School fees for all the 15 children @ Snehasadan boarding (servants of the poor) from next academic year (2022-2023) - Bidar, North Karnataka

As you are aware, we have been working with Dina Sevana Sabha (Servants of the Poor) and Anugraha school (Bidar, North Karnataka) since almost an year on few initiatives including the house construction for a widow and couple of others. 

 

Handed over the tool kit for mechanic | Syed (22 years, Bidar- North Karnataka)

 Dear Antony, Jithesh

Greetings of peace and joy from Fr. Wilfred.

With gratitude I thank you sincerely for helping to buy a mechanic toolbox. On behalf of him I thank you sincerely for doing the needful. 

As I had said that 5000 would be sufficient to buy toolkit. But it went up to 9260.00. Syed gaus said that he would also spend rest of the amount on his own to buy a better one.

Once again I thank you very sincerely for doing the needful. My prayers and support are always with you.

Thanking you

Fr. Wilfred Naveen D'Silva

 

 

Tool kit for mechanic | Syed (22 years, Bidar- North Karnataka)

 Please find a request from Fr Wilfred (Bidar)

Dear Antony

 

Greetings of peace and joy from Fr. Wilfred Naveen.

Since I have been rendering my service in the school and as I take care of school buses. I came across a 22 year old young man, who has been working under someone as a mechanic. His name is Syed Gaus who has to take care of his family. He is the second son and his elder sister is married.

I found him as a skilled mechanic and if he begins all by himself as free lancing he can earn little more. 

As for now he has been drawing the salary of 7 thousand per month. If he starts all by his own, he may be great support to his family. 

Handed over Oxygen cylinders to Vazhathope PHC (a public health center in Idukki)

 https://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2021/06/covid-care-oxygen-concentrator-for.html

Jinesh handed over 2 oxygen cylinders along with a flow meter, oxygen spanner key and a flexi mask to the staff @ Vazhathoppu public health center in Idukki couple of weeks back. We will buy more cylinders after monitoring its usage and  based on the requirements. Thanks to Shyju's pre-degree friends for sponsoring these (Rs 17, 240) .

Bidar house construction | Letter and account details from Fr Wilfred

 

Dear Antony and Friends,

Perfect is the word that comes to mind when I try to describe your love and support towards building of this house of a widow. I don’t think I myself even could have done anything better. Only someone with great taste will be able to do what our Lord has called us to do so. Your generosity is as great as your sense of style.

These are the words of Shobavathi,l who has been helped by you all. “it was my hearts desire to build for me a house, but when I used to look at my situation where I could not manage my daily food, I used to question God why at all you gave me a birth. But my God did not leave me. He gave me a shelter to live. I am thankful to all those who have supported me to build the house. I would never forget till my death the help that I have received from all.” I have drafted as it is the words of her without any exaggeration.

Bidar house construction | Keys handed over to Shobavati

We handed over the keys to Shobavati in May itself even though painting/plumbing/electrical work etc were not complete, as she (a widow) and her son were staying in a temporary shed. More over, second wave of pandemic had started by then and we wanted them to move to a safe place before the rainy season.  I thought of sending the updates only after all the work is completed and hence the delay. All the remaining work got completed only by end of June , thanks to the lock down. 

Online Classes | Handed over Tabs to the kids @ SMUPS Nediyashala

 We got this request on June 5th and Tabs were handed over with in 3 or 4 days, with Jinesh's help. Thanks to Martin for chipping in, rest of the fund was taken from our internal fund. 

 1  ആൽവിൻ ജോസ്  - പിതാവ് ജോസ് ബുദ്ധിപരമായി കുറവ് ഉള്ളയാൾ .മാതാവ് ജിൻസി മാനസിക രോഗത്തിന് ചികിത്സയിൽ .മൂത്ത മകൾ അഞ്ചന ജോസ് മാനസിക രോഗത്തിന് ചികിത്സ പൈങ്കുളം സ്കൂളിൽ പത്ത് കഴിഞ്ഞ് ഇരിക്കുന്നു ഇളയ കുട്ടി ഇവിടെ പഠിക്കുന്നു .സാമ്പത്തികമായി വളരെ പിന്നോക്കം നിൽക്കുന്ന കുടുംബം ( BPL)

 

Covid care | Oxygen concentrator for a Public Health Center (PHC) at Vazhathope panchayath (Idukki)

I asked Jinesh whether we can help in any way when he mentioned about the struggle people are going through post covid, because of the lack of medical facilities in his panchayat (Vazhathope, idukki).  Since lot of people there needs Oxygen support, I proposed donating an Oxygen concentrator.  

