Frishta News - Issue 11 - Winter 2007/8
Welcome supporters and Friends of Frishta, to our pre-Christmas Newsletter.
A very special welcome to our new Friends and readers!
A record year!
Nigel Studley writes:
Dear Friend,
We end this year full of gratitude to so many people and organisations for helping to make this the best year in Frishta's (short) history. We've taken great strides forward:
- set up our Indian Frishta Charitable Trust
- achieved our first grant funding from the Waterloo Foundation, and...
- more than doubled our funds!
So it's thanks to you:
- thanks to our Friends of Frishta (currently 66 standing order donors) for sharing the commitment to the many disadvantaged children of India, and
- thanks to our many readers and supporters, not only for following our progress but also for giving us encouragement and advice on how we can improve.
"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,
but in seeing with new eyes."
Marcel Proust
Christmas Cards
- We again have some fabulous Christmas Cards for sale this year. Please take a look at www.frishta.org.uk/cards/2007/index.html and get your order in before the rush!
- Another way to support Frishta is instead of sending Christmas Cards this year, is to send an email to colleagues and friends telling them that you are donating the money saved to Frishta (it's better for the environment as well!). You could set up an annual standing order for this.
Stuck for a Christmas Present?
If the thought of Christmas shopping on the High Street fills you with dread why not take the easier option and internet shop via Frishta's www.everyclick.com sponsored shopping links. You are guaranteed the best prices on the web and you help disadvantaged children in India too. There's Amazon, M&S, John Lewis, Flowers, Chocolates and much, much more. http://www.everyclick.com/uk/shopcharity?keyword=All
The story of one child that Frishta is helping
This is the story of Daniel, whose short tragic life is now taking a turn for the better thanks to our partner charity in India and a Friend of Frishta child sponsor in Kent...
Daniel was born into a poor, low caste (Balmiki) community in Punjab, India. He has a younger brother and a sister. Daniel's father was a truck driver, the lone bread winner for the whole family, but in 1999, his father died in a truck accident late at night. With the incident happening far away from the city, no-one came to rescue him and he was left to die on the roadside.
Daniel's mother and the rest of the family members found it hard to accept this unexpected and sudden death. They became discouraged when no-one else came forward to help them as they were now in deep financial trouble and unable even to feed the young children. Subsequently, the mother became mentally imbalanced and was treated as a psychiatric patient. Soon after, she went missing and villagers searched the neighbourhood only to find her dead body. With this tragic event, Daniel and his brother and sister became homeless orphans. The remaining family members were not willing or could not afford to look after all three children and Daniel is now being cared for in a charity-run home in Panchkula.
I met Daniel earlier this year when I visited India and was able to pass on a letter from his sponsor to him. He was all smiles as he told me how grateful he was and how he wanted to be a Policeman when he grew up.
"People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred.
Love them anyway."
Kent M. Keith
Take a second to reflect on these words...
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centred.
Love them anyway.
People favour underdogs, but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Kent M. Keith
Press Cuttings
INDIA - Dalit children face discrimination at lunchtime
Midday meal schemes are being rolled out in schools in some Indian provinces. However in a number of schools, Dalit children are asked to get their own plates or dishes from home for midday meals.
A sample survey undertaken by NGO Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in September 2007 across 99 villages in six districts in Gujarat revealed rampant caste discrimination. Nadeem from CSJ says, “In a number of schools, the children from lower castes are made to sit separately and they are even asked to bring drinking water from their homes”.
She added, “With this report now available to the central agencies responsible for the implementation of these schemes, we hope they will now act take measures for better implementation of these programmes”.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Dalit-children-discriminated-in-schools-even-today/228750/
INDIA - Team of Orphans Wins Championship
The Kota Hope Home champion team
The soccer team from Hope Home in Kota, India (sponsored by Hopegivers International), won the Rajasthan state championship in their age bracket. Though the team of orphans was very nearly denied the opportunity to participate in the tournament, they played and carried themselves like champions. “Our children are proof that every life matters and is precious to God”, explained Hopegivers Founder Dr. M.A. Thomas.
After the historic victory, the children were greeted with jubilation and a parade was held in their honour. These children hold the distinction of being the first team from their district to win a soccer state championship since the tournament began in 1947.
"People from the public came and took the children on their shoulders and danced with them. Then they began to give them gifts and brought food items and fruits and all these things for them," Thomas said.
Posted: October 22, 2007.
UK - Britain's latest World Champion
On a lighter note, we may have been short of sporting success as a nation recently, but Charlie Williams' feat of smashing one of the more spurious world records in the good name of charity, is surely worth celebrating! Charlie, from Woodford Green managed to wear 224 T-shirts simultaneously, eclipsing the previous record of 164 T-shirts in a gruelling three-hour ordeal.
