Shalom's New Video Channel Now Online

Thanks to a lot of help from our friend Paul, we now have our very own Shalom HomeIndia video channel on youtube where you can see some short interviews in which Geoff and I talk about how we got involved in Shalom, what's happened so far, and our plans for the future.  New videos will be added as they become available, and I'll gradually upload some of my old ones from previous visits over the next few months.  So please click on the Shalom HomeIndia Video Channel link in the right column to watch our videos, and if you subscribe to our channel, you'll be updated when new videos are added. 

Artworks Auctioned To Raise Funds

During August the Chapliancy leaders from Payne Road State School worked together on two beautiful Indian inspired collages which were auctioned at the School's annual art exhibition to raise funds to buy resources for Erampatti Village school.  The colours and images were stunning and Peter from Darra Custom Framing donated his time and some materials to ensure they would be a beautiful, ready to hang, addition to anyone's house.   We'd really like to thank, Peter, Chris and the chapliancy leaders for all their hardwork and generous hearts.

Chapliancy leaders from Payne Road State School with one of their artworks

 

Each elephant tile was done by a different student

Unfortunately the photos don't do justice to the artworks

The Faithful 40

Would you like to help us build a new rescue centre for baby girls and widows? 

In July we launched our new partnership program called The Faithful 40. We are looking for 40 people who share our passion to help some of India's abandoned baby girls and are prepared to faithfully give $40.00 a month for a period of 2 years.  The money donated by The Faithful 40 will be used to buy building materials and fund training and employment programs for local villagers from Erampatti, who’ll help construct cottages and other buildings to accomodate rescued girls and widows at Shalom.  

So far the response has been great and we'd like to thank all those who've already signed up to be part of The Faithful 40, what a blessing you are. We now have enough funds donated and pledged to start work on our first cottage.  If you'd like to partner with us as one of The Faithful 40 please contact us using the email link in the right hand column.

Village Tutoring Program Underway

After many months of planning and negotiations our new tutoring program is finally underway.  The village President offered one of his buildings as the venue and on the first night 23 students and their families came along to see what was happening.  Everyone was so excited and very thankful for this opportunity for their children to receive extra help with their studies.  In just 2 weeks the number of students attending has grown to 40 and we now have 3 tutors helping.  We'll be working closely with the school to identify other children that need help so they can be invited to come.  The tutoring sessions run for 2 hours, 5 nights a week.  It is a free service to help students from poor families and those that are struggling with their studies.  Every student who attends is presented with a set of notebooks and some families will be invited to participate in our next village goat rearing group.

Some of the girls with their new notebooks

The children and their tutors preparing for their evening studies

Latest Construction Works

The main building activities during August have been completing the interiors of the new bedrooms, construction of a shelter near the front gate for visitors and farm workers, and earthworks to change the levels and contours of some of our land to improve drainage during the heavy monsoon rains. In coming months we'll be building an additional toilet and bathroom block and working on preliminary designs for our new buildings and cottages to accomodate baby girls and widows.  It's exciting to see the new buildings take shape and our construction activities provide much needed employment and income for workers from our village.

Men from the village constructing the thatched roof of the visitor's shelter

Visitors and workers now have seperate area to wait away from the children

50 loads of sand were delivered and spread out to help improve drainage

Tiling work being done in the new upstairs sleeping areas

Meet the latest additions to our family

Our first two widows moved in during June, their names are Salome and Ganapakiyam.  They help Radha with cooking and cleaning tasks and Radha is really happy to have some female company after being surrounded by so many boys for so long.  They were both widowed more than a decade ago and had lived a very difficult life ever since, sometimes begging at the railway station to get money to buy food.  Now they don't have to worry about where their next meal will come from.  Where once they were shunned, now they're seen as a valuable and respected part of our family.  Not long after the ladies arrived, we also gained two new boys who were referred to us by an organisation that helps HIV/AIDS sufferers in Madurai. Blood tests show both boys are clear which is great news.  Pandi had been living on the streets before being referred to us.  He's now attending the village school with the younger boys and Kasi has been enrolled in a electrical course at the same college as the older boys.

Farming News

Our second rice crop was successfully harvested and we almost doubled our yield compared to the previous year.  This will give us plenty of food to feed the boys and some of the bags will be sold to generate income.  Although the harvest had to be brought forward because heavy rains were predicted, it's been extremely dry in the months since then.  Like many farmers in the region, we haven't been able to plant follow up crops due to scarcity of water and electricity for irrigation. The KBC kids church cow gave birth to her third calf, a healthy male, so our animal family continues to slowly grow.

The harvest produced 113 bags of rice

The new calf and his mother are doing really well

Israel and the younger boys on the roof of the main building at Shalom

Israel's Visit to Australia

After two refusals, we finally had a visa for Israel to visit us in Brisbane 2 days before he was due to fly.  Unfortunately we couldn't get Hannah's Australian and Malaysian visas approved in time so she had to stay home which was incredibly dissappointing.  However we give thanks that Israel was able to come as we'd already booked lots of meetings and presentations during the two weeks we was going to spend with us here in Brisbane.  He arrived at the Gold Coast airport to cold and rainy weather, such a contrast to the dry heat of Madurai.  As we drove along the motorways to our place, we only passed one person walking along the side of the road and had to assure him that there really were people living in Brisbane.  The next two weeks he had to get used to different traffic, different food, different ways of doing things, just like we do when we visit India. He'd being dreaming of coming to Australia since he was a boy and had a great time. Since his return everyone who looks at his photos comments how beautiful Australia looks, so clean and tidy, but where are all the people and cars?  In the following posts you'll see photos of some of the things we did during his visit.

