February 2005 Introduction February has been a very chaotic month here in Goa. There have been many visitors wanting to see the work we've been doing and we have had visits from family as they try to escape the bitter cold weather in England. Our main aim over the past month has been to try and finalise the registration of the charity in India, we are now just waiting to find out, hopefully by next months newsletter we will have the good news! Only time will tell! We hope you enjoy this instalment of the newsletter and if you have any queries or comments then please contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] . Website The popularity of the website is increasing everyday, we are now getting an average of around 40 unique visitors everyday, the highest number of unique visitors in one day has been as high as 140. Visitors have been from all around the world, and from places we never thought would have found us, like Japan, Estonia and Kuwait. We now have viewers from around 20 different countries, some of the more common ones are Canada, Iceland, America, Germany and of course England and India. The hope is that this trend continues and people will keep coming back to our website that is regularly updated with news, photographs. This month we have added two new sets of photographs, one named "No Smiles" and the second "Chocolate Smiles". "No Smiles" were taken from various visits to the slums before Christmas, the looks on their faces overwhelming even grown men "Just viewed your website for the first time. Had to choke back the tears" : G.O. 10/02/2005. The second set of pictures were all taken on Christmas eve, when Iris and Rob visited one slum with a large bag of Health bars. It's amazing what just a simple gesture can do. Other Updates Photos aren't the only things that have been updated on the website. Due to the great support of people wishing to purchase items from our needs list we have been able to add new items and remove some items that we have already received funding for. Our aim is not just to help the children of India, it is also to help the people who help us; our supporters. With this in mind we have added a "Taxi Cheat List" to our website. Taxi drivers have been known to take advantage of tourists but with the help of Harish (Harry), our taxi driver, we have made a list of correct prices for various places, originating from Calangute ( www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Taxi.htm ). Simply, print off this guide and keep it in your pocket. If you use 'Harry', he will even give you a discount if you mention "Children Walking Tall". People have also requested ideas that they can use to help fundraise for CWT. We've been working hard to produce an "A-Z of Fundraising ideas" ( www.childrenwalkingtall.com/Fundraising.htm ). This will hopefully give you a few ideas to allow us to help a few more children in India. If you have any other ideas of your own then please let us know and we will add them to the list. Fundraising *How to Help* with fundraising 1. Please spread the word about Children Walking Tall. A simple way is to forward this newsletter to your friends and family asking them if they could find the time to read it and to visit our website. 2. If you work at a company that might sponsor any of our projects, please get in touch with us. 3. Be a member of our UK fundraising team by distributing leaflets or raising money. A good way is by finding something that you enjoy doing and have a fundraising event. 4. Have a look at the A-Z of fundraising for ideas about how you can help. A Fitting Tribute! We cannot say a big enough thank you to Lorna Wallis and all of her family for their kind donations from our needs list. Sadly one of their family members suddenly passed away last year and in their words "Gavin loved kids, they related to his nutty sense of humour and he could always make them laugh.", they decided that it would be a fitting tribute for his family to band together and donate a sum to CWT in his memory. Together they have purchased an Electric Oven, Television, Battery back-up, 4 wooden benches, 2 dining tables and 6 ceiling fans. Special thanks go out to Frances & Alan Hill, Marilyn & Mark Harvey, Alex Harvey & Ian, David Harvey & Nancy, Danny & Helen Salter, Debbi Hilton, Lorna, Richard & Freda Wallis, Chris Boyce, Lidia & Vince Nicoletti. Clothes and Toys A special mention goes out to Louise Thompson and family who were kind enough to bring an extra suitcase of clothes and toys over for the children. Their children Thomas, Hannah and Lauren were a little overwhelmed at first when they visited the slums as the other children surrounded them asking questions but they soon found their feet and enjoyed giving out toys to the children. All three children are under 5 years old so it's great to see them interacting with other children without a care in the world. We would also like to thank them for their kind donations after their visit to the slums. Danke to BKH Kemten We would like to say Danke (Thank you) to BKH Kempten, a German hospital who has been raising money by having a party, there was a live band, fruit cakes and drinks. Special thanks go out to Sandra and Evi who organised the event. Happy Birthday! On the 13th February Iris Ainsworth held a big birthday party for Julie Ann Horrox raising �122. Thanks go out to The Picnic Club who provided the sounds, Paul Reeve and The Bournemouth Drum Circle, Daisy & Lily who were on the door taking the money and Venita who organized the raffle. Finally thanks go to all her friends and people who supported us by attending. A big thank you to Iris for organising the event for us, and her continued help and support with Children Walking Tall. Lights and Flooring Thank you to Alison McGreavy for buying the emergency lights and floor mats from our needs list. At least now when the electricity fails we will not have the problem of lots of little children running around in the dark screaming. Also the mats will be very handy in the hot summer nights for the children to sleep on. Thanks. Leaflet Printing Thank you to Val Iliffe who on her recent visit to India was kind enough to bring out two big suitcases of children's clothes. She has also been kind enough to sponsor the cost of printing 16,000 leaflets for the charity. Now the only problem we have is trying to give them all out. Val has been a constant supporter of Children Walking Tall from day one, in fact without her constantly telling us that it was possible we might not have ever started the charity. We are always grateful for everything you do. Thanks. A Friendly Face Once again we have to say an enormous thank you to Claudia Baumartl and all of her friends. Not only does Claudia translate our website into German for our supporters in Germany but she also helps raise a lot of money and awareness of Children Walking Tall. Her friends have just raised the money towards a water pump. Chance meeting It was totally by chance that we met Gaynor Maddox and Linda Bowkett during their stay in Goa, but aren't we very grateful we did. Both of them were kind enough to donate food for our slums visits and money. Also they took us out for a lovely meal and shared their knowledge about charity work. Thanks for everything guys. Suitcases