Enable children to attend online classes (SMUPS, Nediyashala, Idukki)

A request for enabling children to attend online classes that came through Jinesh. The mail below is written by the headmaster (Mr Jobin Jose) of the school  (SMUPS, Nediyashala, Idukki). 

 

Bidar House Construction | Construction progress and other updates (March 23rd, 2021)

First of all, thank you so much for the quick response.  Based on that response, I had given our commitment to support  by contributing Rs 1,00,000 /- (50k from our internal fund and 50k from our extended group). They started the work in the same week itself and it's progressing really fast. 

House construction for a widow (Shobavati) | Bidar Karnataka

Shobavati is a widow and she is working as a helper (aaya ) in a school in Bidar (north Karnataka). Currently she is staying in a small shed made of tin sheet. She has two children, 20 year old girl (already married) and 9 year old boy (3rd standard and studying in the same school).  Her husband died 5 years back because of heart attack. Here's few pics of her house and the school (Anugraha school, Bidar) where she is working.

 

Fund raising request | Marriage expense for Jermaine (Akashaparavakal)

As I mentioned in one of the earlier post ,  Akashaparavakal's responsibilities are not just limited to taking care of the mentally challenged women who are picked up from the streets, they also take care of the children of these women. 

Jermaine came to Akashaparavakal when she was 2 or 3 years old along with her mentally ill mother many years back.  She was given proper education and bought up by Akashaparavakal since then. We noticed her the very first time itself when we went to Akashaparavakal couple of years back as she was enthusiastically running around to do the daily chores at the Ashram. She has a special knack in dealing with the in mates there and we have always felt that each of the women there have a special bonding with her. 

Completed | House construction @ New Moskuli (Assam)

Second house construction in Assam was completed in Oct 2020 and keys were handed over in last week of October 2020 itself.  Sorry for the delay in posting this. 

Medical aid request for Shreehari (6th standard student)

During our "Enable children for online education" drive, we had given a laptop to Pranav (9th grade) and his brother Sreehari (6th grade). Jinesh had mentioned to me about Sreehari's medical condition (kid on the right in the pic below) at that time. His kidneys are affected and he is having high BP, sugar and Cholestrol coz of the side effect of the medicines that he is taking since last 8 years (he is 12 years now).   

I spoke to his dad Ratheesh yesterday and he said Sreehari had siezures day before yesterday.   Ratheesh is a mason and he told me that he is not able to go to work coz of the continous hospitalization of the kid. 

Completed | House construction for a single parent @ Garopara village (Assam)

Glad to let you know that house warming of zenkina (Garopara village, Assam) has been completed and they have moved in. It's a small house and the total budget was just 60,000 /-.  They were short of 15K and thanks to my cousin brother Augustine for taking care of that expense. Big thanks to Fr Augustine for all the co-ordination and the actual execution.

Online class support for 19 students completed | Mail from Jinesh

Dear Antony and Team,

On 20-Jul-2020 we completed the distribution of the 10th device and completed our planned student support initiative. We could help 10  families  with 5 Laptops and 5 Tabs (19 students) through this initiative. 

 

Request help for the treatment of the student that we helped

While doing the background check of the families of the students that we helped with laptops/tabs, we had figured out that they have much bigger problems that are health related and financial issues. I had requested Jinesh to keep some of these families in the radar and had asked him to reach out to us if any of them needs any help.

Got a call from Jinesh yesterday around 1:45 PM for a financial help to discharge (M.O.S.C medical college hospital, Kolanchery) one of the student that we helped. They were short of 8000 Rs. I spoke to them immediately and  we transferred 8K by 2PM. Big thanks to my friend Praveen and his sister for bearing these expenses!

Hand over of laptops/tablets to students

 

I don't think  I should write anything as these pictures speaks for itself :-)  :-). 

Fund raising request | House construction for a single parent @ Garopara village (Assam)

This also came through Fr Augustine. They have already got a commitment of 25K, another 35K is needed as its a simple house with bamboo wall and tin sheet.  Construction has already started and you can see the pics towards the end. 