Geoff presenting Israel with Australian widlflowers and a kangaroo

Israel's Visit to Aus - KBC Kid's Church and Info Night

We dropped in to see the kids at Kenmore Baptist Kid's Church.  For the past three years they've done an annual fundraiser for Shalom Children's Home and provided us with money to buy our first cow and calf, a TV and bunks for the boys.  On Thursday 3 May we held a Shalom Information Evening at Kenmore Baptist Church to share about what's been achieved so far and what we have planned for the future.  We had about 80 people in attendance and were really encouraged by all the positive feedback.

Visiting the prep group downstairs

Talking to Ronel's group who had lots of questions

People arriving for our Shalom Info Evening

Israel's Visit to Aus - sponsor's afternoon tea

On 29 April we hosted a special afternoon tea for our child sponsors Unfortunately many couldn't make it because they lived out of town, or had prior commitments.  Those who came got to ask lots of questions and hear some of the boys personal stories of what life was like for them before they came to Shalom.  In the Indian tradition, Israel presented each family with a shawl as our way of honouring them and expressing our thanks and appreciation for their incredible support.  Those sponsors who couldn't make it, I promise to post your shawl out to you soon.

Israel's Visit to Aus - Meeting with GDG

We visited the offices of our project partner Global Development Group so Israel could meet the staff and spend some time discussing the next phase of our project.  Projects normally get approval for a 3 year period and we are approaching the end of our first 3 years.  This means we have to prepare documentation for the next 3 year period, so I'll be busy with writing up goals, strategies, budgets and grant submissions over the next few weeks.  We particularly thank Geoff Armstrong, Fe Luscombe and Samantha Robb for their help and guidance in running our project. We came away from the meeting with some helpful ideas and strategies for improving the effectiveness of our next phase and Israel presented Samantha with a shawl on behalf of the project.

Sam receiving her shawl

At GDG's offices with Geoff, Fe and Sam

Israel's Visit to Aus - Payne Road State School

Israel and I visited Payne Road State School and talked to the children about what life and school is like for children living in our village.  The children listened attentively and asked lots of questions.  Classes are collecting money to buy books and sporting equipment for our village school and uniforms and school supplies for students who's families can't afford to buy them.  We're looking forward to developing an on-going relationship between Payne Road State School and Errampatti Middle School through the exchange of letters between students.  A big thank you to the school chaplain Chris Bullock for her help in arranging this new partnership.  Please scroll down through the blog to see more pictures of Errampatti Middle School in an earlier post.

Meeting the Chapliancy leaders

Israel with the some of the younger students

The students listened keenly to our stories

Karen got volunteers up to help

Israel wearing his Payne Road school hat

School assembly at Errampatti Middle School

Israel's Visit to Aus - Sightseeing

For all those who think we packed out all of Israel's time with meetings - yes there were a lot- we did set aside some time to show him the sights around Brisbane and introduce him to some of our Aussie animals.  The day we visited Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and caught a city cat up the Brisbane River was one of his favourites. He even got to cuddle a koala and pat some kangaroos and an emu.

Feeding lorikeets at Lone Pine

Our sheep look very different to Indian sheep

The kangaroos just wanted to snooze in the sun

Cuddling a koala

Enjoying the parklands at South Bank

Waiting to catch the city cat up the river

Cruising past the Brisbane CBD

An Aussie shaped bush at Riverside Rocks Park

The view of Brisbane from Mt Cootha

Please click OLDER POSTS link below to keep reading

Israel's Visit to Aus - meeting friends and family

We really enjoyed having Israel stay with us.  The time went so quickly but it was great for him to finally meet our boys and to introduce him to many of our friends.  Thanks to all those who made him feel so welcome.

Dinner with our family at a Thai restaurant

At the beach with Jany and Benoit

With KBC friends at the Bullock's

Catching up with Kerrie and Peter

Dinner with the Kancherla & Nerudumilli families

 

Errampatti Village School

We're really excited about the new connections we're making with Errampatti Middle School in our village.  Over the last couple of months talks have been underway with the new principal and we hope to start a evening tutoring program at the school in June.  We've been trying to get this up and running for over a year but sometimes things take longer than we expect.  The other exciting news is that Payne Road State School at The Gap in Brisbane is now working with us to fundraise for equipment for the school and uniforms, bags and school supplies for poor families in our village.  Our aim is to increase school attendance amongst the poorer families and help provide a better learning environment for all the children in our village. The school has about 450 students in 10 classes.  There are no toilets for the boys.  Grade 9 and 10 classes were added to the school at the beginning of the year but the additional classrooms are still being built so the 2 youngest classes are presently having their lessons under trees in the playground.

No fancy playgrounds here

The day starts with morning prayers

Pointing out where Australia is on the world map

Younger students waving their greetings

Two classes have their lessons under trees

The students don't have any desks or chairs