and crafts to decorate our hall in readiness for
our cultural programme. On the day, our Hall was awash with
the saffron white and green of the Indian flag, as were our
performers. We enjoyed several patriotic dances, speeches
and all took part in singing patriotic songs. Our older
children contributed to the event by making a model of a
charkha (spinning wheel) which is a symbol closely
associated with Mahatma Gandhi and features in the centre of
the India flag. The charkha represented self-reliance and
non-violent resistance and encouraged the use of indigenous
methods during India's struggle for independence. We
concluded on a patriotic note with the singing of the
National Anthem and everyone left with a renewed sense of
pride and unity. You can see our spinning wheel here.
PRE PRIMARY
LEARN ABOUT REPUBLIC DAY
As part of our Republic Day
celebrations, children from all classes spent time learning
about the Day and its importance, about the Indian Flag and
the respect it deserves. They then made this poster using
tricolour rice and, once it was complete, learned how to
show their respect for the flag with a salute.
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THE CONTINUING SUPPORT OF
THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
We are fortunate to once again receive the
support of members of the Theosophical Order of
Service Sweden. Their generous donation of
£2,030 supported our Christmas Challenge, once
again making a real difference to the work we
are able to do with the children. We are
extremely grateful for their ongoing kindness
and commitment to helping improve the lives of
disadvantaged children.
OUR THANKS TO LA FONDAZIONE ACHILLE E GIULIA
BOROLI
We were thrilled to receive a further annual grant this year
in the sum of £1,681.52 from the Fondazione Achille e Giulia
Boroli. This valued and longstanding support has been made
possible thanks to our dear Italian friend, Lisa, whose deep
and unwavering love for the children at Mango Tree continues
to make such a meaningful difference. We are incredibly
grateful for this continued generosity and commitment to
helping improve the lives and opportunities of the children
we serve.
MANGO TREE HOIUSE CLASS OF THE YEAR 2025
Seen here is our 7th
Standard Class celebrating being awarded the cup
for Class of The Year at our Annual Day event.
In deciding which class to honour, the Mango
Tree team took into account things like academic
performance, enthusiasm, extra curriculum
activities, conduct and the number of prizes
classmates in each class had secured throughout
the year. As you can see the children were some
what proud.
A SPECIAL DONATION IN SANDRA'S MEMORY
A heartfelt thank you
to Glenn Coltart who has kindly donated £1,300
from the estate of his Mum, Sandra who hailed
from Menstrie, Scotland. Sandra supported Mango
Tree for many years, helping our long time
friends, Julie and Steve, to raise funds in all
sorts of ways including bake sales, craft fairs,
car boots and always happy to rope her friends
in too. We are touched that Glen knew his Mum
would want to continue to support the children
with a gift from her estate and are delighted to
say that this generous sum will cover the cost
of school bags for all of the children next
year. A beautiful legacy of kindness that will
make a real difference.
ANOTHER FABULOUS FUNDRAISER AT
ROSARIO'S SHACK
We are delighted to share that an incredible
70,500 rupees (around £600) was raised at a
recent fundraiser at Rosario’s Beach Shack. We
say a very special thank you to Gill and Richard
for organising the wonderful evening and to
Deborah and Carol for the brilliant and fun
games. We all know that a lot of hard work went
on behind the scenes and on the night to make
the evening such a success and thanks to you,
the fundraiser is becoming a much loved annual
event. We say thank you to everyone who gave
gifts on the night and to everyone who turned up
and took part so generously. It was a great
night and a real pleasure.
GILL & ROBBIE'S ANNUAL PHOENIX FUNDRAISER
Once again Gill and Robbie’s annual
fundraiser took place at the Phoenix Bar in
Candolim in January, and what a night. We are
thrilled to say we raised an incredible 90,050
rupees (Around £740). Funds were raised through
a raffle, fun quiz, bingo, karaoke and an
auction and we were treated to live music by
Kurn and Bob with Neil brilliantly compering our
evening. We say a huge thank you to everyone for
their amazing generosity and support, with a
special shout out to Neil, Kurn and Bob for
sharing their talent with us to make it such an
enjoyable evening. And last, but never least,
our huge thanks to Gill and Robbie whose hard
work and support makes so much possible.
LITTLE FEET AND BIG HEARTS
A huge thank you to Samantha for organising a
sponsored walk with the little boys and girls
she childminds — even her one-year-old daughter
took part!. And for undertaking a raffle too.
Despite some miserable weather for walking, the
walk and the raffle raised a fantastic £535!!.
Thank you to all the little ones, mums and dads,
family and friends and everyone who generously
supported and donated. You can see Samantha,
Jack and their little girl at Mango Tree House
when they came to say hello to their sponsored
child recently. From the moment the little boy
entered the room, this little girl was eager to
say hello — a magical moment.
AMAZING HEY LITTLE MAGPIE
FUNDRAISING
Last year we were lucky enough to receive
funds raised by a crafting organisation called
Hey Little Magpie. They were inspired to give by
our lovely supporter, Suzanne. We were blown
away to learn that they would support Mango Tree
again, and astonished to learn that £1,210 had
been raised. That sum was matched by one of the
group’s employers which meant we received an
incredible £2,420 in total! We say a huge thank
you to everyone who supported the fundraising in
anyway, with a special shout out to, Sarah
Davies, the owner of Hey Little Magpie for
choosing to help Mango Tree once again, Jackie
for support with fundraising, to First Response
Finance Limited for matching the funds raised
and to Suzanne and Julia who shared their
passion for Mango Tree Goa, without which none
of this wonderful support who have been
possible.
THES NICK'S PLACE CHRISTMAS QUIZ
& AN AMAZING RAFFLE
A huge thank you to everyone who supported
the Nick’s Place Christmas Quiz in December. The
fun themed quiz raised 9,600 rupees (around £80)
and brought a lot of people together to enjoy a
festive evening. We also took the opportunity to
draw the brilliant raffle which our friend Mark
had undertaken in the run up to the evening. It
really was the highlight of the night with so
many wonderful prizes being donated. Mark raised
an incredible 78,700 rupees (around £650). We
say a huge thank you to Mark and to so many of
his family and friends who got roped in to
buying tickets, both giving and asking for
prizes and for so willingly giving their
support.
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