Raised 1 Lakh | Enable children for online education

Fund Raising Request - http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2020/06/fud-raising-request-enable-children-for.html

Updates - June 19, 2020

We got a commitment of 1 Lakh Rs (50 k from our internal fund and 50 k from outside). Through Sreeju's contact in Bangalore we bought 5 second hand Laptops (10,500 Rs each) with the below configuration.

Raised 72,500 Rs | House construction @ New Moskuli (Assam)

We had sent a request for fund  raising for a house construction @ New Moskuli (Assam)  back in Feb - http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2020/02/fund-raising-request-house-construction.html
Plan and detailed break-up of the budget is available in the above link.

Fund raising request | Enable children for online education

I called up Jinesh yesterday the moment i saw this news about girl committing suicide because she did not have a TV or smartphone at home to attend the online classes.

Kuttayi's leg surgery | Updates (Mar 19, 2020)

I'm  constantly in touch with Kuttayi's family since last couple of weeks and he is recovering well :-) :-)  Please see the detailed updates from Jinesh below. Totally, we gave 30k so far (20k from internal fund that Mathai transferred, 5k from Lijo and 5k from Raman). Big thanks to all.

-------------------------------------------------------

Dear Antony and Team,

Today I met Kuttai's relatives. This week he is in Idukki, next week he will be going to Jubilee mission hospital. His condition has improved drastically. Now blood circulation restarted on his foot.. some more puss is there but now that is very less compared to earlier conditions.

His body color itself is getting changed to the original color. They expressed their immense happiness for your timely support. Now he can avoid amputation. He got his leg back.. your team's prompt support deserves due credit for this. 

Keralakoottam (Zurich) | Medicine for the month of March

Keralakoottam (Zurich) had given 30,500/- Rs  for AKashaparavakal.

Out of that, 19.5 K we had used for buying medicines for the month of Jan - http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2020/01/akashaparavakal-medicines-for-one-month.html

Rest of the money (11 K) , we had given for hospital expense of one of the inmate - http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2020/02/keralakoottam-zurich-hospital-expenses.html

But when the hospital management, heard about this story , they gave a discount and we had to use only 5K.

Balance 5K was used to buy few medicines in March and 1K to buy some fruits in August 2020. Here's the bill for the same. Once again, thanks to the folks at Keralakoottam.

Request for help - Kuttayi leg surgery (Cheruthoni, Idukki)

Dear Antony,

Hope you are doing well. I have received a request for support. I did the preliminary data collection and found to be a genuine case.

This is the case of a road tarring worker, who is suffering from femoral occlusion. This medical condition is caused due to his work, ie, melting bitumin and also due to smoking. No blood flow into his feet. As per the Idukki medical college, left foot requires removal.  Left leg is full of puss. Right leg is also infected. They suggested to shift the patient to Kottayam medical college for the surgery, but the family is unable to carry out the surgery due to lack of money.

Keralakoottam (Zurich) | Hospital expenses for Kochurani

Kochurani came to Akashapaavakal Ashramam when she was just 3 or 4 years old.  Her mom had committed suicide and dad had abandoned her.  Sisters @ akashaparavkal adopted her and raised her as their daughter. They educated her and got her married to Samson couple of years back (Kochurani served as a volunteer at Akashaparavakal till she got married). Samson hails from Karwar and he is also an orphan. When Kochurani was 7 months pregnant, sisters went to Karwar and brought her back to asharamam in bangalore as that is the tradition ("Kooti kondu pokal"). They have been taking care of her since then including her regular check-ups/scans etc.

Fund Raising Request | House construction @ New Moskuli (Assam)

During the Kerala floods,  we had helped Mr Kumar's family in the house construction and painting.  This case was referred by Fr Augustine from Angamali (He came to know about our group through  a common friend).  Fr Augustine had done an amazing job in owning/executing this project and rehabilitating Kumar's family - http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/08/kumar-house-warming.html.  Shyju had gone for the house warming of Kumar and he had met the father during that time.

Akashaparavakal | Medicines for one month delivered (Jan 2020)

We bought the medicines and delivered to Akashaparavakal yesterday (Jan 09, 2020). As mentioned in the earlier post, most of these medicines are for  psychiatric disorders. The total cost is Rs 19,500/-

Once again, big thanks to each and every one in Keralakoottam (Zurich) for this help.  Care takers at Akashaparavakal have requested us to use rest of the collected amount also for buying medicines if possible (next month).

