Hi,
I am very pleased to report that thanks to your generosity, we have now raised over $1,000 for girls living in very difficult circumstances in slums in Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Please be assured that your donation is having a dramatic impact. It would not be an overstatement to say that this project is life changing for the girls who come into contact with it.
One such girl is Archana, who tells us her story:
I dare!
“I am Archana staying at Burma cell (slum in Pune). I have 3 sisters and 4 brothers.
My father is a farmer. We have chili machine, mother look after that machine. She grinds chili and prepares gravy masala (spice) and is earning money.
After my tenth (aged 16) mother asked me not to go for school. I was told to be at home and learn household activity. Parents were worried about my marriage.
One day guests came to see me. They proposed me for marriage. In our community girls are not allowed to see bridegroom. Quietly I greed all that told by parents. And I got engagement with him. He was 8th pass (aged 14) and was at home. I was realizing my future is blank. I was so sad to whom to concern, to whom to ask? One day I went for women`s empowerment life skill class.
On this day Manisha Tai and Smita Tai (project community workers) were discussing on topic of decision making with girls. I got struck. I did not sleep whole night.
Next morning as soon as Manisha entered in our community I rushed to her and told about my tragedy. She gave me emotional support.
I got a kind of daring within me. Finally I dare to break my engagement with whom I was not at all happy. I got relief. Now I am happy. I have finished my sewing machine class and have join computer class. I thank to you all and to Dr. Manda Mune (project leader) and to all women`s empowerment project staff and wish my best luck.”
Thank you for your generous and ongoing support. I hope you find this partnership valuable and worthwhile. I know the economy is tough, so thank you for investing your hard-earned money on our cause.
Please consider telling your friends and family about our project - share the link on your blogs or social networks, use the tell-a-friend feature on the project page to email your network, or just bring us up in conversation. You know your friends and family best so use your own words - tell them why you chose our project and what it means to you.
If you have any feedback I would love to hear from you. In the meantime I will continue to send stories from the girls whose lives you are helping to improve. Thank you again for all you have done to help this cause.
Yours,
Steven Murdoch
Hi, I am very pleased to report that thanks to your generosity we have now reached our initial online target of raising $10,000 for children living in poverty around Sangamner, Maharashtra.
We can all be proud that:
As per the original plan of providing benefit to 750 children, through 30 crèches, the project is now providing support to 762 children in this way.
27 out of school support classes are taking place each evening, helping 458 children who are not doing so well in their studies, to catch up in school.
3,067 school children have benefited from health checks. Medicines have been given to 1958 children. And thanks to these checks, 27 boys and girls have been referred to doctors for further treatment.
Whilst it is fantastic news that we are achieving our goals, there is still plenty work to do. Karuna has funded the capital build of a Child Rights Centre in Sangamner, which is being project managed by our partner, the National Institute of Sustainable Development (NISD). The building will be complete and ready for use by the end of August 2010.
The Child Rights Centre will bring together parents, local authorities, village leaders, teachers, and governors, who will work together to get children out of labor and into school. Karuna is committed to funding this project until at least March 2012. Before March 2011, we still have $28,000 to raise and I am hopeful we will fund $10,000 of this through the Global Giving website.
To do this I could really do with some more of your generous help. Please consider telling your friends and family about our project - share the link on your blogs or social networks, use the tell-a-friend feature on the project page to email your network, or just bring us up in conversation. You know your friends and family best, so use your own words - tell them why you chose our project and what it means to you.
Thank you again for all you have done to help this cause.
With gratitude,
Steven Murdoch
Hi,
Thanks so much for the generous donations over the past week since I last updated you. I did get a little over excited and suggested we needed less than $1,000 to achieve our target. I’m sorry for the slight over-optimism.
To clarify, we have now received total funding of $8,454 to date. We have a remaining goal of $1,546 to be funded. Our total Funding Goal is $10,000.
If you have any suggestions how to achieve that last bit please let me know. I’d love to hear from you. Spread the word.
Yours gratefully,
