I want to start by thanking you for your support, contribution and wishes throughout the past one year, as my next letter will be only in the New Year. It’s been a hectic year for us as we got loads of new supports in terms of funds and we are reaching 7500 adolescent Girls now through our Girls Glory Project. We at Reaching Hand are only a 3-people team and executing so many projects was definitely a challenge. We still gave our everything to reach out to as many beneficiaries as possible.
We would like to share a small thank you story with you:
Keeping in sight the vision, Reaching Hand with the support of donors took on to construct toilets for students in Kaveri Nagar, we were stunned that 90% of the students were defecating in the open. Fathima and Rakshitha were 2 such students from Kaveri Nagar School. Rakshitha is studying in the same school from 2nd grade, from the very small age she and her friend used open grounds instead of toilet because there was only one toilet and lack of water facility it was not maintained with cleanliness. As she grew up she used to feel shy and difficult to go in open ground and more over it was a co-ed school, it was very difficult for her and for other children in the school.
Fathima studies in the 7th standard and her parents run a tea shop as well as work as painters. Fathima says that, “Before all of us couldn't go to toilets but instead me and my friends ran home or defecate in the open because we had only 2 toilets and it was not clean and so difficult for so many girls to use esp. during periods.”
When human waste (feces) is not managed well, it pollutes water, food, and soil with germs, and leads to diarrhea and other serious health problems. Using toilets prevents germs from getting into the environment, and protects the health of the whole community. Hence, with the financial support of Donors, 7 new toilets and 4 urinals were constructed for boys and girls at Government Higher Primary School, Kaveri Nagar with an attendance of 300+ Students. Aayammas are being provided to maintain the toilets clean.
Fathima Says.“I feel so happy and privileged to come for school it is so helpful to all the children in the school thanks to our donor and Reaching Hand”.
Rakshitha Says,” I don’t have to feel shy anymore, since we have new toilets in School now.”
Now there is no more Open Defecation at The Kaveri Nagar School.
This being a Thanks Giving month, we like to specially Thank God for supporters like you for the help provided to this School as well as 22 more Schools this year. We wish you and your family the best during this special holiday season.
As the new year begins, we vow to reach out to more Schools esp. in rural Karnataka with your continuous support. We would also want to increase the number of employees to make our reach even more. If you or someone you know is interested to join our team in terms of suggestions, volunteering, video-making, sharing stories on social media or come work as full-time staff, you are always welcome.
Thank you
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First, let me just say, thank you!
Your donation means to us that you understand just how valuable having a toilet can be to a child at Government Schools in India. Through your constant financial and moral support Reaching Hand is growing in terms of quality and beneficiaries.
Last quarter also we were able to support another 920 girls with the much needed toilets. We also were able to raise 9000 $ through various events for our cause. It makes us sad that even now there are many Schools with a strength of 300 + students with no toilet facilities thereby practicing open defecation. Hence, my team and Reaching Hand as an organisation is trying to reach out to more and more beneficiaries across India with the solutions to stop open defecation as well as to bring about the behavior change in them about Menstrual taboos.
I would like to add in few opinions of our beneficiaries about our intervention below:
“Thank you, Reaching Hand. This is so helpful to girls who have not reached puberty and those who already have. We learned so much about ourselves and are lucky to have gotten this opportunity. I feel more confident after the workshop and will teach others now.
-Vahida, 8th Standard, GHS Jeevan Bhima Nagar
“I always thought that period blood was ‘bad blood’ - that is what everyone says at home. But now I know that period blood is ‘good blood’ and that I should not pay attention to all the taboos that are spread.”
-Nikita, 10th standard, Sandoor School
“Now I feel like I understand everything about my periods. There is no reason to be afraid anymore.”
-Shruthi, 9th standard, Bannihatti School
“I learned a lot about periods and puberty today. It was good to understand some of the changes that are happening in my body right now. Thank you so much for coming to my school. I would not have learned all this if you did not come.”
-Tejaswini, 9th Standard, GHS Hebbagodi
“Things are very different now that Reaching Hand has built us toilets - it has been a huge help!”
-Sahana, 9th Std, Sidhartha School
Everyday when we hear these responses it boosts our will power to help more and more girls. I have also attached a link below where you can read more such stories.
In the coming quarter, we are going to focus more on the sustainability part where we want to slowly withdraw our support from Schools we have been working from more than 2 years in terms of maintenance and make the School take complete ownership of the toilets. Do write to us if you have any suggestions as we value your feedbacks.
Reaching Hand staff wishes you and your family the best in all your endeavors. Thanking you again for your continued support and making dreams of many of our little girls to have a Toilet into reality. Do visit us on your trip to Bangalore.
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Hoping that you and your family are well.
As March was end of another financial year and April the beginning of another wonderful year in touching lives of young adolescent girls for Reaching Hand along with wonderful donors like you, we want to let you know that through your support along with Global Giving we have been able to better the Schooling experience of 6780 young Girls across India. We were able to build more than 100 toilets, distribute sanitary kits to 3200 Girls along with awareness workshops for more 10000 students. We would like to thank and appreciate the faith and trust you put on us by donating to Reaching Hand.