Keralakoottam (Zurich) - Standing up for Charity

Extremely happy to see the below message from Madhu, a big thanks to each and every one in Keralakoottam.  I'm sure this is just a beginning. 

As discussed, we will use this amount for buying medicines (psychiatric drugs) for the 45 ammammar @ Akashaparavakal.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Pulickaa,

Happy New Year  2020.

Keralakoottam – A Switzerland based Malayalee gathering group , was planning a get together for celebrating Christmas and New Year during first week of Jan 2020. Sunitha – one of our beloved

Solar water heater for Trithwa Ashram | Installation done on Dec 12, 2019

Good news !!  All the inmates @ Akashaparavakla are getting sufficient hot water for bathing after we installed the new 500 LPD solar water heater (Installation was done on 10th December 2019 and plumbing was done by 12th December) ! It was not easy otherwise for the inmates, especially since they are old and most of them are physically very weak.

Thanks to Regu, Ananth and Sandeep for the contributing towards the cause. Total expense was Rs 43,500/-. We got 28K from Regu, Ananth and Sandeep and rest from our internal fund (12K + 2.5K plumbing + 800 Rs servicing existing solar)!

Fund raising request | Solar water heater for Trithwa Ashram (Akashaparavakal)

Current solar water heater that is installed at Trithwa Ashram is of minimum capacity and its enough for only 6-8 inmates. As the winter is slowly setting in Bangalore, they have requested for Solar water heater that can be used by 40 inmates.

Kerala Floods | Windows for Shaji's house

With Jinesh's help, We are still tracking all the 21 families (who lost their homes) that we helped  after Aug-2018 flood.  Unfortunately, some of them are still struggling. One of them is Shaji whom we had helped with the house construction last year.  When I contacted him 2-3 months back to enquire his whereabouts, he mentioned that he has moved to his new house with his 2 month old baby.  Jinesh used to share the construction pictures at every stage and he had mentioned that windows are not fixed as he was short of funds. Even though, Shaji didn't explicitly asked for any help, we decided to pitch in.

Surprise birthday celebration of two Akashaparavakals - Mariya Amma & Jeremy

Delivered | Steel Almirah for Akashaparavakal (Friends of the Birds of the air)

When I visited Akashaparavakal (Trithwa Ashram) last week , they had requested for a steel Almirah.


Big shout out to the residents association of the house of Hiranandhani (Bannerghatta road) who came forward to help this case. They bought the steel Almirah using the money they raised by selling  old news papers !! Excellent initiative and probably other residents associations should take cue from this.

Thanks to Prabha, Regu and Kavitha for coordinating and making it happen.

Delivered Rock Sand required for Santhosh's house construction | Kerala flood relief

Delivered one load of rock sand  for Santhosh's house construction. Thanks to Joe Thoma and Aju for taking care of the expenses,  and Jinesh for co-ordinating.

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/05/request-for-support-santhoshs-house.html

 

A heartening and inspiring update from Maniyarankudy (Idukki).....

---------- Forwarded message ---------

From: Jinesh Jose <jj.india@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 3, 2019 at 10:21 PM
Subject: Re: Kerala Flood Relief | It's a wrap !
To: Antony Pulicken <antony.pulicken@gmail.com>

Dear Antony and Team,

Greetings from Maniyarankudy!

This is just an update from our side. Due to god's grace, this rainy season has not created much troubles in our place.

Our Onam with Akashaparavakal... | Onam 2019

Onam 2019

Delivered household items for Sunitha's family

Big thanks to Leo for helping us to buy the household items for Sunitha's family !

As mentioned in the link below, her husband had abandoned Sunitha and her 9th standard son and he had taken all the household items along with him when he left.

We bought them 1 dining table, 4 plastic chairs , 1 cot and 1 study table. Here's the pics/bills

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/05/dear-antony-as-we-over-phone-i-am.html

Kumar | House warming

Kumar's family was affected in 2018 flood and we had helped them in the house purchase/renovation and painting.

I'm really glad to share that we have handed over the keys and family has been living there since last July.  Once again thanks to Martin, Smilan, Lijo, Libu, Satya and Atul for contributing towards the house purchase/renovation and to Shyju and Sarish for contributing towards the painting of the house.

Shyju was present during the house warming/key hand over function.

