Training Space for 600 Poor Girls in Mumbai

Dear friends,

As you know August 15 is the Indian Independence Day. Our project participants celebrate it very enthusiastically. They publish their own news letter, now in 14 communities and have lots of cultural activities. Sometimes, if open space is not available on all days they celebrate on a Sunday before the Independence Day. Events on major days give youth from deprived communities opportunities to express themselves through writing, posters, songs and street theatre.

There was an additional celebration this year that we are all very excited about. We have established a Vacha library in a former village in Thane district where poor residents and migrant labour from most backward districts in India live. The response is amazing. Within a month 150 kids have become members and more have lined up to enrol. It is the first time that they get to read something besides their text books that they get free. Many are beginning to get interested in reading newspapers. This year there were competitions and reading outs in and around the Independence Day. We felt very good that children in this very poor areas have welcomes a library at a time when many libraries and bookshops are closing down in the world. We hope to start another in an area where all homes are made from tin sheets. The programme is coordinated from our central office.

Thanks for your kind support. Donations from many of you made it possible for us to get a small place, at the devastating Mumbai prices, from where we coordinate this and other activities.

With best regards,