25 Church Lane Nether PoppletonYork YO26 6LF

Telephone 01904 786880E-mail info@projectmala.org.ukWebsite www.projectmala.org.uk

Patrons: The Maharaja of Benares Felicity Kendal CBE Sir Mark Tully Lady Young

Issue 17 June 2007

New York funding for Turkahan school

ABC Carpet and Home, one of New York’s premier department stores, has agreed to support Project Mala’s Turkahan school. We are now seeking additional land so that we can enlarge the building and triple the number of children from the present 50 to 150.

MalaNews

Toys galoreThe response to our appeal for small toys for Project Mala children has been so overwhelming that they could not all be taken on one trip and we have enough for the next trip as well. Our very grateful thanks go to all the sponsors, too numerous to mention. One thoughtful sponsor sent 200 toothbrushes which were very welcome and we now have a teeth cleaning period. If anyone has a contact in that direction we need 350 a year just for new children without the other 700 who have to make one brush last three years.

Colour newslettersSponsors will have noticed that the newsletter in December was our first in colour. This is thanks to Yasmin of YHC Holdings, a sponsor who runs an office supplies company. She has given us a number of spare cartridges for our colour printer.

Sponsors VisitAs we don’t have any communication between sponsors and their children, we actively encourage sponsors to visit Project Mala schools in India. Jet Walden and Harold Glasby took up the invitation and saw their sponsored children in Mujehera school. After the visit Harold said

“We are very impressed and would recommend all sponsors to make a visit”. On their return they sponsored another two children.

A success storyKallu Prashad was born to illiterate parents in a remote tribal area. His father died when he was just an infant. Kallu started his education in Project Mala’s Amoi school and passed out in 1996. He was keen to continue his education but the nearest secondary school was in Lalganj which was 16 km from his home village. He cycled there and back every day for six years.

He reached graduat ion s t a n d a r d and has now been r e w a r d e d for his hard work with an important post. He has been appointed as a Teacher in Project Mala’s Turkahan school at 1800 rupees (£25) per month. The hard part is that to get to Turkahan from Amoi he still has to cycle 16 km there and back each day. Hopefully one day there may be a vacancy at our Amoi school where his mother works as a cook, so he won’t have the long journey each day.

The young team show their abilityThis is the executive team at Project Mala India, with an average age of 32. All are highly educated. Anil, second from the left, a 28 years old accountant is the Administrative Offi cer and leads the team. He single handedly deals with all purchases, payroll and all offi ce functions including reporting to the UK offi ce. Annu, centre (26), is the most highly qualifi ed. She has a masters degree in education from Banares Hindu University. She has a confi dence befi tting a person of more mature years. The two Mr Singhs (at each end) are the wise old heads of the team. They are the school supervisors dealing with three schools, 500 children and 25 staff each. Second from the right is Ankit, the part time Sponsorship Secretary who gathers all the information for the UK offi ce to pass on to sponsors.

This is easily the strongest team we have had at Project Mala and it shows. We can be rightly proud of the way this team has pulled together to make Project Mala schools the best in the carpet weaving belt.

Mala Carpet for Browsholme HallBrowsholme Hall, a historic house, commissioned a carpet to be made for the Velvet Room. The carpet, having their coat of arms woven into it, was delivered in January. Mala Carpets are the ultimate in fair trade as they not only provide work for skilled carpet weavers but also any profi t goes towards

Project Mala schools. As Browsholme Hall is open to the public, anyone can see this fi ne piece of Mala Handicrafts work. For directions see www.browsholmehall.org.

Life at Project MalaFor some people who work for Project Mala in India the job and the school are everything. The sewaks have to be at work seven days a week for security reasons but some just feel that the school is their life. None more so than Mr Satyanarayan, a tailoring teacher, who has not had even a half day off in the last two years. Although he lives in a local village he comes to the school every day.

New stumpsCricket is a passion in India but equipment is expensive. Until recenty stumps consisted of tree branches. Kath Donaldson, of Durham Community Business College who sponsor two children, gave us £50 for her father’s birthday which we used to buy some new cricket equipment.

Sponsor’s child in accidentMahendra, a sponsored child, was riding his bicycle on the GT road with his father when he was knocked down by a hit and run driver. He suffered multiple injuries which at fi rst looked life threatening but Mala staff were able to get him some expert treatment and after several trips to the hospital he now seems to be making a full recovery.