Iron Grill Front Door and flower pots/plants for Akashaparavkal | Friends and the birds of the air

We wanted to do something for Akashaparavakal when our Poluttan was born. When we checked with them they said it would be nice if we can fix a iron grill front door so that they can keep the wooden door open during the day to allow sunlight and air. It will definitely be an additional level of security for them as well.  In addition to that, we bot some flower pots/plants for them

Support for Sunitha's family (Pathipally, Moolamattam)

Dear Antony,

As we discussed over the phone, I am sending you the details of  a family for any possible support. This is the case of Sunitha K.B and her son who is studying in 9th standard.

School Fees for Pavan (2nd Grade) for the academic year 2019-2020

Hope you guys remember Pavan, son of a BBMP sweeper (Mrs Indra). We had got him admitted to a school in South Bangalore 2 years back (2017-2018).

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2017/04/it-simply-cant-get-any-better.html

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2017/05/taking-it-further-schooling-of-pavan.html

Painting expense for Kumar's house | Kerala flood relief

We have been tracking all the 21 families (most of them through Jinesh) that we helped.  

We had contributed 50K towards the construction of house for Kumar from Athani, who lost his house during the flood.

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/04/kerala-flood-relief-house-for-kumar.html

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/01/flood-relief-athani-kerala-house.html

Request for support : Santhosh's house construction

Even though we had officially closed the Kerala flood relief campaign,  we are still tracking all the 21 families that we helped. All the families that we helped had lost both house and land.

There were few other families whose houses were damaged. Even though we did not help them so far, we have been tracking them.  Jinesh visited one such family last week end and he has requested us whether we can help. Check the details below and let me know what you think.



--------------------------------------------------------

 Dear Antony,

Sorry for the delayed update. On this Monday I visited Mr. Santhosh's house. Let me explain the case.

School shoes for the children living with HIV @ Sneha Care Home (Snehadhaan)

Like we do every year, I contacted Snehadhaan last week to find the number of school kits they need for next academic this year (2019-2020).  They said it would be good if we can buy school shoes for the children.  I readily agreed and asked them to share the age group, color  of the shoes , number of boys/girls etc.

Here's the list that they shared today. Color of the shoes is Black.

A million thanks and wishes from Idukki

Even though Jinesh did all the work on the ground, he was generous in sending a mail like this  :-) :-) Thanks to Jinesh and his dad for all their efforts !!! 

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Jinesh Jose <jj.india@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 11:40 AM
Subject: A million thanks and wishes from Idukki
To: Antony Pulicken <antony.pulicken@gmail.com>

Dear Antony and Team,

We reviewed the cases of all the 20 families who received support from your charity initiative.

Most of them have started the construction of their houses through the philanthropic efforts from various corners. Remaining cases are also expected to conclude very soon. So now we can safely say that it is the time to conclude the disaster relief efforts from your program. There is one outstanding request for support for a paralyzed person's house, but that is unrelated to natural calamity.

Kerala Flood Relief | House for Kumar (Athani, Aluva)

Thanks to the contributions from Martin, Smilan, Lijo, Libu, Satya and Atul. We could chip in 50k towards buying a house for Kumar (a mason who lost his house during last year's flood.)

You can find all the details about this case here:

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/01/flood-relief-athani-kerala-house.html


Land/house has been registered in Kumar's name. Currently, some renovation work is going on before handing it over to Kumar. Plan is to hand it over to Kumar and family by May 15th.  Here's couple of  pics of the new house.

Updates on Chandana (10th standard, Mysore)

Chandana's parents had decided to stop sending her to school when she finished 7th and that's when Sr Rosemary told about her to us couple of years back. She was studying in a different school then.

As you know, we discussed this case and immediately agreed to help and requested Sr to get Chandana admitted in Sr's school itself (Presentation school, Mysore).  We have been helping her since then every year and she is in 10th standard now. You can find more details about her family background in the link below:

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2016/06/school-fee-for-8th-standard-girl-june.html

Supplied foundation stones and concrete building blocks for Shaji's family

Supplied 4 loads of foundation stones and 2 loads of concrete building blocks to Shaji's family.  Thanks to Jinesh for coordinating it, Vineeth and 2 other friends for chipping in with Rs 68,700.

