Links-India

If you fancy running 5km on Sunday 5th May and are willing to try and raise a little sponsorship for Links-India PLEASE let me know as soon as possible.  We have 8 places left to fill.

Thanks

Pamela

pamela@links-india.org

Hi

If you’ve been trying to contact me using my maunsells.co.uk address over the May Bank Holiday weekend I’m sorry but you’re email will have been lost

My email is up and running once more so do try again – either pamela@maunsells.co.uk or pamela@links-india.org will work

Thanks

Pamela

Okay I know I’m going to get stick for this – I mean April is a tad early for Christmas but this is going to be a really great event and I need to book places early!

Hundreds of Santas running through Greenwich park raising money for their favourite charity and YOU could be one of them.  Don’t fancy yourself as Santa? No problem then bring along your own costume and unleash the inner elf, pixie or reindeer.

We’re currently trying to decide whether to book 25 or 50 places and we need to decide very soon.  The maximum number of runners will be 1,000 (for all the charities) and places are filling up already.

If you’re interested (or know someone who might be) do let me know. There’s no commitment at this stage I’m just trying to gauge the level of interest.

And I promise not to mention Christmas again till at least September

All the best

Pamela

ps oops forgot the date its December 6th

Huge congratulations to Kathy for completing the London Marathon and raising over £1000 for Links-India

The very wonderful Kathy Caley will be running the London Marathon to raise funds for Links-India.

At the time of writing she has raised almost £750 in sponsorship.  PLEASE help her make it to £1,000.

Thanks

Click here to sponsor Kathy

ps:  The London Marathon is on 26th April.

Our very, very best wishes to Gurj Lalli who will be running the Paris Marathon for us on Sunday 5th April.

So far Gurj has raised over £150 to help with our work.

If you want to support him – even a few £s will help – then its so easy to donate via his justgiving page – just click that button below !

Hi
On July 5th I will be abseiling from the top of Guy’s Hospital Tower in order to raise much-needed funds for our work. Please take a few minutes to sponsor me. Even small donations will really help.

We are also looking for a few more abseilers. This is a once in a life-time opportunity as it is the very last year that Guy’s Hospital will allow charities to use their tower. Interested? Then contact me at pamela@links-india.org and I’ll send you some more information with no obligation. Places are limited to 35.

So here I am back in a rather chilly London town.
My trip to India went very well indeed and I will be reporting back to the committee at the end of this month. We’ve got three new projects to consider.
The first is a health worker who will support the street children who live rough near Delhi railway station. Most of the children are runaways but some simply got separated from their parents and have no idea of their address or how to find their way home. This project would be run in conjunction with the Salaam Baalak Trust.

We are also considering funding the running costs of a pediatric ward (5 beds) or a small ambulance; both of which would serve the people of Ladakh. Our partner organisation here would be the Ladakh Heart Foundation.

So much for my good intentions of writing to this blog regularly.  Life has just been too hectic.  Now, with only 4 full days left in India, I’m rushing around trying to tie up all the loose ends.

Links-India Kindergarten

I met with Mamoon yesterday and all is well with the kindergarten.  The attendance rate remains very high.  Our first batch of children will be leaving us in March 2009 and I have asked Mamoon to let us know what happens to them.  Hopefully most of them will move on to school either at the Samaritan Help Mission or at the local state school.

Manjushri Vidyapith Orphanage

Despite numerous attempts I haven’t been able to make contact with the orphange but will keep trying.

Institution for the Blind.

One of the children we sponsor has been asked to leave the Institution due to his disruptive behaviour.  The boy is still attending state school and is living in another hostel.  I am attempting to track him down.  Tenzin is looking much more confident and happy.  He even managed to say a few words to me this time.  Sonu has applied to start a pre-university course but needs to take an entrance exam before admission.  Our other child, Amit, had chickenpox so I wasn’t able to meet him. However the headmaster reported that he was doing well in his studies.

Literacy project for low vision children

This is going very well indeed.  In the first year 29 children learnt to read and write in English and Hindi.  The numbers are expected to increase next year.  Other institutions are beginning to show an interest but, as yet, have taken no action.  We attempted to extend this project into another school but sadly it didn’t work out.

Simon’s Fund

This year the money from Simon’s Fund was given to the Salaam Baalak Trust.  The Trust has been in need of a lap-top for some time but there have always other calls on its funds.  The lap-top will be used to give a presentation of their work to other organisations – with the hope of gaining further support.

New Projects

We have had requests for the following

• Sponsor the Medical Social Worker at the Salaam Balaak Trust’s health post at New Delhi station.
• Provide a small ambulance for the Ladakh Heart Foundation
• Outfit a 5-bedded children’s ward for the Ladakh Heart Foundation and pay for its running costs

We will all be meeting to discuss the feasibility of these projects and deciding which to go ahead with. 

Fund-Raising

We’ve now had the go ahead to do our abseil at Guy’s Hospital Tower on 5th July.  If we can get 33 people to participate and they all meet the minimum sponsorship targets we will raise enough income for 1 year!!  So if you know anyone who might like to take part PLEASE let me know.

We will also be doing a sky-dive in Sept (I use the term “we” somewhat loosely here!) and it would be fantastic if we could get 10 people to do the jump. 

Not good with heights?  Then how about a 5km run around Regent’s Park in May?  We need to get a minimum of 10 people to enter this so do let me know if you’d like to be one of them.

Of course, if you’re not an abseiling, skydiving or running sort, might I suggest the easier option of sponsoring one of us for the abseil?  Even a couple of £s would help.

As always our thanks for your support

I’ve been in Delhi for just over a week  now and, apart from Christmas celebrations, have been trying to catch up with all our Indian colleagues with varying degrees of success.  To start with Mamoon wasn’t able to make his appointment to meet me in Delhi and so we agreed to postpone our meeting till mid-Jan. 

I visited the Blind School this morning but most of the teaching staff are still away and aren’t expected back till early Jan.  On the plus side I did meet Sudhar Chowdry the very able teacher who is spearheading our literacy project in south Delhi.  Sadly she hasn’t any more teaching time available and so won’t be able to teach in the new school we hope to extend into this year.  She has recommended a friend of her’s Seema Choby whom I hope to meet in early Jan when teaching resumes.

Mani is in his final year at Delhi University and doing very well.  He is very confident he will pass and is just concerned about the percentage he will achieve.  He seemed very happy.

All for now

Pamela