voice of hope_march09(2)

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Voice of HOPE

March, 2009 Bi monthly for private circulation Issue number: 13

HOPE House girls passports to the future.(Read the details inside)


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Voice of HOPE

Dear Friend,

As you know, HOPE Houses priority is children. Wehave been doing everything that is in our hands to enable

our girls to understand that they are special. My letter

today will help you understand one more of our efforts to

make them feel that they are valuable to their families.

You too can help our

library!!

Since many girls had

difficulty reading Tamil at

admission, we subscribed to

a Tamil newspaper for them

and asked the girls to read at

least one story of their choice

everyday and talk about it.

It has been more than a year

since we started it and I must

tell you that their reading

skills have improved

significantly and some have

become avid readers also.

Now we want to take it to the

next level by starting a small

library. It will be a small

wooden shelf with the books

and you can play a role in it.

We would appreciate if you

could donate a child

appropriate Tamil book(s)

or subscribe to Tamilchildrens magazine(s) on

HOPE House behalf. You

can mail your book(s) to

the address on the last

page or call Ruby Nakka at

9629471920 to get more

details.

As the focus of the country to promote a family for a child is gainingmomentum, HOPE House (HH) has been attempting to align with the

countrys focus by introducing several measures to encourage the

remaining family and the child to stay in touch with each other.

Measures like child writing letters, unlimited family visits and phone

calls, and being part of HH special occasions are few to quote. Now,

we have introduced a new program called Investing in your child.

It requires that a family invest not less than 50 rupees (about a dollar)every month in the post office near the HH and must be continued tillthe girl reaches 18 years of age. HH keeps the account book to ensure

that no one withdraws the money prematurely and show the account

to the child and the family each month to ensure transparency ofoperations. When the child turns 18, the entire amount of money

(along with interest) will be handed over to the child.

In the beginning families were reluctant but we remained firm. Wetalked to the girls about the project and the importance of it for their

own future. Well. half of the job of convincing the families was

done by the girls themselves. Theres a healthy competition nowamong the girls to save more for their own future.

HH is more than happy to work with the families that we know ofhaving difficulties to invest. As you can see in the picture in the first

page, all the 15 girls have an account now. It is our prayer that with

time, families begin to see the growth of money in their accounts to

value the little lives as well.

We have future teachers, nurses, doctors, scientists and police officers

in these little girls and it is our wish to play a small role in nurturingthem to soar to the heights of their choice.

If you like to help HH in anyway, consider participating in thisprogram by investing in these little girls post office accounts and I

can assure you, youll be changing the course of someones future forever. It only takes 50-rupees/ month. Wouldnt you? God Bless You.

Ruby Nakka.

Learn to do right!Seek justice,

Encourage the oppressed.

Defend the cause of thefatherless,Plead the cause of thewidow. - Prophet Isaiah


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Voice of HOPE

News:

Once again, HH Christmas season turned out as a memorable one. Girls had practiced dances

for about 45 days for the party. Day before the Christmas party, we all went to the church to

decorate the Christmas tree with ornaments we received from Stanleys in Iowa, USA. As part

of our efforts to engage the childs family in their activities, we invited them for our Christmasparty on December 13th

. They watched their children dance and sing and ate lunch together as a

family. Many locals have helped us raise funds and invited us to their homes/ facilities duringthe season.

Fiona Summers of UK sent a large package of articles to the HOPE House through her family(Skiels) in Vellore. Package contained of clothes, stationary, toys of different kinds, footwear,

and lots of girly items. Hugh and Debbie Skiel visited the HOPE House personally on

December 23rd

and gave away the gifts. Needless to say that girls had a blast of a time.

To our request for a bicycle for the girls to learn to ride in our last newsletter, Ms. Sarah Duhon

of Texas, USA had donated two bicycles for two different age groups of girls.

Department of Mathematics of Auxillium Womens College of Vellore had sent 15 M.Sc

Mathematics students to do a project at the HOPE House. Apart from sharpening their Math

skills, and getting know some new akkas (big sisters), HH girls had learnt about the avenues of

higher learning in the field of Mathematics.

I had the privilege of assessing few state homes in our state in February and it was a good

learning experience for me. I had learnt that these homes are to encourage resource persons

(anyone that can expand the horizon of thinking of a child by teaching them to dance, sing, play

an instrument and/ or improve on academics etc) to visit and then each resource persons humanhour is converted into currency value by attributing 150-rupees/ hour (~ 3 dollars). We liked

this idea so we decided to implement it at the HH and for the month of February our resource

persons value is Rs. 13,500/- (270 dollars). Well do it every month from now on.

Dr. Shiela Chellappa of Pennsylvania, USA visited the HOPE House in February. She sponsors

a child at the HH. She is the fifth sponsor to have visited the HH. Apart from bringing a guest

book for the HH and lot of stationary for the girls Dr. Shiela did something amazing. She

invested money (one time) in each childs post office account. She is the first outsider (apart

from the family) to have done this and we are grateful for this gesture.

Ms. Arunima Chatterjee of Maryland, USA had sent cute sets jewelry for the girls as New Year

gift through her family in New Delhi.

Mr. Sam Miller of Richmond, VA of USA had provided Christmas Day lunch for the HH.

When we told him that we do not accept his gift unless he is willing to eat with us, he gladly

agreed to eat with us in spite of it being a special occasion to be with his own family.


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Voice of HOPE

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department of Christian Medical College & Hospital

visited the HOPE House and donated 2000 rupees worth of stationary as a Christmas gift.

A group of Sunday school kids in Iowa, USA had sent 15 prayer pillows. One day in a month

girls use these pillows to pray for each others needs.

Vivian, Al and Coco of USA visited the HOPE House on January 28th.

Thomas Mathew of Texas, USA visited the HOPE House on February 6th

.

If youre touched by our message and inspired to support us, you can do the following:

If you live in the USA,

address your payments to

HOPE House International

and mail it to this address:

HOPE House International

P.O. Box: 7438

Chico, CA 95927-7438

(HHI is a 501c3 organization (non profit) and your

contributions are tax deductible allowed by the U.S.

law)

If you live in India,

Address your payments to

The HOPE House

and mail it to this address:

The HOPE House

16/28, 25th East Cross Road

Gandhinagar, Vellore 632006

(HH is 80 G organization (non-profit) and your

contributions are tax deductible allowed by the

Indian law)

How you can help us

Our older girls desire to grow their

hair long and we made a deal withthem. If they maintain their hairwell (without lice), they can grow.

Bing sensitive to their changing

self-image with age, we want tohelp them maintain their hair by

buying them a hair dryer.

We would appreciate if you can buyus a hair dryer.

FACTOID

You can celebrate your specialoccasions (like your birthday)at the HOPE House byproviding a special meal.

It costs Rs. 650/- to cookchicken dish on the donors

behalf but unless the donor is

willing to eat with us, we dontaccept the offer.

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