Updated account details can be found here

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13IxY159UUokkUNaSj9fZ0-6qq6xBGN8LF5hlk6C7V-8/edit?usp=sharing

Currently, they are staying in the temporary shed that you see in the picture. More details about this family can be found here

http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.com/2019/01/concrete-bricks-for-house-construction.html

Financial support for Ms.Pooja's medical treatment (cancer patient)

This came through one of my friend and it's genuine case.  They have shared all the medical records of Pooja. We can either transfer directly to the hospital (Tata Memorial Hospital , Mumbai) or to her account directly.  I have attached the hospital details after the mail below along with the process.  My suggestion is to release 50K from our internal fund.  Please post your comments and let us close it this week itself.

Dear Mr.Anthony,

 

 It was pleasure talking to you over the phone, as discussed please note Ms.Pooja ( Patient ) is a resident of Goa and her father Mr.Kamlakar Shetkar is a farmer . Mr.Kamlakar has three kids and wife with Ms.Pooja being the eldest. Their financial condition is very poor. The only income source is Pooja. Since she has been hospitalised, the  family is suffering due to financial crisis, they are not in a position to raise the funds for the patients treatment.

Flood Relief (Athani, Kerala) | House construction for Kumar and family

Dear Friends,

Please see the mail/pics from Fr Augutine.  Kumar is a Mason and he is basically from Tamilnadu. He's been living in Athani since many years and Fr has helped in the past to get him some work.  This is a genuine case and I think we should help. Please note that this family is from Athani (Angamali). I have already told Fr that we will directly buy the required materials and give it to the affected family and won't transfer money to any individual or organization. I think we will allocate 50K to start with and then we will see based on the progress. Let me know what you think by posting your suggestion in the comments. Shyju will co-ordinate this. 

Concrete bricks and big metal stones (foundation) for house construction | Shaji

Shaji's house got severely damaged (got split) during the landslide. But he is NOT eligible to get ANY benefits from the government as his house is not fully gone (even though its not livable and the site doesn't have pattayam).  Jinesh visited both the earlier site (damaged house) and the new site (where he is currently living in a temporary shed).

We have decided to buy/sponsor the concrete bricks (around 70,000 Rs) required in the construction of the house. Each concrete brick will cost around 35 Rs and they will need around 2000 of them. We are in the process of negotiating with the contractor and the cost may come down slightly.

Maniyarankudy Rehabilitation | Updates

Dear Antony and Team,

We wish you and TinyinIniative team a very happy and prosperous new year. May almighty bless you in abundance for all your great humanitarian efforts.

After distributing furnitures to 19 families, we were keeping quite to extend our support during their house construction. They all wanted us to help them during their house construction time. Let me give you a quick update on the situation.

1. Government provided 10K relief support and closed the relief camps and support.

Rexine mattresses and pillows for Akashaparavakal | Freinds and birds of the air

Around Christmas time (2018), Akashaparavakal requested whether we can buy them few Rexine mattresses and pillows (Rexine to ensure water proofing)  for the inmates.  Each one was costing around 2000 Rs and we got them 10.

Kerala Flood Relief | Help for 8 more families (Nov 12, 2018)

We delivered furniture for 8 more families @ Maniyarankudy with Jinesh and his dad's help....All these families have lost their home/land in the landslides that happened in August. Most of these families are staying in the temporary rooms provided by KSEB.

We have been able to help 19 families so far, thanks for all your generous contributions !

Furniture for five more families (Chellappan, Rajan, Vijayan, Manoj, Poulose)

We delivered basic furniture for five more families this week.  Most of these families are from tribal belt...
Thanks to Bijesh, Abin and Ajay Oommen for sharing the cost (49K).

Maniyarankudy Rehabilitation | Furniture for five families (Jayaraj, Binu, Thangamma, Jaison, Maria Das)

We bought/delivered furniture for five more families this Saturday (Sep 29th, 2018).  All the five houses were in the same area and they lost everything in the same landslide that happened on August 15th.  When the relief camps were closed, some of them moved to rented rooms, some moved to the house of their relatives and some are still staying in the halls provided by Panchayat. 

Out of these, Mr Jayaraj's family lost 4 of family members in the landslide including his wife and daughter. I spoke to Maria Das,  who is Jayaraj's neighbour and he is still in shock as he had witnessed the landslide and the 4 members were swept away in front of his eyes ! We also bought furniture for Maria Das.

Maniyarankudy Rehabilitation | Furniture for Mr Johnson's family

It's look like the land allocation/construction of the houses of affected families is going to take more time as they don't want to start with out getting a clarity on the government support.

What the families need in the mean time is some furniture that they can use now in the temporary shelter and later on when they have their own house.