Last 3 months we spent on finishing up our annual reports, assessments and brainstorming on our journey last financial year and also making new and improved plans to reach out to more number of Schools across India. Meanwhile, our wonderful School children were on vacation and will return to school on 2nd of June.
Some of our much-celebrated successes last year were an expansion of Girls Glory project across India through GlobalGiving donations and behavioral changes on breaking cultural taboos among the Girls. Some of our failures were the lack of enough experience with detailed impact measurement due to lack of man power. We have taken that up as a challenge for this financial year and finding out various ways we can involve volunteers or agencies to help us.
We also aim to increase our reach into Government Schools in unreached interior villages of India. Do keep supporting us with your feedbacks and motivation.
The coming July 12th is GlobalGiving Rewards Bonus Day. All the donations to Reaching Hand on that day will be matched 50% by GlobalGiving. So please do spread the news around for us and also we suggest all further donations be done on July 12th as per your convenience, so that we can avail the benefits of the Bonus Day.
With the amount raised on July 12th, we would like to conduct Health and Menstrual Hygiene workshop in slum communities in Bangalore around the Government Schools we work with.
We would like to again thank you very much for your support and request you for feedbacks on our projects so that we can improve our program.
It was a very challenging quarter for us due to demonetization in India, our projects got extended beyond deadlines as it was difficult to disburse big amounts. But these challenges have promoted the team into a next level of learning. It was as if we climbed two steps up suddenly into being strong about our convictions for the Girls Glory cause. But the good news is that we made it through the storm with our head held up high.
What we achieved-
During this difficult months, we completed the construction of toilets in 3 Schools in Bangalore thereby impacting 1155 children and conducted various workshops. We are in process of construction of new toilets at 4 more Schools thereby planning to impact more girls.
Ambitious Scaling Up-
During the month of February, we got to attend the 23rd SuSana conference in Chennai and we were challenged to move ahead and push our limits and achieve more. It made us rethink on our strategies and gave us new perspectives especially on Fecal Sludge Management. We now want to bring in even more eco-friendly approach to all our Sanitation Projects.
Way Forward-
Coming quarter, you will also see us participating in the TCS Marathon raising awareness about our Girls Glory Project among all our neighbors across the globe. You can also contribute to this cause by donating through Global Giving platform or by spreading the message word of mouth to your friends and relatives.
Thank you so much for your continuous support as we keep going beyond Bangalore and reach out to interior areas in India and make dignified education available to little Girls.
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Season greetings from Reaching Hand! As November 24th was Thanks Giving Day, our Reaching Hand Team is very thankful for supporters like you who gives wings to our dreams of stopping drop out of Girls from Schools across India.
Last quarter through constant support from you through GlobalGiving, we could complete the Toilet construction in three Schools in Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Bellary(Karnataka). We impacted 604 Girls with Clean Toilets, Good water flow, Menstrual, Health and Hygiene education.
Through Girls Glory project we also constructed 10 more toilets in 3 Schools and created awareness among 1260 Children about Sanitation and Hygiene in the last quarter.
One more step into progress…
Reaching Hand started working with Government Higher Secondary School Devalapura located in an interior village in Karnataka about 3 months ago. The School consisted of 800 Students, 9 Teachers, 1 Principal and 20 SDMC (School Development Committee Members). The School was built more than 30 years ago, and was in a very bad condition in terms of Infrastructure, Sanitation and Hygiene. The drainage facilities ran in between classrooms and the School stinked of the waste water and was a breeding place for mosquitoes. Since the School was located in a remote area, no teacher wanted to teach in the School and there were constant fights among the SDMC as there were people belonging to different political partys. After the intervention of Reaching Hand we are glad to say that we could unite the Teachers and SDMC and the local Panchayat members and bring an awareness in them about the importance of education for the children in the village and thereby every member contributed their best and along with the help of Reaching Hand the drainage facilities were moved out of the School, the School building was fixed and re-painted. This was one of the most memorable achievements for us as a team.
Its #GivingTuesday again…
As we move on forward on this journey we require more financial support and encouragement as we want to really focus on reaching out to remote communities across India with proper sanitation facility and awareness among them about Sanitation, Health and Hygiene. This coming Tuesday i.e 29.11.16 is Giving Tuesday at GlobalGiving.
There will be an unprecedented 50% matching for #GivingTuesday donations up to the first $1 million raised! This is the largest amount of matching funds GlobalGiving has ever had in one day in order to match more donations than ever before!
In addition to this huge matching opportunity, all new recurring donations made from #GivingTuesday through December 31st will be matched at 200% up to $100, on the fourth donation!
Hence we would like to appeal to all our donors and well-wishers to contribute to our cause through GlobalGiving on #GivingTuesday and help us reach out to more communities.
Thank you for your support. The Reaching Hand team wishes all our partners and donors A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year in advance.
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