NEEREKSHE: 12/1/07

Monday, December 17, 2007

A Very Cold December

Dear friends and strangers of Neerekshe,
We all come to the stable this season
Greetings to you ! A lot has gone on since we last wrote to you.
The BORE-WELL is still the same only that we have had a new 1 H.P pump that sucks out water till 25 ft. We were not able to retrieve the earlier pipe and pump, since it got snapped and has fallen at the bottom, somewhere close to the water source, although not hindering the water spring . Some of the villagers shocked us by telling that someone had cut the pipe, but it turned out that it wasn’t cut but it snapped. We are looking for a new bore well pump which will enable us to pump water upto 170 ft atleast. We at Neerekshe are praying for a miracle that God would provide the money to buy this Pump and install it so that we do not suffer any more without adequate water.
At KALMALA ,the neighbouring village, the COMPUTER courses are going well.The first batch of students will complete their first term soon. We are happy, 40 students are going to pass out .
Dr. Luke is starting the new MEDICAL clinic in Kalmala. We have found a centrally located place and have rented it for the medical work so that it will provide medical help to the whole village and the neighboring villages. Luke will be the first qualified Doctor in the village.
Today we painted the Muranpur Church “the cow-shed church’ after renovating it and having made more place for people to sit inside. We hope to get the place electrified so it can also be used in the night as a chapel and a sleeping area.
The Christmas programs in Muranpur are scheduled for Dec 24th and 25th apart from a small program scheduled in the outreach centre,KALMALA.

Have a Happy Christmas and a blessed year ahead!

Sangster and all at Neerekshe

History and Activities of the Trust

Muranpur is a village in the interior of North Karnataka, about an hours bus ride from the nearest provincial town. It has a population of about 2000 people who live in abject poverty, being an agricultural community and dependent on erratic rainfall for their crops. This area has already been designated as a draught-prone area and has very little option for alternate economic activity. Given the generally poor state of the community, 90% of existing wealth resides in the higher caste and 70% of the families of lower caste live below the poverty line. In early 2000, a government surveyor was sent to the district and his report indicated that the situation in this community was unsatisfactory, with existence below “third world” standards. Due to the lack of stable economic activities and the resultant poverty and neglect, most of the inhabitants of this village suffer from perennial malnutrition, while the children suffer from retarded mental and physical development. There is no medical facility of even the primary level and the nearest medical center is 20 kilometers away from the village. The residents have no access to any modern mode of transportation due to lack of funding, and medical emergencies are handled by the village bullock cart. Diarrhea, influenza, gastro-enteritis, and skin diseases are common problems that go untreated. There is no sanitation, no toilets, and no access to potable drinking water. The Managing Trustee, Mr. Peter Shadrack, was born in this village. Despite the depressed situation he and his family faced, his father converted to Christianity and thus Peter Shadrack was educated in a mission school in Raichur. He grew up to become a science teacher, and after ten years of teaching he joined the Church in full time work for the poor of his village and the surrounding areas. He started by providing food and shelter to those in need from his area.

Social Awareness and Empowerment

The Trust also sees the need in this community for a general improvement in knowledge about life in the 21st century. Due to the racial imbalance whereby a minority of people belong to the upper caste and more than 70% of the population belong to the lower caste, a large group in this village are discriminated against according to age-old traditions that make up the racial divide. Knowledge about their rights, combined with education and awareness about various aspects of life would definitely change the social fabric of the village. A successful model could then be replicated in other areas of the state that suffer the same fate of poverty and backwardness. Presently the trustees try to organize meetings of women such as “mums & toddlers” for awareness about child care, health, and sanitation. Similar community meetings on topics of interest are organized for the men. With additional funding, the Trust will be able to put up a community center that can take care of such needs, as well as organize important awareness meetings regarding the environment and water conservation.

Role of the Organization

The Neerekshe Trust plans to expand and build on the work already in progress to provide the village of Muranpur and the population from surrounding districts with facilities that will enable the children, youth, women, men, and elderly access to education, information, and knowledge about various livelihoods by which they can improve their standard of living and have access to a decent life. The program will include the following facilities: · A Créche for the very young · A School · An Orphanage cum Hostel · A Vocational Training Center · A Hospital · An Agricultural Development Center · A Community Development Center · An Administration block · Staff Quarters · Sports facilities · A Church

Objectives

· To provide education for children and literacy for the adults.

· To provide youth with vocational training as well as communication skills.

· To empower women through literacy, adult education and health information so that they are better able to make informed choices regarding themselves and their families.

· To provide shelter and occupation for the elderly so that they can continue to live with dignity.

· To foster a sense of responsibility and self-worth among the members of the community, to each other and to their environment.

Program Activities

· Development of innovative activities with the objectives of providing education, information and knowledge to the children and adults. · Training the youth to acquire adequate life skills in order to engage in sustainable livelihood programs. · Providing information on new innovations in agriculture as well as improving methods of management of land, crops and markets, water and energy. · Providing health care and facilities for the inhabitants of the communities and improving knowledge and standards of sanitation and environmental awareness. · Involvement of other voluntary agencies, social activist groups, individuals and the community at large in the furtherance of the objectives of education.Networking to ensure that this model can be replicated in other locations with other social working groups