Maniyarankudy Rehabilitation Support | List of affected families

I had multiple discussions with Jinesh and it looks like first priority for the affected families is some help in re-construction of their houses out of the 4 options that Jinesh had shared in the earlier post.  Some families cannot start construction now as it's not possible to construct in the affected area and they are waiting for allocation of new land. There are few families who can start construction in their current land itself.  I have asked them to find more details about the support they are getting from government in re-construction.

Kerala Floods | Support for few affected families in Maniyarankudy village (Idukki)

Further to what is mentioned in the earlier post, please find below the details from Jinesh on a heavily affected  area in Maniyarankudy village in Idukki district. Please post your thoughts/comments on how we can help.

Kerala floods | Help affected families to get back on their feet

Dears,

Most of us are involved in flood relief related activities directly or indirectly through our friends, residential associations, church and other organizations. What I understood after talking to various sources is that currently there is adequate supply of relief materials in most of the camps and it’s still pouring in. This will start reducing gradually once the current volunteers gets back to their day-to-day life. 

Freinds and birds of the air | DIning plates for the inmates @ Akashaparavakal

Sr from Akashaparavakal called me last week and mentioned that most of the dining plates at the Ashram are broken and whether we will be able to help to buy new steel plates. She requested for 45 plates and  I immediately agreed.

Support for Trithva on an ongoing/regular basis | Akashaparavakal

We were shocked and saddened when the folks at Trithva Ashrama (friends and birds of the air)  mentioned that there were days when they ran out of all the supplies and managed with little rice that was left over (keep in mind that they 40-45 women inmates and most of them are mentally ill).

Covered partition/room on the terrace for candle making - Akashaparavakal (Friends and Birds of the Air)

While we started the Grill work to cover the terrace of Tritva Ashram (Friends and birds of the air aka Akashaparavakal) , we were also thinking of different ways to make them self sufficient...when I discussed that with them, they said it would be good if we can create a small covered partition/room on the terrace so that they can start making candles sitting there.

Grill/Mesh to cover the terrace for Akasha Paravakal (Friends and Birds of the Air)

Sorry for the delay in sending these, actually the grill/mesh work that we did on the Ashram's terrace got completed only couple of weeks back. As I had mentioned earlier , the only open space (and the only place they get some sunlight and air)  that they have in women's ashram (it's a house with 45 people !!) is their terrace and they are not able to let the women inmates use it as there are cases where some of them jumped from there (these are mentally ill women) and there are cases where they threw things down from the terrace.

Pics that we have been waiting for... Tables and chairs for bungalowpudur-pudur school

Here's the pics (scroll down)  that we have been waiting for ever since we helped this case ... :-)

Flower pots/flowers for setting up a terrace garden - Akasha paravakal

As I had mentioned earlier , the only open space (and the only place they get some sunlight and air)  that they have in women's ashram (it's a house with 45 people !!) is their terrace and half of the small terrace they were using it as dump yard where they dumped all un-used stuff and broken furniture.

2.3 Lakhs raised | Plans for Friends and birds of the air (Updated on June 07th)

We have raised close to 2.3 L now (50k from our fund and rest from outside).... I had taken my friend Praveen and his family, when we went to the ashrmam last week and he is also actively involved now...

These are the specific ares where we are trying to help and this is how we have split it as of now between our group and his...

Tables and chairs for 3 classes for a school in bungalowpudur village (Tamilnadu)

Hi ,

Hi this S Parimalam working as secondary grade  teacher in bungalowpudur-pudur t. N palayam, Tamilnadu. I'm working here from 2012 still now. Our school has totally 150 students and 8teachers/

Freinds and birds of the air - Clear the pending dues in the grocery shop ( 1 Lakh INR)

Freinds and birds of the air  aka akashaparavakal have  around 4-5 Lakhs INR dues in various shops (grocery, vegetable etc) for their 3 ashramams in Bangalore.

Friends and the Birds of the Air | Fund raising request for 'Akasaparavakalude koottukar'

Jisso had called me couple of weeks back and told me to visit this institute by name 'Akasha paravakal" when he came to know about the financial struggle that they are going through to make the ends meet . It's a place where the mentally ill street wanderers are picked up from the streets, 'the children'  as they are referred here, are adopted, bathed and groomed lovingly.

