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Association

Akshy-India Newsletter

Contact:

If you want to contact with us, we wish to remind you that the easiest way is by sending us an email to:

akshy@akshy.org:

Other means of Contact:

Asociación Akshy (Spain):

C/ Patriarca San José, no2 bis – 1ºD 28200 San Lorenzo de El Escorial – Phone:91 242 07 21 / 619 79 28 34

Akshy Association (India):

Akshay Educational Centre, Amwan Village,Bodhgaya 824231, Distt. Gaya , Bihar, India

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“Sometimes we feel that what we do is only a drop of water in the ocean, but the ocean would be less without that drop” (Mother Theresa of Calcutta)

With the arrival of the good weather, good news too…

We are vert happy to greet you once again. Following is a brief outline of all we have been able to do over the past few months, thanks to your kind help.

We also take the opportunity to wish you a happy summer. We shall continue to work on our projects!

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PRIMAVERA 2016 THE LOREM IPSUMS

Activities in India As you already know, the school year ends in March and commences again in April. At the

present time the boys and girls of our school are enjoying their holiday.

Exams are over!

The pupils of the Akshay School as well as those in the Kamal Infant Centre finished their exams at the end of March. Those in Year Five, after a week’s rest, started their new term in the Secondary School. We would like to shar with you our happiness in knowing that 5 more children have completed their primary education and among them are 3 girls. Now they will continue

Kuleshari Devi and her new house

Through the Dada-Dadi programme we have helped this old lady, who was abandoned by her family, to have a house again. The Monsoon rains had ruined it so we have rebuilt the walls and puto n a new roof of tiles instead of Straw. We hope she can live safely with no fear of the water.

Women in action

More women are gradually joining the aid groups we set up to work for the empowering of women. We now have 120 members. They do not feel alone, they discuss their problems, allay anxieties and are supported by others in similar situations.

The majority of them are completely illiterate, so we started a workshop to show them how to sign their names and, for example, open a bank account. Little by Little we can see them acquiring certain self-esteem.

ASSOCIATION AKSHY JUNE 2015

Secondary studies in a school in Bodhgaya thanks to the support of their sponsors and our NGO. We are so proud that they have reached this level!

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A very special visit

Osel (the man from Granada who is recognized as the reincarnation of the Lama Thubten Yeshe) came to Bodhgaya with a group of people travelling through India on a pilgrimage. He was interested in our school and our Universal Education programme.

Solidarity with the children of Nepal

The earthquakes in Nepal were felt in Bodhgaya. Our children were very frightened and at school we tried to explain to them what had happened and how other children had lost everything. In spite of coming from such poor families they decided they wanted to help. Between us we started to fill a little moneybox which we then sent to help the children of Nepal.

The amount collected was of course very small but this gesture was a lesson for our children and we were extremely proud that they should have wanted to help in a small way to alleviate the suffering of the people in Nepal.

Vaccination Campaign

In May we ended the campaign of vaccinations against Hepatitis B which we had started last November. In all 223 people (children from the Akshay School, the Kamal Infant Centre, secondary education and our NGO teachers and staff) are now immunized against an illness suffered in India by 40 million people.

ASSOCIATION AKSHY JUNE 2015

Students with full marks

We are very pleased to announce that a new group has finished the sewing course- the 5th group! They all completed the examinations successfully and were handed the diploma we award them after a 6 month

course.

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OUR EXCURSION!

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We sang songs, we swam in the waterfalls, we picnicked together in the fields, played in the water and out of it too……. It was such a wonderful day for everyone. We were so happy that the children had been able to enjoy this experience since we want them to realize that their school is much more than a place to study and study…. We like to see them so contented, doing what any other children of their age in any other part of the world would do. They will definitely never forget their trip to Kakolat. THANK YOU!

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Thanks to the money collected by Isabel and Ianire, on the last day at school before we broke up for the holidays, we were able to arrange an excursion to Kakaolat, a waterfall located about 3 hours drive from Bodhgaya. We took Years 1, 2, 3, and 4 as the others are still too small. For the children this was the first time they had left their village and also the first time they had travelled on a coach. Their eyes sparkled with delight at everything they saw. In spite of having had to get up early, none of them slept on the coach; on the contrary they were really excited.

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Activities in Spain

A book helping Akshy .

The publishing company Eirene has printed the book “Figuras de Retablo” written by the poet Pascual Izquierdo. From the sale of each copy one euro will be

donated to Akshy´s projects in India

Awareness

This school year we have visited pupils in the Infant School Pomme d´Api (Madrid). We talked to the children about how boys and girls live in India, about their needs, we practiced yoga with them and organized a solidarity market to collect funds towards our projects

A visit to Malaga

The friends of LUX MUNDI have helped us in the past so, since Raquel was in Spain, we arranged a meeting with them to tell them more about our projects, especially about the Kamal Infant Centre with which they are going to help. The visit was most enjoyable with a meal, a stall selling pretty Indian objects and a raffle, all proceeds from which are going to the purchase of school materials for the pupils in Jaitiya.

Theatre for Education On May 8th we enjoyed an afternoon session at a Madrid theatre given by the Rusiñol players. Through this, 38 children from the village of Jaitiya can continue their studies. Our thanks to all friends who were at the theatre as well as they who could not attend but bought tickets.

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A Little piece of India in Madrid….The start of open-air markets and festivals.

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who took turns at the stand: Carmen, Pilar, Jorge, Maribel, José Manuel, Juana, Pilar, José Ángel…… and all those who came by spontaneously. While on the subject of markets, we have to inform you that next Saturday, June 27th, we will be taking part in Solidarity Saturday at San Lorenzo de El Escorial. If you wish to come and spend just a little of your free time on the stall, you can get in touch with us and we will be happy to share the day with you.

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l The 8th Festival of Bolly Madrid once again filled the streets of the Lavapies (Madrid) district with Indian music, aromas, food, dancing and culture in general. As is now the custom, we had a stand from which we could make known our NGO and share the space with other organizations which, like ours, work in India. It was also great to see members, sponsors and friends of Akshy come to our stand to say hello. This year we also took part in a children´s activity programme. José Manuel performed for the little ones in the Plaza de la Corrala. From this Newsletter we want to give him our sincere thanks – to him and to all the volunteers

ASOCIACIÓN AKSHY-INDIA JUNIO 2015

All of us with Punita Devi A disastrous fire destroyed the home of Punita

and her family. They have lost everything. Punita Devi was the first “untouchable” woman to be given a diploma at our sewing workshop. Her children are pupils in the Akshay School.Thanks to a donation, we were able to buy her a sewing machine so she could work as a seamstress. In this way, Punita’s life and that of her family improved. However, disaster struck when through a fire some weeks ago they lost their house and all its belongings. We made an appeal and managed to obtain enough money to rebuild it. Thank you all for your generosity!! The work is almost finished and we hope to give you good news soon

YOU ARE BRILLIANT! We shall never get tired of giving you all thanks for contributing to have people in India recover the dignity to which as human beings they have every right. All that we have mentioned earlier in this Bulletin has a special, magical ingredient: the generosity of a group of people capable of dreaming of a better world and of putting themselves out to work for it.

Visit our website: www.akshy.org

You will find all our news in the blog: www.akshyindia.blogspot.com