everywhere John Chandler was very kind and brought over 20kg of children's clothes for us on his last visit. In fact his own entire luggage was squashed into a rucksack and he gave everything else to us. Thanks for everything John. Flips Flops Amazingly we managed to purchase 40 pairs of flip flops for the children with the money that Heather and Dave donated to us. We will be giving Heather and Dave the chance to join us give the flip flops out when they come over next month. Donations everywhere Thank you to Graham and all of his family who not only brought lots of clothes over from England and donated money but also brought fruit for the children on their visit to the slums. End of Holiday Addy found out about Children Walking Tall during his recent holiday to Goa. When his holiday was over he left clothes and toiletries behind and also donated money. Online donations This month has seen the first online donations through GiveNow, it was a nice surprise as we logged in earlier this week to check the status, unfortunately we don't have their names, but I'm sure you know who you are. What's Been Happening? Registration in India After spending hours in the lawyer's office we are hoping that within the next two weeks we will be able to announce that we are fully registered in India. We applied for the registration on Friday, all the trustees had to sign next to their photos and even have their finger prints taken to prove their identity. Shermina was the unlucky one that had to sign every page of the trust deed (34 pages in total), she's now wishing she had a shorter name and an easier signature! We've keeping ourselves busy making visits to the children on the street and in the slums while we wait for the final documents to come through. A suitable house/flat We are continuing to look for properties in which we could use to start our home for the children. The ideal solution would be to buy a property, but we still need more support before we can afford to do this. Until we raise enough funds we will use a rented flat/house as a base. Doing this, will allow us to quickly help the children who need it, and give them a place to eat, learn and rest. UK Trustees We are very pleased to say that two of our UK trustees; Denise Ganatra and Michael Cheeseman have been out to visit us this month. They have both been a great help in the UK and had to spend some of their holiday helping us in Goa to allow us to register and sort things out. Denise also brought out a number of items for the children. Thank you both for your continued help and support with Children Walking Tall. Visits to the Slums We have spent many hours in the slums this month both giving out fruit, chocolates and toys, but also spending time with the children. When we arrive at each slum it is so nice to see a big group of children run up to us shouting our names and hello to our visitors we have with us. The children love talking to people in all languages, some are better than others, and it always funny when they reply to a question with the same question� For example "How are you?" and they reply "How are you?". Although we can't comment as their English is much better than our Hindi. We also try and play games with the children such as hand clapping and skipping. New Babies It's been a busy time in the slums as there have been two new additions in the last month. Both babies were born healthy although one of their mothers needs iron tablets as she has become anaemic. We have been to visit both the little ones and donated clothes and baby shampoos etc, and will keep you up to date on their progress. Welcome to our new Volunteers We would like to say a warm welcome to Rachael and Manish who have joined us in Goa to volunteer for Children Walking Tall. It's always great to find people willing to give their time to help us, Rachael had been working in Delhi with another charity before coming to us. We hope their time with us is enjoyable and that we don't work them too much. Future Projects Educational Sponsorship Within the next few weeks we are hoping to start a new scheme to sponsor children to go to school. Although government education is free until the age of 14 in Goa, many children do not go because their families still can't afford to let them go, as there are extra costs including books, travel etc. We are looking out for people who would like to sponsor a child directly. These children will not always be slum children so the money will not come from Children Walking Tall, it will only come from people who would like to help specific children. The first two children that we are hoping to find sponsors for are very bright but have had quite a tough time growing up. Until recently they lived with their mother in a home for abused women. Their mother has always worked to give her children everything she could and has made sure they have always been able to go to school. However recently their father has returned and she is once again finding it hard to support her children though school as she is only working half days every other day and her husband is not helping to support the children. After thinking about the situation we decided that if we could get people to sponsor children to attend school we would be able to give a greater number of children a chance of growing up with a basic education. These children can be from a wider spectrum as the money will be given for one purpose, that child's education, What you can do to HELP!!! Perhaps you could make a difference in the lives of the children. Make a donation to Children Walking Tall. If you have a preference on what the money should be spent then please tell us, and we will try and make the money work the way you want it to. Other ways to help are to donate clothes, books, pens and toys. This can be especially helpful if you're planning a trip to Goa and can bring them with you. The easiest thing that you can do is tell others about what we do. The more people who know, the greater the chance we have of supporting children like these. Do you have any comments about the newsletter? Would you prefer a shorter version? Would you like to see pictures in the newsletter? (Email with be larger if pictures are added) Please let us know what you would like, as we are always wanting to improve what we do. And Finally If you would like to receive these monthly newsletters by email please contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please put the subject "Join Newsletter" so that we can add your address to the mailing list. Send us the email address you wish the newsletter to go to. If you have received this email by mistake, or wish to cancel your monthly newsletter then please let us know by email at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject "Cancel Newsletter" Many Thanks from everyone at Children Walking Tall. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/O.5XsA/8WnJAA/E2hLAA/0FHolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> http://www.goa-world.com http://www.live365.com/stations/61664 Live Konkani Music http://www.mahableshwar.com/ Addresses: Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL to this page: http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/gulf-goans Yahoo! 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