Sunday, June 9, 2013

Would you like to sponsor an individual room in Shammah House?

We're currently looking for families, individuals, businesses or community groups who'd like to sponsor the completion and fitout of an individual room in Shammah House.  The cost to sponsor an individual room is $5000AUD which is tax deductible in Australia, NZ and the US.  Dedication plaques with your family/business/group name will be made and hung in your sponsored room.  A great legacy to leave for future generations.  You can choose from one of our sleeping rooms, a guest room, the office, sickroom/counselling room or the playroom.  For more info please email hales@shalomhomeindia.org 


Shammah House quickly taking shape

Construction of Shammah House is now in full swing.  It's exciting to see the building starting to take shape, knowing that once its finished, we'll be able to take in our first girls.  With 30-50 workers on-site each day (plus our 20 well diggers) the place is a hive of activity.  Rocks and dirt excavated from the well have been used in the foundations saving us about $2,500AUD on fill.  With the speed of construction and the falling Australian dollar, we're seeking extra donors to come on board to sponsor the completion and fitout of individual rooms so we can keep the funds flowing as needed. To see more photos of the progress of Shammah House, please click here to go to our facebook page.

The foundations of Shammah House

Preparing pillars for concrete pour.

Well work almost finished

After 9 weeks of digging and blasting, the workers have almost finished re-digging our well.  This week they'll pull out the last of the loosened materials, then measure the excavated depth and let us know what the final payment will be.  Hopefully we'll be able to keep under our $7000AUD budget.  The work took longer than expected with up to 20 men a day manually digging  and lifting out the soil and rocks.The good news is that we unearthed springs at around 30ft, after only 10 feet of excavation.  Each morning the pump was turned on at 3.00am to drain the well before the workers arrived and then digging and pumping continued throughout the day.  By the end of May overnight inflows measured about 15ft, so daily inflows will be much higher.  This amount, during the peak of summer and following on from 2 failed monsoons, is very good, and will provide plenty of water to grow crops on the rest of our land.  Below are a before and after photo of the well, and a photo of the men at work..  To see more photos of the well work as it progressed click here to visit our facebook page.

Hot and dusty work in extreme temperatures
Before - 20ft deep and dry, After - 40-50ft deep and full of water

Friday, June 7, 2013

Our first boy is heading to university

Congratulations to Mani, our first boy to be accepted to study at university.  For the next 3 years he'll be studying for his Bachelor of Science in Botany and Planation at the American College in Madurai.   This is a wonderful achievement for Mani, who 5 years ago, used to spend his days playing by the village pond instead of going to school.  We're very proud of Mani, he's worked very hard to achieve these results.  The other fantastic news is that he's been given a scholarship, which pays for most of his university fees. Well done Mani.

Mani - our first boy to go on to study at university