If you have any novel ideas for a fundraising event that Frishta could benefit from, we would be interested to hear from you! Contact: info@frishta.org.uk
BmyCharity
Frishta have invested in setting up an on-line donation facility with BmyCharity that automates sponsorship donations and Gift Aid claims. You can now hold any event, e.g. sponsored run, charity challenge holiday, dinner, etc., and collect sponsorship for Frishta from colleagues, friends and family using your own, bespoke web page. Simply by email them a link to your page on Bmycharity - it couldn't be easier! Take a look at www.bmycharity.com/frishta-india. All the admin is carried out by BmyCharity, saving you the time and hassle of collecting pledges. So how about entering our Frishta team in the 2008 British 10K London run (Contact Joe Hammond on Tel. 0208 560 5040 or joehammond@blueyonder.co.uk) or trying a charity challenge holiday? Read on...
Charity Challenge Holidays - Challenge yourself to make a difference
Do you fancy a holiday with a difference that could also raise money for Frishta? Then charitychallenge.com's 100+ holidays could be what you are looking for. The expeditions offer the chance to meet new people and experience different cultures throughout the world. There are seven different types of activity in more than 25 countries, three levels of difficulty, a wide range of durations and more than 130 departure dates. Take your pick from challenges in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe or the Americas. You can choose trekking, cycling, mountain climbing, kayaking, white water rafting or horse riding and there are a number of new itineraries including the Brazil Trek and Kayak Challenge, Golden Triangle Hill Tribe Trek, Sahara Desert Trek, Mexican Volcano Biking Challenge. Alternatively, you can help out on the building site of a community challenge.
There are even itineraries for families with children aged 12 and over. The challenges are geared up for those with children. Groups will be made up of like-minded adventurous families, who can rest assured that their trip has been designed to meet their needs. These groups will run during school holidays. There will be a substantial reduction for a child sharing your room, and up to three other children will be able to share a room together. The first challenges to be offered are the Thailand Jungle Challenge, Great Wall Discovery, and Escambray Encounter in Cuba.
For details visit www.charitychallenge.com, 208 557 0000 (ATOL 6546) and don't forget you can collect sponsorship the easy way using our www.bmycharity.com/frishta-india facility.
Could do better
On 21st September 2007, the HAQ Centre for Child Rights (India) submitted a Paper to the UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child, containing some frank and disturbing statistics. It admits that although India is developing with "glitzy malls and flyovers", too many of its children lack access to clean water, sanitation, quality education, health care and social services. In summary:
- 19% of the world's children live in India, comprising 42% of the population
- 2.5 million children die in India every year, or nearly 5 every minute, night and day
- 48% of children are underweight, making it worse than drought and war stricken Sub-Saharan Africa
- Out of every 100 children, 19 never enrol for school; 43 drop out before reaching elementary level and another 14 leave before reaching Secondary level, meaning only 24 to finish their schooling
- Disabled and children living with HIV/AIDS are deprived access to education
- Gender discrimination and selective abortion has resulted in only 927 girls for every 1,000 boys (even worse in Punjab, 798 : 1000)
- 50% of girls are married by the time they reach 18
- Child abuse is widespread, with 1 in 10 being sexually abused at any one time
- India is home to the highest no. of child labourers in the world.
The annual budget of the country reflects the priorities and values of the country and its government. Sadly, in the last seven years, an average of only 3.1% has been allocated to children's issues and even less has been actually spent, indicating a lack of will to tackle and reduce the many problems affecting children listed above.
And to close...
God places the lonely in families (Psalms 68: 6a)
With only 4 months to go before we (the Studley's) leave for India to set up the children's village, sometime ago, we reached the point where we are doing many things in the UK for the last time. When in this frame of mind it makes you look at things differently, and you again realise what's important and what's not. So for example, this Christmas will be the last one we spend in the UK for some time and seeing friends and family is more important than all the festive trimmings. For many children in India a family celebration is just a distant dream. This year, please include Frishta on your Christmas present list and help us give disadvantaged children in India the gift of lasting value, of love, a home and a family.
How to become a Friend of Frishta
A joyful Christmas and a safe and peaceful New Year to all our readers and your families, and thank you for all your support in 2007.
Nigel Studley
Help us spread the word about Frishta's vision of Giving street children a home, an education, a hope and a future. If you have found this newsletter interesting, please forward it to a friend.
If you have any comments, questions or offers of help, please contact us – details opposite – or email us at the address info@frishta.org.uk
If you no longer want a Newsletter please send an 'Unsubscribe' message to info@frishta.org.uk
Registered Charity No. 1100368
Mark 10:14-16