VATSALYA
“With Love, from Vatsalya”
Volume 6: October, 2007
Life made its presence felt in Udayan in many different ways this previous month. Children and staff went through the shock and grief of facing ‘Death’, right in Udayan and also learnt to allow the Life to persist and to courageously accept the inevitable. And, together we all move on.
October is the month of anticipations and expectations as increments and promotions will be announced.We also select individuals for the Best Worker award every year. We began with awarding the title to two persons initially, however, SIX persons have been chosen for the award this Year. Not keeping a limit on the number of Best Workers increases the financial strain on the organization but…..it’sworth it.Strain that makes people feel valued, appreciated and cared for, is worth it….!
More about the months that have gone by……
Corpus Campaign of Vatsalya…OurExperience!
To have some kind of financial stability for Udayan, we had started a fund raising campaign three months ago. The main objective was to collect money for Corpus Fund which could be used to support Udayan in difficult times. After three months of intense campaigning in a few big cities of India, we have some good learnings, some valuable advices and, no money!
Well, it is a mixed feeling, of course. We found that almost every big businessman we contacted was contributing in some welfare activity-:Old Age Homes, Animal Shelters, Animal Hospitals, Orphanages, Night Shelters for Pilgrims, Food Centers for poor, Medical Camps in villages and so on. There are establishments all over India, which provide free food every day of the year to anyone who walks in there. Most businessmen play a very significant role in initiating and sustaining these welfare activities. So, when we contacted them they promised to help us in times of emergency but politely declined our request for contributions for Corpus.
The realization that people in general have a great sense of accountability towards society has been very encouraging. Also, we are not disheartened. We continue to pursue the hope. We are also trying to start some other means of income generation. Udayan is a life project and both for the reasons of its expected longevity and its size; we have to have a hoard of resources to sustain it.
Anoothi: Vatsalya’s New Partner!
Vatsalya started Udayan in 2001 with the support of Foundations from The Netherlands and the United States. While the initial huge support of developing the infrastructure to house 70-100 children in the campus was generously given to us by them, we struggle with meeting the operational cost of running Udayan. Supporting children with basic life amenities such as proper diet, healthcare, sound education, vocational training and recreation, requires an ongoing flow of funds, not always guaranteed through Grants and Donations at the moment of need. And therefore, self-sufficiency continues to remain our primary long-term objective with reference to Udayan.
We have started a new venturenamed “Anoothi”. Anoothi is a firm; set up to ‘earn money’ for Udayan. This will be done through the sale of Anoothi products like semi-precious jewellery, gift and utility items made of handmade paper, wood, lac, old Indian fabric, etc. Anoothi would donate 50% of its profit generated from the sale of its products to Vatsalya. Vatsalya then would invest 80% of this money in Udayan and remaining 20% would go to support a micro-finance & micro-enterprise program to empower poor rural women. For knowing more about it, please visit our website I must admit that it looks a bit too plain at the moment but soon we will activate our Art Gallery displaying range of Anoothi products.
So, next time you need to shop, think of Anoothi –The money you spend on buying gifts for your loved ones will bring smiles to many children!
Our First Pen Pal….!
Neena Massey from Denver initiated the Pen Pal Program with Vatsalya’s children. Solace; Neena’s six years old son is the first Pen Pal of Rehaan. Four year old Rehaan asks me every time I visit Udayan “Have you any letter for me from ‘Umrika’?” It is so delightful to watch him relating to this vast vast world even though he has not seen much outside Udayan as yet. Neena is also connecting many children from her school in this exciting program. I am getting messages from individuals from many cities of the US indicating their interest in this project.
Our Volunteers…..!
Jasmine and Gary from Arizona, USA are at Udayan. They also traveled to Ohio before coming to India to collect Ann Simmons gift! (Remember, she made an outfit for each of Udayan’s children?). Lisa from Germany has brought some wonderful books and is using them very effectively to help children ‘discover’ themselves. To understand and assist children of Udayan, Lisa also learnt Hindi before coming to India! Jasmine is working with our Nursery group-The most joyful and also the most challenging little ones! We also have Yu Housie from Taiwan who joined recently. All the three women are doing wonderful job in educating Udayan children while Gary is painting the residential units of Udayan Orange-Green, Pink-Purple! And I must tell you about the two little ones from the US:Six year old Jacob is busy exploring Udayan; chasing birds, butterflies, grasshoppers, cows and buffaloes.Nine year old Hannah is the “Leader” and has enthusiastic followers among 4 to 7 year olds!
Other Highlights of previous months….
Natividad from Conemund, Spain wrote saying they have raised funds for big girl’s residential unit in Udayan…;
Marie in Denmark is mobilizing computer support for Udayan…;
Conny from the Netherlands sent us 1000 Euros for educational expenses of children…;
Delta from the US is funding all the paint work and also the micro-enterprise project for women...;
Maureen in Scotland hascollected funds for Udayan….;
Carine from the Netherlands wrote saying she is setting up a Foundation to support Udayan…..;
Neel Doshi from Canada wrote telling us that their organization “The World in Unity” has chosen Vatsalya for promoting it and it’s Cause……;
Ana Caterina from Portugal wrote saying she will be covering Vatsalya for a few travel magazines of Europe….
Laura from California and Charlotte from Denmark sent precious gift parcels for children of Udayan….;
Amanda Koster and her team of Photo Journalists from the US spent two days at Udayan knowing children and their care takers….!
Hope you enjoyed reading this volume of our Newsletter. I am particularly happy to send it “On Time” this time- Was trying hard to post it in the first week of the month ever since we began. Finally could manage to do so!
Wishing you well….
Warm Regards,
Jaimala