Frishta News - Issue 1 - January 2005

Belated Happy New Year!
Greetings to all our supporters and 'Friends of Frishta'. This is our first newsletter and in it we look back over what has been achieved in 2004 - our first full year of operation - and look forward to some exciting events in 2005.

There have been a lot of 'firsts' for Frishta in this past year as we establish ourselves and have had to learn lots of new skills. A big thank you to each one of you for your various contributions to furthering the work of Frishta and bringing our vision of a Children's Home, for street children and orphans, closer to reality.

So what did happen in 2004...?

1. India Research trip - March 2004
   For three weeks in Feb/March 2004, Frishta founder Nigel Studley visited two Orphanages, the Red Cross and the Director of Social Welfare - al in Punjab. Also visited was the Good Shepherd Home near Mumbai, started by Gerard Van der Vegt, a good friend of the Studleys. The Frishta charity land (see picture above right) boundary points were measured and marked by the local council Patwari (Official), but even this routine request required much negotiation over the payment that would be made before the work was carried out.
    
2. Promotional first steps
   
   • The Frishta charity was founded as Frishta School & Orphanage on 28th October 2003, but we requested a new 'working name' from the Charity Commission for two reasons:
     • the greatest need in India is for homes for street children, runaways and orphans
     • the word 'Orphanage' in our name suggested an old dormitory style institution. Frishta will avoid this by having small family units of 10 children, each parented by a married couple
   • Our website www.frishta.org.uk was launched in June, thanks to the technical and creative skills of Raj Mistry. If you haven't visited it recently, take a fresh look as it has all the latest news and a new logo and colours.
      
3. Frishta Presentations
   
   • The first ever public Frishta talk was given on 10th October at the Lighthouse on the Rock Church, Wembley, following contact being made through the Frishta website, www.frishta.org.uk
   • On 13th November Nigel spoke about Frishta's work and Rachel Studley performed some Indian dance at the CiH (Christians in HSBC) annual conference in Northampton.
   • On 27th November, Nigel and Rachel were guests of the Gymkhana Golf Society at their Diwali Ball... see below
      
4. Frishta's Fundraising
   The fantastic news is that at the end of 2004, Frishta's total funds stood at £11,300 - a terrific effort for the first year. this puts us well on our way to our target for the 'starter' children's home which is planned to be opened in 2008.
    
5. Gymkhana Golf Society Charity Diwali Ball, Ilford, London
   The whole evening was a great success for both Gymkhana and Frishta. Nigel and Rachel were honoured guests(!) along with the Mayor of Redbridge and an Asst. Chief Constable of Police. The food was delicious and the live music very enjoyable. Frishta fliers were distrubuted and there was also a stand with posters and further info. Nigel was invited to speak briefly about our vision - resisting the temptation to try out his faltering Punjabi! To cap it all Frishta was presented with a huge cheque (both in size and amount!) for £1,500 - our biggest single donation yet. A huge thank you goes to the guests, members and committee of Gymkhana Golf Society.

Events Planned for 2005

Frishta Presentations in 2005
January 16th - Twickenham Free Grace Baptist Church
Future church talks are planned in: Nantwich in Cheshire, Heston in Middlesex and Nailsea, near Bristol
Why not have a Frishta presentation at your church, youth club or society?
 

Frishta Appeal Leaflets
Frishta Trustee Martin Harris has designed and produced our first appeal leaflet - if you would like some to distribute, to family, friends and work colleagues, you only have to ask!
 

India Research trip - June/July 2005
Nigel will be travelling to India in June for a three week trip, visiting a children's home in Delhi and researching the regulations for fostering, adoption and Indian charitable status. The main purpose is to build relationships with our partners and to establish our 'sister' Indian Frishta society. Nigel will be meeting up with Jim Weiss (also a Frishta trustee) who is visiting India to run a school holiday club in Delhi.

Indian Ocean Tsunamis

The devastating scenes we have witnessed in the media in recent weeks have lead to an unprecedented outpouring of concern and generosity by the British public. Whilst this response is to be commended, let's not forget that the poor and vulnerable, particularly children, are in peril every day. UNICEF estimate that 30,000 children die every day, that's one every 3 seconds! India has over a 1/4 of the world's poor - more that any other country. The apostle Paul was encouraged to 'remember the poor' (Galatians 2:10) a reminder we would all do well to heed.

If you want to help Frishta take Indian street children out of their desperate situation by 'Giving children an education, a home, a hope and a future', please consider becoming a Friend of Frishta by making a regular contribution to our work.

Thank you

How to become a Friend of Frishta

Nigel Studley

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