Coaching 100 school children in studies in India

Dear Donors,

Hope you are all safe and healthy. Wishing that we all be saved from this pandemic.

The outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 has worst affected the families, New Life works with. 

New Life's coaching classes and early learning centre had to stop functioning since March 17th. In most of the families, the breadwinners are either daily wage earners or low profile job workers. The pandemic has worst affected the income of these families and they had been striving hard to feed their children when the lock down was announced by the Government. Tamil Nadu was locked down since March 24. And the lock down was lifted for all works on May 11th in Trichy. However the public transportation started functioning with safety restrictions from June 8th. Till then it had been a great struggle for the poor to go to work. 

Knowing the suffering of the people, we at New Life mobilised money to supply relief materials. We succeeded in supplying 60 relief kits in April 2020 to the families of children benefitted by our early learning centre and coaching classes in Kodappu and Kajapettai. The relief kit contained 9 items (rice, dhal, chickpeas, tamarind, masala powders, oil, soap, etc).

"Thanks to Corona, I have more time to read and learn," says Annie (name changed). Annie is studying the third year under graduation in Economics and she is a former beneficiary of our coaching class. She is preparing for the competitive exams conducted by the various Boards. She says that she used the lock-down period usefully by referring to the book she borrowed from the mobile library. "Thank God! I borrowed a book on Quantitative Aptitude and that was with me when the lockdown was announced.  The library was closed till May 4th from March 15th. Hence I can utilise my time optimally to prepare for the competitive exams."

Coaching class students and adolescents like Annie are now borrowing more books than usual as they are bound to home now. They can spend their time usefully.

There is still a restriction for the children to go to school. So to support these poor families whose economy has been greatly affected, New Life started giving (only) food to our early learning children from June 8th. All safety measures are ensured to see that we provide safe and nutritious food to our children. We pray that the world will soon recover from the effects of COVID-19 and start functioning normally. We are waiting to see our beautiful children coming back to our coaching classes and learning centre soon. 

We thank all our donors for their valuable support to our organisation to provide food to the poor kids in spite of all odds and economic crunch during this pandemic and to run our other projects. Kindly spread words about our work to your friends and relatives so that we can continue to provide food to our children.

Thanking you once again.

Stay safe! 

With regards

Geetha (name changed) looked longingly at her friend talking to her dad. Her heart saddened at the thought of her dad who died a few years back. Geetha's father was an electrician. He died of electric shock when he was working. The sudden demise shattered the family.

Geetha's mother was a housewife and the family was happy and content meeting their basic requirements when the father was alive. After his death, her mother had to search for a job. She is not much educated. Hence she started working as a creche caretaker. She is getting $43 per month. With this income, she should feed her 2 children and herself. 

Geetha joined our coaching class in 6th standard. Now she is in 8th standard. She loves Science. She scores 78% of marks now. Her aim is to become a teacher. With the limited income, we know that it is difficult for her mother to send her to higher studies. New Life wants to see this poor family come out of their plight by fulfilling Geetha's dream of becoming a teacher. She is being supported to study through our coaching class. She is also getting support from New Life by way of learning materials, dresses, etc. Dear donors, kindly support this fatherless child Geetha through supporting our coaching class project.  

During this quarter, Pongal Day was celebrated on the 14th of January. Children from our coaching class and women beneficiaries participated in the celebration. Games were conducted for the children and prizes were given for the winners. New dresses were given to poor orphaned / single parented children and to poor widowed / deserted women. The dresses were donated by two of our local donors. 

The Republic Day of India was celebrated on the 26th of January in Kajapet. It was overwhelming to see our cute early learning children dressed up as great Indian leaders. Cultural events and speeches were given by the children from coaching class. Prizes were given to all the participants. The national flag was hoisted and sweets distributed to all. 

Dear donors, you would wish to see this poor girl continue her school education and reach her aim. To complete her education she needs to be supported. This is possible only with the support you give to our coaching class. Many such children like Geetha can achieve their aim only with the support you give to continue their studies.

Thank you, donors, for being with us all these days and help these poor children study in spite of their odd circumstances. Kindly keep supporting us by spreading the message to your friends and relatives and help us continue our projects. You can reach us at www.newlifemfi.org

Thank you once again.