Kidney transaplantaion for Navaz | 1 lakh raised through MicroCharity

Yes!! Response was tremendous! I was bit skeptical as we just closed another 1 Lakhs for Liver transplant on previous day which also got closed in a day! so i was thinking, the response will be slow... but God has different plans! He wanted to help Navas today itself! Praise God!

Run with a difference - Sneha Run 2017 pics

A morning to cheer, support and liven up the spirit of kids living with HIV -  Apart from raising funds for children living with HIV, this annual run aims to make the society collectively think about the future of Children living with HIV/AIDS in relation to World HIV/AIDS day.

School Fee for 8th and 9th standard ( 60 K) - Reciepts

We got the acknowledgment from school for the 60 K that we transferred for the academic years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

Sneha Run 2017 - To raise funds for children living with HIV

Dears,

Sneha care home as requested our participation and also to share this with our friends to create maximum awareness. Let's try to participate with our families and continue our support. Please see the mail below for registration details. Call me in case you are interested and we can plan together.

-pulicken (9845109125)

Respiratory machine for Ms Bhaghya (Kollegal, Karnataka)

Dear Antony,

Please find the attached form with all the details of Patient, Bhagya, including the certificate from consulting doctor and her ID & Address proofs.

Looks like machine is in good condition and we may not need to do anything extra. The only extra expense will be replacing the mask which also may not be needed in this case as doctors are suggesting just the tube for her. They will confirm that after monitoring the patient with machine for couple of days.

We can give the machine to Bhagya and doctors will set it up for her in JSS Medical college Mysore and monitor it for couple of days before they could take it to their home. If anything to be changed during that period, we will do that. 

Let me know if any questions.

Thanks,

Jisso

Garden for the children living with HIV @ Sneha Care Home (Snehadhaan)

Apart from helping in setting up an aquarium and love birds cage, we also helped in setting up a small garden @ Snehadaan..Here's few pics...

Note from Snehadaan.. (Sneha Care Home)

Thank you Antony and Sherin. Children are indeed glad and they are excited. They see that you are part of this extended family. Feel free to visit anytime.

Warm Regards

Fr. Jaison

Aquarium set up and love birds for PL HIV kids @ Snehadaan (Sneha Care Home)

We have set up the aquarium and also bought 7 pairs of  love birds(that's all they had) for the kids @ Snehadaan.....

Thanks to Sherin for setting aside half day for this and for all the help.  Also, big thanks to Swaroop from Aquatopia India for all the help/tips and for the big discount....

Even though Swaroop had strongly recommended not to put any fishes in the first week, we went against his advice just because of the sheer excitement of the kids there :-) :-)  I don't need to elaborate more as the video below will speak for itself..... !

A touching response...

I have been contacting various vendors for setting up an aquarium for the children @ Snehadhan... All of them are completely business minded and didn't care or bother to even listen when I tried explaining the context/cause and the reason why we are doing this..... But then I got this response from one of the vendor.....very honest, touching and with a very reasonable quotation... ...thought the mail is worth sharing ......not disclosing his details in this forum for obvious reasons....Will mail you the quotations separately...read on......

Dear Antony,

Firstly, i need to commend the effort and dedication put in by you & your team relating to all the causes i read about on your blog. Hats off to you guys and may you continue your wonderful initiatives and transform more lives for the better.

Taking it further.... | Schooling of Pavan

Now, it's our turn to take forward what kids had initiated !  - http://tinyinitiative.blogspot.in/2017/04/it-simply-cant-get-any-better.html

Riya managed to contact Pavan's mom (Mrs Indra) and convinced her to admit Pavan to a school near their home.  Initially, they were very reluctant (primarily because of financial constraints and secondly because of ignorance).  We found a school for Pavan and when I spoke to the principal, he said they can take Pavan directly to 1st standard as he is already 7+ years now. But since he has never been to even a play school before, we suggested the principal to admit him in LKG and and promote him to UKG/1st standard this year itself,  if he is able to pick up the concepts fast.

Need volunteers.....

Last time when we went to Sneha care home to hand over school kits for the children, we had asked them how we can help them further. They had mentioned that the kids love gardening, taking care of birds, fishes etc.. We had immediately promised that we will help them to set up a garden, aquarium and a lovebirds cage.

We have to do that in June and will need volunteers.  Planning to do it in 2nd week or 3rd week of June. Before that, we need to enquire about it and budget it.

Guys in Bangalore, let me know who can help us in finding the details and available on one of the week ends in June to implement it.  I suggest we go there with our families.